Power and Data in same conduit?

[imageel]

I have an electrician running power using 10mm two core SWA to my shed some 50m distance from my house, and wondered whether it is permissible to run a Cat5 data cable in the same conduit?
Cheers
Ed

 

[ban-all-sheds]

You need to ask your electrician, as it's his professional opinion which counts, not ours.

 

[Paul_C]

SWA in this application would usually be buried directly in the ground, not run through conduit.

 

[imageel]

Paul -apologies for not clarifiying - the swa will be in a conduit buried to whatever is the required depth.
BaS - I just was enquiring whether there are any reasons why it would not be safe to run the data cable in the same conduit or a separate one.
Apart from possible emi interference I can't see any safety issues, or are their?
Cheers
Ed

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Why are you asking us?

Do you not trust your electrician?

 

[holmslaw]

..

 

[imageel]

BAS - If I could reliably get hold of my electrician I would - but he's not answering his phone at present, and I forgot to ask him about the data cabling when he came around to do a survey.

 

[Monkeh]

It will be safe but you might get interference (noise) induced into the data cabling, this can be reduced by using screened data cable.

I wouldn't have thought that'd be an issue with SWA.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

If I could reliably get hold of my electrician I would.

You don't want an unreliable electrician.

Find a new one.

 

[JohnW2]

It will be safe but you might get interference (noise) induced into the data cabling, this can be reduced by using screened data cable.

I wouldn't have thought that'd be an issue with SWA.

The SWA armour will obviously help a lot, but I imagine that a fair bit of field will still get past the armour if/when the cable is carrying high current - in theory twisted-pair communications cables should be largely immune to interference from that, but I don't know to what extent.

However, everyone seems to be overlooking what I regard as one of the more daft bit of the regs - namely that 528.2 requires either a 100mm separation between underground power and communication cables OR a fire-retardant partition between them. Strikes me as daft (and a reg I would personally loose no sleep over violating), but that's what the regs say (and not much better for ELV cables other than communication ones - per 528.1)!!!

Kind Regards, John.

 

[imageel]

holmslaw - I don't trust wi-fi - it can be hacked (I work in IT) - and those homeplugs are as far as I can tell only protected by 56bit DES, so I'd rather minimise risks and go wired

 

[Monkeh]

holmslaw - I don't trust wi-fi - it can be hacked (I work in IT)

Not if you use a VPN over the link.

 

[Paul_C]

However, everyone seems to be overlooking what I regard as one of the more daft bit of the regs - namely that 528.2 requires either a 100mm separation between underground power and communication cables OR a fire-retardant partition between them. Strikes me as daft (and a reg I would personally loose no sleep over violating)

Nor me. There is the long-standing older regulation which required only that when drawn into the same conduit the conductors of the lower-voltage circuit be insulated for the voltage present on the higher-voltage circuit (with the option of a partition in trunking and similar systems as an alternative). Fire-resisting partitions only came into the picture where one of the circuits was actually for a fire alarm.

 

[dormermike]

Wifi is fine if configured properly (WPA2, etc)

Homeplugs similarly are fine if you pick a good one, AES128 is not uncommon:

http://www.ebuyer.com/179960-extra-...gh-powerline-adapter-twin-pack-pi699e2-4u84-3

 

[ricicle]

Don't put the swa in the conduit/duct. Bury it direct in the ground. Run a duct next to it for the network cable, which will ideally be FTP to avoid any interference over that long parallel run.