Hello,

Need some help in keeping cables inside conduit dry. My customer ran a 3 x 6 foot long conduit under the cement slab to allow electricity, voice and data cables to come right under the conference room table. The other end of the conduit goes up the wall the seperates the 2 offices. I noticed there's a lot of water in the conduit. I have already ran a couple of riser CAT5e cables so that I can connect HDMI dongles, VGA dongles, voice and data but I want to keep them dry. Electrician already ran his BX. Now, I'm not sure if the water is a permanent thing or temporary. The offices don't have any ventilation running yet and it's SUPER damp/humid inside. There's enough humidity for condensation to appear on the windows, water droplets appear on the tile floor and mold to start forming on the trims! Not sure if the water is from the humidy, from the ground or rain before the roof went in. Ventilation will be in soon (as soon as permanent electricity is up). I'll have the GC pump/blow out the water but I was wondering if there is a waterproof sleeve that I can put in to protect my wires if water does seep back in.

Thanks
fs483

You may have to use grease filled Cat 5E cable. Use some of those splice boxes to splice the grease filled cable to the regular C5.

You can't keep water out of a sub-terrain conduit. Trust me; the water in the conduit is permanent. Aside from ground water issues, you also have issues with condensation that will never go away due to differences in temperatures at different ends of the conduit.

If I were you, I'd pull a piece of inner duct through the pipe for your cables (you should be able to pull at least two 1" ones, maybe even three if you can). Terminate them one foot above the exit from the slab at both ends and you should be in much better shape.

Frankly, I can't believe that the electrical contractor got away with running "BX" in such an environment. They should pull their own piece of ENT that shrouds individual conductors. Any form of metallic cable installed in such an environment is doomed for failure.

Using inner duct or ENT provides a 100% sealed environment, so that leaky couplings won't cause an issue. As long as these raceways terminate above-grade at each end, there will be little likelihood of water entry.

I had asked the contractor to pull 2 x 1.5 inch conduits for me and I guess the electrical contractor added one for himself (much smaller one). When he came to run his bx, either the bends were too tight or something fell in so he decided to use one of my conduits. I tried pushing a fish tape into his smaller conduit (just to see if he was lazy) but I couldn't get through either. Luckily I asked for 2 conduits so I can run my cables in a seperate conduit. My idea was to able to have a conduit large enough so that I can pull a VGA connector through in case my VGA to CAT5 and HDMI to CAT5 baluns were no good (performance). I ran 4 CAT5e just for video, 1 for data and 1 for phone. My second conduit was going to be for voice and data. Right now, all my six cables are in their own conduit.

Do you guys have recommendations for HDMI to CAT5 and VGA to CAT5 baluns? The VGA will be for the laptops to project onto a large 50 inch screen and the HDMI, will be probably be used for DVD player or something. I used to run 50 foot VGA cables from the center of the conference room table into the duct, then into the ceiling to a projector. This client rather have a TV instead of a projector and I wanted to future proof the installation. All my CAT5e are home runs to the server room. I was planning on putting baluns under the conf table, put jumpers in the patch panel and then put other baluns in the ceiling above the TV. Then run VGA/HDMI cables from the ceiling baluns into the wall and out to faceplate behind the tv. Then finally have another VGA/HDMI cable between the faceplate and the TV. I could always run a VGA/HDMI cable directly from the baluns in the ceiling to the TV by passing through a larger hole faceplate. I originally wanted to put the baluns directly behind the TV but I was afraid they would be too bulky and not be discrete. Most baluns have walwarts which is why I plan to hide everything in the ceiling. I also had the electrican run an outlet up there. Cable runs are about about 150 feet max I believe.

I like the idea of ent. Is smurf tube the same as ent?

Yes, ENT = smurf tube.

I have used passive CAT5E to VGA baluns for Dentist chair video and I could only ever get it to show a decent signal if the run was under 25ft after that I got alot of artifacts even in shielded CAT5E

We've used 2 Cat 6 runs with baluns on them for HDMI and have several run over 90 feet that we get great picture out of. I think they were MonoPrice HDMI extenders. They worked well.

Great news!

Thanks you for keep us updated.

AC and Voice/Data cables in the same conduit?

Isn't that a big NO!?

It sure is!

Not really. If the different systems are separated appropriately, then it is perfectly legal. For example, if you pull a run of innerduct for communications cables and the electrical wiring is inside a separate run of ENT, it is permitted.

Would I want it to be that way? Of course not. Still, it is legal as long as the different voltages are maintained within separate compartments (NEC terminology = "Raceway").

Think about some of those Wiremold or Panduit surface baseboard wiring solutions that only maintain system separations of only a few inches.

Where talking about in the same conduit Ed......................geez.

I sure wouldn't want to be responsible for the phones or backboard equip in that scenario.

I know, but if it is two pieces of ENT pulled in the same conduit, it is permissible. Like you, I wouldn't want to see it done that way either.

Sounds like you built on a spring maybe, if the conduit was all one piece it might stay dry and it would still get condensation on the inside.
As soon as you bury a conduit they fill full of water every time here in Alberta and in the winter time it freezes solid in the -40 months on my payphones I found cat5e lasts a few years under ground and when you pull the cable out to replace it, in the summer it's rotten and if you skin it its wet inside. I always replace it will the outside rated wire the jelly filled stuff that works the best.

I've got a few runs of 3" ducting that double as drains for the vaults they are run from... not on purpose mind you! We just have large elevation differences and LOTS of spring snow melt/runoff.