RUNNING CABLEWIRE

[ROYJ24]

I have 100' of RG6 cablewire & I want to run it to my garage.
Now 6' of it has to go underground because that part is a
dirt pathway. Could I just bury that wire in the ground or
run thru 1" PVC pipe & then bury that underground? :question:

 

[Dix]

When ever we do any installs which involve cables & underground, we enclose it in PVC or something similar.

The PVC will also help protect the wire if some one's using a shovel or some such device in it's proximity :smirk:

 

[fossil]

I've seen LV coax just set in the dirt as little as 2" beneath the surface. If it were me doing it, I'd run it through a ½" PVC pipe and put it down about a foot or so in the ground, and maybe even toss a little rock rubble or bricks or something in on top before backfilling. Rick

 

[Highbeam]

For those who didn't notice, RG6 is television coaxial cable so no electrocution hazard but if you damage the outer sheathing layers you can suffer signal degradation so I would also protect it while underground by sleeving it. Be sure to keep it dry. I would rather sling it through the air.

 

[fossil]

It'll do fine underground, just like LV (low voltage) phone wires & such. Best if it's a continuous run without connections, but even if that's necessary, there are ways to waterproof them. The purpose for burying it more deeply than required and running it through a sleeve is to protect it from exactly the kind of damage Highbeam mentions. Shortly after I moved into my home in Virginia back in 1995, I ran a riding mower over a high spot behind the house, and my TV coax was so close to the surface there that the blades uncovered it, grabbed it, and wound it up and ripped the hell out of it. When I re-did it, I re-routed it and put all the vulnerable portions down about a foot into the ground. I found that even an underground connection can work just fine if I double shrink-tubed it. Never had another problem with it. Rick

 

[Dix]

Ricks got a good idea, if you can get the wire down that low, other wise I'd do PVC.

All it takes is an errant shovel, or a lawn mower to wreck it.

We've had many "emergency" calls to fix wires that a new landscaper didn't know were there. Both can do quick damage to speaker wires, too :-/

 

[DMX_512]

The buried portion should be "flooded" cable. It has a gooey coating between the pvc jacket and the Braid. Flooded is meant for direct burial. However it is a bit on the pricey side.
You could go with the GR6 in a pvc pipe. You might try to find some 3M "Scotchkote" and seal the ends of the pvc pipe with that.. We would use that if we had to make a connection / splice that was underground.

 

[DMX_512]

As stated earlier though it is just signal wire. No risk of electrocution or anything like that. Perhaps a slightly weak signal(reduced picture quality) but nothing major.
Afterall it is just TV.

Was working on a movie (The Insider) and one of the Hollywood guys had a great t-shirt.
Theatre is art
Movies are life
TV is furniture

 

[John_M]

In all the exterior electrical work I have done for myself and helped others do for themselves, my strong recommendation and expectation is that all underground wiring will be run in minimum 3/4" UL approved, Schedule 40 plastic conduit. 120 volt ac lines are buried approx. 18" and low voltage lines (RG-6 and speaker cables, etc.) are buried approx 12" when possible. To allow future access, we also run a length of nylon stone mason's line in the conduit to allow pulling additionl lines in the future. These conditions provide proper protection to the wire and allow us easier access if repairs are needed.

Some would call this overkill (and perhaps it is), but I sleep better knowing I have done my best.

Good luck with your project.

John_M

 

[SlyFerret]

Unless the insulation on your RG6 coax is rated for direct burial, you'll want to enclose it in a conduit of some sort. For me, it's not so much worrying about cutting the wire with a shovel, but more about using cable with the proper insulation. I wouldn't want to have to pull out the cable and reinstall it in a few years because the insulation deteriorated and compromised the cable.

-SF

 

[Gooserider]

Total agreement with the use of conduit for underground runs. It gives much better protection against "backhoe outages" and allows for better ease in future services and upgrades. IMHO the best approach is to rent a trencher and put the conduit down as deep as you can. DO NOT run AC and low voltage (CATV or data) wires in the same conduit as you will get a potential shock hazard, and likely signal degradation. Avoid filling a conduit more than 60% or so - calculate the areas of your cable end and compare to the conduit area. 3/4" will accomodate as much as four runs of CAT5e, and two of RG6Q, but will be a tough pull, if using that much, go for a bigger conduit.

If you can't run conduit for whatever reason, be sure to use underground burial rated cable - not that this is pricey enough that conduit and normal cable can be cheaper...

Whichever you run, it's a good idea to run a layer or two of yellow caution tape 6-8" above the burried lines - give some warning to the next guy that comes along with a shovel :red:

(Note that while you can run exterior grade RG6 as an aerial run, this is NOT acceptable for Ethernet without considerable extra (and expensive) interconnect / isolation hardware on each end...)

Gooserider