failed inspection cat6 cable not to code

W

WD40

Member
Location
Philly
Occupation
Electrician
We recently did some work on a medical office, its all done now but the inspector looked at one of the empty cable boxes and is saying its the low voltage cable does not meet several NEC sections. Are there special requirements for cat 6 cable in a medical office?
Pretty typical office space, drop ceiling, all I did was pull the cable and I.T. company did the rest, they even provided the cable which obviously was a mistake, but I am not up on low voltage code so I figured its harmless.
I was not there to meet the inspector that time and its the only thing holding up a CO, I emailed the agency for more info but would like your opinions.
The specs on the box don't say much;
Key Features
  • Copper Clad Aluminum
  • 4 Pair Solid Twisted Wires
  • 23 AWG
  • 550 MHz Speed
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You need to see what the insulation is
Look for something like Plenum or Riser rated.
 
Is the drop ceiling an air handling space, or is all return air ducted? Would need plenum rated cable if it is an air handling space. Sometimes inspectors assume areas are plenum when in fact they are ducted. They need to look if that is the violation.

Did you support and secure that cable at proper intervals to proper structure (not to conduits or pipes)?
 
Who provided the cable? You or the IT guy? The fact that it's copper clad aluminum pretty much means it's cheap unlisted junk off of ebay.

Does it say on the jacket either CMR or CMP? Bet it says nothing. If you are running it in air handling space above the ceiling, you have to use a plenum rated cable which would be CMP. Otherwise, a riser rated cable (CMR) is fine.

So, whoever supplied the cable learned an expensive lesson. Now it all has to be ripped out and re-run with the proper cable from a reputable supplier. No, cable ain't cheap but how is that compared to having to re-do everything when you got busted?

-Hal
 
Yeah, it is a mistake to use CCA cat6 in a medical office, or in my opinion, anywhere. Someone is going to want to use Power over ethernet at some point. I would rip it out and put in cat6A copper plenum rated cable, if the HVAC is ducted above the ceiling. Hard to believe the IT company chose CCA cable.
 
I agree with Hal, the cable is garbage.

I get why DIY's are attracted to the slightly better price of CCA cable and don't understand the difference. I don't get why I.T. and LV professionals have started using the crap. They are taking a big risk when it doesn't work. The savings is not that much. The labor to install and terminate cables is where most of the cost is.

I will only use well know name brands from US companies. They may have the cables manufacture overseas but they control the manufactures and stand behind the products.

When I have looked at online pricing of CCA cable it is typically more expensive than my price for name brand CU cables from my suppliers.
 
solarken said:
Yeah, it is a mistake to use CCA cat6 in a medical office, or in my opinion, anywhere. Someone is going to want to use Power over ethernet at some point. I would rip it out and put in cat6A copper plenum rated cable, if the HVAC is ducted above the ceiling. Hard to believe the IT company chose CCA cable.
Click to expand...
A large portion of the network cables installed today in commercial buildings are being used for PoE. Most desktop phones are now PoE, WAP's, cameras,.........
 
Another big scam is STRANDED cable being sold cheap to unsuspecting people. Stranded cable is meant to be used in the fabrication of patch cables, but people use it for building wire because they got a great deal and can't figure out why their punch downs (that are made for solid wire) cause so many problems.

-Hal
 
solarken said:
Yeah, it is a mistake to use CCA cat6 in a medical office, or in my opinion, anywhere. Someone is going to want to use Power over ethernet at some point. I would rip it out and put in cat6A copper plenum rated cable, if the HVAC is ducted above the ceiling. Hard to believe the IT company chose CCA cable.
Click to expand...
I meant Riser cable if HVAC us ducted, plenum cable if ceiling cavity carries the return air without ducts.
 
solarken said:
I meant Riser cable if HVAC us ducted, plenum cable if ceiling cavity carries the return air without ducts.
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The minimum you should be using is riser. Not sure about CAT cables, but with coax there is a straight CM or CMX. That has a limited use in residential.

There is no special requirement for medical facilities.

-Hal
 
The only electrical issue a AHJ would be concerned with is the type of cable, riser or plenum. Where I worked we just used plenum for everything
 
don_resqcapt19 said:
If the cables supply power as well as carry data, the conductors must be copper. 725.144
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Thanks everyone what a bummer, I completely missed the copper clad aluminum part. Also apparently some of the ceiling space might be a plenum, but I think some of the HVAC was redone some years back so patient care does not use a common plenum.
either way it looks like this cable is going in the dumpster.
The IT people throw around so many fancy terms I have no idea what they are talking about so I figure they know to get the correct cable turns out no they don't have a clue about the cable.
hbiss said:
Who provided the cable? You or the IT guy? The fact that it's copper clad aluminum pretty much means it's cheap unlisted junk off of ebay.

Does it say on the jacket either CMR or CMP? Bet it says nothing. If you are running it in air handling space above the ceiling, you have to use a plenum rated cable which would be CMP. Otherwise, a riser rated cable (CMR) is fine.
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It had some printing on it but not CMR or CMP, the IT guy supplied it, I should have known better than to just install it, thats the problem with customers providing materials and being in a rush these days.
Are there any other special requirements for data cable in a medical clinic?
Thanks everyone lesson learned.
 
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WD40 said:
Are there any other special requirements for data cable in a medical clinic?
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I can't think of anything outside the riser/plenum issue when it comes to "special," though it would have been helpful if the AHJ had noted specifically what was being flagged. I'll admit I've never heard of CCA for this stuff before (we'd never be caught dead using it in the first place), though I have encountered copper clad steel for RG-6/Q (works fine for cable television and DOCSIS internet, but not satellite).
 
I don't have a specific problem with CCA but the cost difference is so little that it is not worth the headache of getting something that turns out to be unsuitable for reasons not obvious upfront.

I had not thought about the difference between solid and stranded. We don't use punch down blocks for anything so it is not an issue. These days, mostly I buy premade cables because I can get a premade cable that is made and tested by a machine and costs 5-10% of what just the labor is to makeup and test a handmade cable. But most of our cables are inside a control panel. Sometimes the extra cost of making up a cable in the field is worth it, or it is not my problem so I don't care about the cost, or even if it is made up correctly. That is the problem of the people that do the work.
 
tom baker said:
Where I worked we just used plenum for everything
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They must have had a lot of money or didn't do much data work. Last I looked, plenum was almost twice that of riser. I used to put maybe eight 1000' reels of cable on a Greenlee wire cart so we could pull that number of runs at once. That's a lot of money right there. I think Belden gets over $800/1000' right now... depending on the color.

-Hal
 
WD40 said:
The IT people throw around so many fancy terms I have no idea what they are talking about so I figure they know to get the correct cable turns out no they don't have a clue about the cable.
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Good thing is, now you get to re-pull it all and charge them for a second installation. :cool:
 
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