Hey fellows, I had to run some cat6 on the outside of a brick two story building.

No other choice, no where to take it on inside of wall.

There are two runs about 40 foot long.
I ran 3/4 gray conduit and it is about 17 inches up on the biulding from the ground going horizonal.

Wire is not exsposed anywhere.
Do you you all see any promlems with this?
Or how I could improve it.


Thanks,

Some times you gotta do what you gotta do. Sounds like you did the best that could be done with a bad situation. It is high enough that you don't have to worry about weed eaters and other lawn weapons getting into the conduit.
It should be fine! :thumb:

Mike:

You did more than your competition would have done. What you did was the only way to do it correctly; I think by using 3/4" conduit and fittings, you probably maintained minimum bend radius requirements, so it sounds like you are good to go. I say "good job"!

Is it best to use PVC or steel conduit on outside of building?

And if you say steel I guess it needs to grounded?

PVC...Why? It's cheaper, it's easier to work with, and it doesn't corrode. Steel inside for plenum enviroments, firewall penetrations, etc...
If you use steel outside it is always good to ground when possible but it is not always required. If it is within the buildings shadow of protection you shouldn't need the ground.

Well that was my next question and please correct me if I am wrong, but if you ground steel conduit that runs to the outside would'nt you create an oven for the wire inside in the case of an lighting storm?

Agian thanx,

Yes, there is that possibility but if lightining strikes an outside steel conduit it will take the path of least resistance and if the conduit is not grounded it may very well follow your cable to it's terminated end. If that is your telephone system or your data switch it could be very nasty.
Better your cable catch a little heat as the surge goes to ground then the inside equipment taking the hit and getting fried as well as potentially burning the building down.

I installed an exterior version of CAT5(thicker sheath,shielded and jell filled) about 3 years ago between 2 buildings that had no conduit between them and haven't had any problems. I can find the reel and get the manufacturer if your interested.They might have a CAT6 version by now.

Is it best to use PVC or steel conduit on outside of building?

By steel I'm sure you mean EMT conduit (unless you are going to cut and thread). It certainly can be used outdoors but it is pretty much frowned upon because it corrodes so easily and there really isn't much steel there to begin with when it does. Better to use PVC.

As for grounding of EMT, there is no need or requirement as long as it's not likely to become energized. Most times when you are only sleeving LV cables this is going to be true.

I installed an exterior version of CAT5(thicker sheath,shielded and jell filled) about 3 years ago between 2 buildings that had no conduit between them and haven't had any problems.

It's designed for direct burial though I don't think I would want to do it that way unless it was only temporary.

However that is the stuff you would want to pull through buried conduit because the conduit will fill with water eventually.

-Hal

I think in mdaniel's case I would have done the same thing (pvc). An electrician on one of our recent job sites was telling me that rigid steel is the only metal conduit NEC-approved for exterior use, but I haven't read the code myself, so I won't defend this. For underground LV we always use PVC, or maybe I should say the electricians always have "provided" pvc for us. I don't think that 40' of CMR in a pvc conduit should be any problem, since he's above ground and should have minimal condensation. If the conduit were underground, though, I'd be sure to use something rated for the purpose.

An electrician on one of our recent job sites was telling me that rigid steel is the only metal conduit NEC-approved for exterior use, but I haven't read the code myself, so I won't defend this.

No, not true. EMT is and always was approved for outside however most EMT "water proof" compression connectors have recently been DISapproved for outdoor use because they leak like a sieve. There are new approved connectors available incorporating O rings but they are not easy to come by.

So I guess your electrician is correct in a way. Unless you use the new connectors you can't use EMT outside, at least for class 1 wiring.

-Hal

Hal,
Thanks for the clarification. I have a job starting in two weeks with the same electricians.

Bill