Cat5 broken within jacket

[brantmacga]

i just started a trim-out and when checking my phone lines in the media panel, found 3 that didn't work. i went up in the attic and started tracing the closest one to me back to the media panel. i finally got to a point where i could actually feel the break in the cable without opening it up. i haven't even got to the data lines yet. i've never used this brand of cable that i installed and only did so because that's all they had in-stock at the time. i haven't seen it at the supply house since, so i'm not sure if others had problems w/ it also. i'm going to call tomorrow and find out what type of warranty they might have on it. i'm just wondering if any of you have ever run into this before, and what was the outcome? i'm curious if they're going to pay for the replacement of the cables. its a two story home, so drywall is going to have to come out. i've never broken a cable before and don't think it was my fault by pulling too hard. i always keep plenty of slack behind me to prevent this.

 

[stickboy1375]

Did you test with a cable tester? I've felt strange spots in cat5 before but always just tested them before drywall... I'm sure most cable suppliers test their product before it leaves the factory... but like you said could be a shoddy company...

 

[brantmacga]

yeh i used a cable tester, that's how i found that they didn't work.

 

[jamesguy10]

Wow, thats terrible. If never heard of that before.What brand was the cable?

 

[hbiss]

Perhaps you pulled a little too hard?

-Hal

 

[brantmacga]

Perhaps you pulled a little too hard?

i could see if it were one, but three? i don't think so. like i said, years of pulling cat5 and i've never had one broken. and the three runs are broken between the 700'-850' markers, so its somewhat confined to a specific area of the cable. it was rexel house brand cable. anyhow, i'm just curious about warranty issues.

 

[don_resqcapt19]

I have found jacketed low voltage cable in the past where the wires were open under the jacket. When they make this type of wire it is a continuous process. When they run out of one or more of the conductors, they just overlap a new conductor with the other ones under the jacket. This point is to be identified and cut out of the cable before it is packaged for sale. Sometimes it doesn't get cut out and if you don't see it when it is installed you have a problem. Of course as Hal said the most common cause of opens in small conductor cables is excessive pulling force.
Don

 

[petersonra]

We bought a cable tester after a number of cables we had made failed. Mostly they were just bad workmanship, but we had no way to check them here. The tester has been well work the few hundred bucks we paid for it. We even used it on a customer site to track down a cable that they installed that had failed.

 

[brantmacga]

update: i went to the supply house this morning and told my sales guy what happened. he said they would reimburse me for the cost of replacing the cable, plus any dry wall and paint work that might have to be done. so i'm completely satisfied. this is just one of those lessons learned. from now on i'll test every new box of cable i get before using it and it wouldn't hurt to test each pull at rough in. no more cheapo cable either.

 

[yanici]

This story reminds me of a house wiring job I did about 35 years ago. On the trim out I climbed the extension ladder to install the flood light. I stripped the NM and found the white wire missing. Somewhere in the NM jacket the white wire just dead ended. I had to run a new line back to the box. A few holes, but not too bad.

 

[brantmacga]

the guy i apprenticed for said that happened to him years ago. he said southwire refused to pay for the repairs, and gave him a 250' coil of 12-2 romex.

 

[LarryFine]

the guy i apprenticed for said that happened to him years ago. he said southwire refused to pay for the repairs, and gave him a 250' coil of 12-2 romex.

These days, that's not a bad compensation.

 

[MAK]

I've run into a similar situation but with coax. Had a new 1000' role of RG-59 that was bad. The dialetric would break and short out any time you moved it. I asked our distributor that we bought it from for credit. They refused and I had no way to prove that the reel I had was one of several we purchased from them, other than a piece of paper. Too bad no more business from us.

 

[petersonra]

I've run into a similar situation but with coax. Had a new 1000' role of RG-59 that was bad. The dialetric would break and short out any time you moved it. I asked our distributor that we bought it from for credit. They refused and I had no way to prove that the reel I had was one of several we purchased from them, other than a piece of paper. Too bad no more business from us.

Thats really strange because they can get credit for the reel back from the manufacturer. I have never heard of an electrical distrubutor with such a policy.

 

[George Stolz]

update: i went to the supply house this morning and told my sales guy what happened. he said they would reimburse me for the cost of replacing the cable, plus any dry wall and paint work that might have to be done. so i'm completely satisfied.

Completely satisfied?!? I just jumped out of my seat! I didn't expect that at all, I figured you'd end up with a free roll of Cat-5 and a handshake!

They really seem to want your business, that's really cool.

 

[brantmacga]

i'm fortunate to have a good group of guys at the supply house working with me. i started building relationships w/ most of them when i was still an apprentice, and its paid off. i try to do them right, and they return the favor.