tschmidt
Premium,MVM
join:2000-11-12
Milford, NH
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| reply to sponk
Re: New house: cat5e/cat6 type for wiring?
Unshielded twisted pair is the most common type of wiring in the US. Cat 5e supports up to Gig Ethernet at 100 meters. Cat 6A 10Gig at 100 meters. Unless you think Gig is not fast enough Cat 5e is the sweet spot. PVC insulation is cheaper then Plenum rated cable. Only need Plenum if you are running wire in air handling spaces. That is not common for residential.
No mater how carefully you plan you will find out after you move in that it would be nice to have a phone, Network, or TV drop in an area you did not anticipate. The life expectancy of a typical house is probably a hundred years. It is impossible to anticipate change over that long of a time frame. In addition to running cables install some empty conduits between various locations in the house so if you need to add wiring later it will be easier to do.
Hubbell has a number of technical papers on premise wiring and I've written about my experience setting up a home LAN:
»www.hubbell-premise.com/
»www.tschmidt.com/writings/HomeLAN2009.htm
/tom |
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sponk
join:2005-01-03
Mississauga | Thanks for the link to the technical papers as well as your own lan setup writeup. I'll give them a read now! |
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leibold
Premium,MVM
join:2002-07-09
Sunnyvale, CA
clubs: 
| reply to tschmidt
said by tschmidt  : Only need Plenum if you are running wire in air handling spaces. That is not common for residential. That statement is correct, but consider using plenum cable even if you are not required to use it.
Plenum rated cable (CMP) retains its fire retardant properties even in the presence of active air flow which provides fresh oxygen to the fire.
Riser rated cable (CMR) while also fire retardant does not provide the same level of protection. If cost is an issue and plenum rated cable is not required by applicable codes, then at least use riser rated cable.
General purpose (CM and CMG) and unrated cable have very little fire retardant properties or none at all and will rapidly spread the fire through the property.
All cables regardless of their rating will burn when exposed to a sufficiently hot flame and all will produce toxic smoke when burning. However plenum rated cables will produce far less smoke and flame then any other cables.
For a residence a single 1000' spool is usually sufficient and upgrading from general purpose to plenum rated cable will only add about $100 to the cost of the project.
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PolarBear
The bear formerly known as aaron8301
Premium
join:2005-01-03
 ·CableOne
| If your house is burning down, who gives a shit if the cable burns, too?
If the cable is what started the fire in the first place, well, HOW?!? Unless he's using cat5e to power a welder, I think he'll be fine.
Also, (if the house is burning down) with the amount of smoke coming from the house and all the various materials in it, I doubt a tad more smoke from a little cat5e cable is going to make a difference.
Plenum cable is simply NOT necessary in a residential installation.
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tschmidt
Premium,MVM
join:2000-11-12
Milford, NH
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| said by PolarBear :If your house is burning down, who gives a shit if the cable burns, too? The reason for Plenum rated cable is to delay the onset of combustion until the space is already incompatible with life. This is important if cable is in air handling ducts but I agree it is overkill for residential use.
/tom |
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tmh
@qwest.net
| reply to leibold
said by leibold :That statement is correct, but consider using plenum cable even if you are not required to use it. That might be overkill.
Plenum cables minimize the emission of smoke and toxic gases when heated. That's important in the plenum because the ducts are used for ventilation and will spread toxic gases rapidly throughout the building much faster than a localized fire. In fact, intelligent HVAC systems are designed to shutdown when smoke detectors signal that a fire is present.
It's much less of a problem outside the plenum. In a fire, there's plenty of other toxic stuffbeing released, the additional pollutant from the cable isn't going to make any difference. |
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