Cable Drop

[PerpetualLeakingRoof]

Hi,

I've got to put a cable drop in our house. The overall drop is about 10m for the longest cables. There are two sets of cables: data and some power (2.5mm ring mains). I was thinking of installing two vertical trays / wire baskets one for the data and one for the power then cable tying the cables to them during their vertical run.

Is this the best way to do this? If it's is a problem for the power cables they could probably be clipped to the wall but I'd rather not - the wall would require significant repair before clipping.

 

[Steve]

What sort of house is this? Are the cables dropping down a wall? Or in the middle of the room? The circumstances are unclear.

 

[PerpetualLeakingRoof]

It's a four story (inc cellar) house. There is currently a 4" foul drain running internally from the cellar to the top floor with ample space available beside it to fit cable trays. The drain and cables will, obviously, be boxed in after work is complete.

Some of the data cables need to go from the cellar all the way to the loft, the power cables only need to go to the first floor. All this is happening in the corner of each room the drain passes though.

 

[rebuke]

Your plan sounds fine - a suggestion would be that when boxing it in, make some parts of the boxing in a sort of access panel - either magnetically attached or screwed in or whatever, then if you want to add cables in the future, you can just open up the panels, and use cable rods to do the rest.

Assuming you're intending to use metal cable tray, obviously make sure it's appropriately earthed (I'm not sure exactly what the requirements are here, someone else might know more), and you'll need an appropriate separation between the power and signal trays to avoid interference etc.

Another solution might be dual compartment trunking, but you'll have issues securing the cables in that, as a 10m drop is too much to just let them rest in...

 

[Zambezi]

Cable tray or basket is widely used in commercial situations but not really in domestic. There is nothing wrong with using them in a domestic property, they make a nice neat job. I would earth the cable trays though.

 

[PerpetualLeakingRoof]

Cheers, cable tray it is then. I'm glad to know that it's ok to run the power cables in a tray too as that will make my life a lot easier. Thanks for the reminder to earth the tray I might have forgotten to do that otherwise. I have a country mile of 4mm earth cable I assume that would be good enough?

I intend to allow as much space as possible between the power and data cables but I would guess that is going to be about 10 to 15 cm. I'm planning to use fully shielded cables though. I'm hoping that will enough to prevent problems.

I realize that cable trays aren't commonly used in residential situations but I've found out over the last year that I've been doing this place up _nothing_ is normal about it!