Can Category Cable be secured to a conduit containing Category Cable?

[dmang]

Hi all,

I have been doing a lot of reading here the past few days. I am trying to determine if a category 5e plenum cable can be affixed to a conduit carrying category 5e plenum cable going to the same location. The current situation is in a retail store where we have conduit going to a cashwrap in which category cabling is installed. We have 3 security cameras above the ceiling grid which is tight to the bottom of the steel beams which are covered with fire retardant. There is no space to affix beam clamps to the beams as they would interfere with the ceiling grid (yes it is that tight). We were thinking of using zip ties to affix the three cables to the 1 1/4" conduit carrying the category cables to the cashwrap. I do not see anything that specifically forbids that situation. Any comments educating me are welcomed. And I am more than willing to read up if someone can point me in the right direction.

Thanks!

 

[hbiss]

No, sorry. You can't use conduit (makes no difference what's in it) or sprinkler pipes, existing MC cables, duct work, ceiling grid support wires, etc, etc., for support. Why can't you pull the new in with the existing runs in the conduit?

-Hal

 

[dmang]

No, sorry. You can't use conduit (makes no difference what's in it) or sprinkler pipes, existing MC cables, duct work, ceiling grid support wires, etc, etc., for support. Why can't you pull the new in with the existing runs in the conduit?

-Hal

The existing runs go to the bottom of the cashwrap. If I did that, I'd have to go back up the wall and into the ceiling cavity. I asked the inspector what his suggestion was to support the wire. He told me he didn't care and if he came back and we hadn't corrected it, he was going to rip out all of our wiring. There is a concrete floor on top of the steel beams with corrugate metal as the bottom of the form. I guess we will have to try to affix to that and go under the steel beams. Seems a little bit non-sensical to me since his concern is that the wire is too close to the grid. Since the grid is tight to the bottom of the beams, I don't know how we can do it any differently. I have another store in the same mall and he is the only inspector so I don't want to piss him off...

 

[roger]

You stated that it goes to the same location so why not install it in the existing conduit?

Roger

 

[sameguy]

What holds the conduit up?

 

[hbiss]

Seems to me that if there is a hung ceiling there has to be space above it. I too would like to know how they were able to get 1-1/4" conduit over to that location but you can't get some little cables along the same route. I understand what you are saying about the grid being tight to the beams, how does the conduit deal with that?

-Hal

 

[dmang]

What holds the conduit up?

It is run in the metal studs in the wall and in the ceiling crawl space. It is held up with unistrut and threaded rods. Once it reaches the low ceiling, the conduit drops into a wall

 

[dmang]

Seems to me that if there is a hung ceiling there has to be space above it. I too would like to know how they were able to get 1-1/4" conduit over to that location but you can't get some little cables along the same route. I understand what you are saying about the grid being tight to the beams, how does the conduit deal with that?

-Hal

See my reply to how the conduit is hung. Once it gets to where the low ceiling is, it dips into the metal stud wall. The cashwrap butts up to the wall and the bottom of the conduit is flex into the cashwrap. We ended up securing tie wire to the low ceiling and using batwing connectors on the tiewire. The cable goes up into the cavities between the beams and dips back down under the beams and back up into the cavity between the next beams. I dont' understand the thinking here. The weight that is put on the cables when it dips down is a concern for certification, not to mention that screws from the drywall could penetrate the cables and we'd have to open the ceiling to fix it. Seems a very unpractical solution to me. This inspector seems to have a stick up his butt for us...

 

[dmang]

You stated that it goes to the same location so why not install it in the existing conduit?

Roger

It goes to the same general area. The conduit it for the cashwrap which butts up to the wall. The conduit turns down and goes 8' into the bottom of the cashwrap. If I used the conduit, I would have to go back up the wall and into the ceiling cavity. It's just a stupid design to tell you the truth. The fire sprinklers run below the drywall. There should have been conduits installed for the cameras in that ceiling. There were conduits installed for all of the wifi access points. Just not a good design.

 

[hbiss]

Pictures would have helped a lot here. This is the first I'm hearing about two levels and sheetrock. I don't think the inspector has it in for you, he's just following what the Code requires. If you had only one cable it would be the same requirement. Nothing to do with weight.

-Hal

 

[dmang]

Pictures would have helped a lot here. This is the first I'm hearing about two levels and sheetrock. I don't think the inspector has it in for you, he's just following what the Code requires. If you had only one cable it would be the same requirement. Nothing to do with weight.

-Hal

The audio guys didn't have to hang their cable, he let them slide just running above the grid in this area...

 

[hbiss]

Ok, so maybe he doesn't like you.:happysad:

-Hal

 

[Adamjamma]

You are lucky. Was doing a simple move a light in a grid one time... no big deal, just a few lights... that ended up right over the food shelves instead of over the aisles... in a shop in Jamaica... the inspector came in..saw me moving the lights, told the owner he was not passing it to reopen the shop until I had fixed all the wiring for the cat5 and audio cables in the ceiling that were run loose... turned a few hours into a few days...
dont know if he did that to help me make money or to hurt me...