# CAT-6 conduit fill



## kbsparky

I am on a project where they want 54 CAT-6 cables installed in EMT.

We are trying to decide whether we can fit them all into (2) runs of 2" EMT, or will we have to install (3) runs? We'd need to install 27 cables into each run if we do it with 2 pipes, or 18 cables into each one with 3 pipes.

These runs will have 3-90s in them, along with a couple of offsets. Total distance from one end to the other is approx 70 feet.

Are there conduit fill tables that I have missed? Or can we jam `em in there `till they pop? :whistling2:


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## wildleg

I don't think you've missed anything. If you go with the 2 conduits, can you please post pics of the cable in them ? thx


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## five.five-six

Conduit fill tables are for heat derating That doesn't come into play for cat 5, so I would assume not. have you considered 100 pair cat5e? it's only 1" in diameter. You would only need 2 of those and (4) 4pair.

http://hyperline.com/catalog/cable/utp-c5-so-multi.shtml


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## wildleg

five.five-six said:


> Conduit fill tables are for heat derating That doesn't come into play for cat 5, so I would assume not. have you considered 100 pair cat5e? it's only 1" in diameter. You would only need 2 of those and (4) 4pair.
> 
> http://hyperline.com/catalog/cable/utp-c5-so-multi.shtml


if they spec''d cat 6, why would he put in 5e ?


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## kbsparky

Specs call for CAT-6. No can do with anything cat-5

They are supplying the cables in any case. I just install `em ...


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## five.five-six

wildleg said:


> if they spec''d cat 6, why would he put in 5e ?


I misread


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## sarness

Unless you run innerduct, pack it full, otherwise some sub apprentice will come along and burn the jackets next wire they add.


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## FrunkSlammer

Holy shiznit that's a lot of utp.


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## five.five-six

ehh, I have done houses with more.


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## Wired4Life10

FrunkSlammer said:


> Holy shiznit that's a lot of utp.


Yea that's truly not much. Most houses I do consist of cat, speaker, 22/4 alarm, and coax. After all is said and done, most will end up with more than 130 total runs with at least 40 being cat. Business for us is anywhere from 8-120 and enterprise is normally 300+ PER FLOOR.


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## FrunkSlammer

Yeah the house I'm working on now must have about 20 runs of cat6, 40 runs of cat5, 16 runs of rg6 and 12 runs of speaker.. and they all go off in different directions.

It's just a different world to me to put them all in one pipe. Can't believe there isn't a better way.


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## OaklandElec

I'm pretty sure you can only install 1 Cat6 per 4"


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## Wired4Life10

OaklandElec said:


> I'm pretty sure you can only install 1 Cat6 per 4"


You must have seen the same install I came across today. Apparently you also can't firestop it or it won't pass inspection...


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## mikeh32

there are fill rules for low voltage wires


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## chewy

FrunkSlammer said:


> Yeah the house I'm working on now must have about 20 runs of cat6, 40 runs of cat5, 16 runs of rg6 and 12 runs of speaker.. and they all go off in different directions.
> 
> It's just a different world to me to put them all in one pipe. Can't believe there isn't a better way.


Why the **** would you run cat6 and cat5? Just do everything cat5


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## five.five-six

chewy said:


> Why the **** would you run cat6 and cat5? Just do everything cat5


because cat 6 is faster


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## chewy

five.five-six said:


> because cat 6 is faster


I meant all in cat6, my initial anger caused a typo.


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## LoVolt134

Go to any cable manufacturer website, and you can find the fill ratio. For comm cable, its not about heat derate, its about keeping the bend radius. To many cables in one bundle and funny things start to happen like losing connectivity at the desktop.

Sent from my SM-G900P using electriciantalk.com mobile app


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## FrunkSlammer

chewy said:


> I meant all in cat6, my initial anger caused a typo.


I just ran cat6 to places where data transmission COULD one day utilize the speeds.. the other simple communication junk is all cat5e. Cat6 costs quite a bit more than cat5e here.


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## pete87

LoVolt134 said:


> Go to any cable manufacturer website, and you can find the fill ratio. For comm cable, its not about heat derate, its about keeping the bend radius. To many cables in one bundle and funny things start to happen like losing connectivity at the desktop.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G900P using electriciantalk.com mobile app


That would be my concern . His 70' Length is small . I would bend my own sweeps anyway 

LBs are great for Cat Suff.


Pete


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## five.five-six

FrunkSlammer said:


> I just ran cat6 to places where data transmission COULD one day utilize the speeds.. the other simple communication junk is all cat5e. Cat6 costs quite a bit more than cat5e here.


Are you wiring a lot of central offices and ISPs? CAT6 can effectively transport a 1 GB HDD every second. That's a hella big pipe.


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## mikeh32

I work for a large financial establishment. 

I guarantee you they need cat6a, and even utilize fiber to the pc


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## Edrick

five.five-six said:


> Are you wiring a lot of central offices and ISPs? CAT6 can effectively transport a 1 GB HDD every second. That's a hella big pipe.


1Gb is not the same as 1GB. Gigabit and Gigabyte are two different terms.


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## five.five-six

Edrick said:


> 1Gb is not the same as 1GB. Gigabit and Gigabyte are two different terms.


Yes, engineered at 70% (about the upper limit for a single collision domain) it's about a 90MB pipe, which is about the same as an OC-192. How many boxes have you worked with that can read or write at a sustained 90MB/sec rate? 

A blu-ray plays at about 4.5MBPS, so it's 20 movies simultaneously on a 10Gb pipe.. at 70%. 

These are carrier backbone speeds.


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## sarness

My nas will sustain 112mb (on large files)


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## Edrick

five.five-six said:


> Yes, engineered at 70% (about the upper limit for a single collision domain) it's about a 90MB pipe, which is about the same as an OC-192. How many boxes have you worked with that can read or write at a sustained 90MB/sec rate? A blu-ray plays at about 4.5MBPS, so it's 20 movies simultaneously on a 10Gb pipe.. at 70%. These are carrier backbone speeds.


Quite a few actually but I work in a different environment I provide media / cabling services to a production world where we're working with raw uncompressed footage. Shared media space for 4k video.


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## five.five-six

sarness said:


> My nas will sustain 112mb (on large files)


That's 14MB, fairly fast. 

4k video requires just under 4Gbsp, so that's (2) uncompressed 4K videos on every 10G link.


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## lortech

*you mean it has a wider bandwith*

350 mhz to be exact. 

BTW, just because it is rated for 1 Gig, does not mean your cable will achieve that bandwith. also, Packet overhead will limit usable data bandwidth. I have not kept up on usable vs overhead, but in the late 2000s, it was a 50/50 for overhead/usable data usage depending on what is crossing the wire. 



five.five-six said:


> because cat 6 is faster


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