# Cat5 for tstat?



## Hippie (May 12, 2011)

Im in a bind and cant find a piece of tstat wire without buying a whole roll that i dont need. will cat5 work or is the wire to small?


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## Hmacanada (Jan 16, 2014)

Hippie said:


> Im in a bind and cant find a piece of tstat wire without buying a whole roll that i dont need. will cat5 work or is the wire to small?


How long is the run and how many conductors do you need?
Could twist pairs together ( parallel ) if you have enough conductors


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## Hippie (May 12, 2011)

Hmacanada said:


> How long is the run and how many conductors do you need?
> Could twist pairs together ( parallel ) if you have enough conductors


i need all 8 for it. however its not long maybe 15' max


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## Hmacanada (Jan 16, 2014)

Hippie said:


> i need all 8 for it. however its not long maybe 15' max


 IMO terminating would be a bit of is an issue with such small conductors but pretty sure it would work fine. Got any 4wire? Run 2 .The guy that has to service it might curse ya. But not really a problem , just tag wires


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## sbrn33 (Mar 15, 2007)

Go to HD and buy a 25 foot piece and do the job properly. You will be glad you did.


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## Going_Commando (Oct 1, 2011)

Hippie said:


> i need all 8 for it. however its not long maybe 15' max


Just go buy some t-stat wire you cheap bastard.


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## Hmacanada (Jan 16, 2014)

sbrn33 said:


> Go to HD and buy a 25 foot piece and do the job properly. You will be glad you did.


They have 8 conductor??


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## Hippie (May 12, 2011)

sbrn33 said:


> Go to HD and buy a 25 foot piece and do the job properly. You will be glad you did.


hd is an hour and a half and a 17$ toll away. no thanks lol


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## Going_Commando (Oct 1, 2011)

Hippie said:


> hd is an hour and a half and a 17$ toll away. no thanks lol


Well, if it is a zone valve setup than you'll smoke the wiring on cat5, so good luck.


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## 8V71 (Dec 23, 2011)

Hippie said:


> hd is an hour and a half and a 17$ toll away. no thanks lol


I'll bet it's nice down there this morning. When my parents had their place in Ocean City I would schedule my first call for Monday somewhere on the other end of the bay bridge tunnel. Nice stress free drive.


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## bkmichael65 (Mar 25, 2013)

You may have a problem with contacts chattering and getting pitted out from the voltage drop. You could always parallel the cat 5. It's kind of hack, but it would probably be fine


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## Pete m. (Nov 19, 2011)

Either rigid conduit with XHHW conductors or MI cable... no exceptions.:whistling2:

Pete


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## FrunkSlammer (Aug 31, 2013)

Instead of bumping down to the lowest AWG cable you have, why not bump up to the next size you have, even if that's 14awg? Its only 15' max you said, and it's your problem for not having any of the proper cable, not the customers.


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## Hippie (May 12, 2011)

FrunkSlammer said:


> Instead of bumping down to the lowest AWG cable you have, why not bump up to the next size you have, even if that's 14awg? Its only 15' max you said, and it's your problem for not having any of the proper cable, not the customers.


i would need 2 14/3 and a 14/2.. thats not going down a tiny hole and into tiny terminals


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## Hippie (May 12, 2011)

8V71 said:


> I'll bet it's nice down there this morning. When my parents had their place in Ocean City I would schedule my first call for Monday somewhere on the other end of the bay bridge tunnel. Nice stress free drive.


it is.. could be a few degrees warmer but im just happy its not raining


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## FrunkSlammer (Aug 31, 2013)

Hippie said:


> i would need 2 14/3 and a 14/2.. thats not going down a tiny hole and into tiny terminals


Tap conductor rule! :laughing:

No seriously though.. could splice smaller conductors on the ends. At least the majority of the run is in oversized copper to eliminate the voltage drop. Just trying to help.. I live far from suppliers and big box stores and often get stuck with the dilemma of how to make things work. It's annoying.


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## sbrn33 (Mar 15, 2007)

cut your 50 foot 16-3 extension cord into 3 pieces.


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## FlyingSparks (Dec 10, 2012)

Order it on the internet! Duh!


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## Awg-Dawg (Jan 23, 2007)

sbrn33 said:


> cut your 50 foot 16-3 extension cord into 3 pieces.


 
I was just thinking the same thing, I would cut my extension cord up before I drove an hour and a half.:laughing:


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## Maximumbob (May 24, 2013)

FrunkSlammer said:


> Tap conductor rule! :laughing:
> 
> No seriously though.. could splice smaller conductors on the ends. At least the majority of the run is in oversized copper to eliminate the voltage drop. Just trying to help.. I live far from suppliers and big box stores and often get stuck with the dilemma of how to make things work. It's annoying.


And then post the pictures with the caption, "Plumber or HVAC guy hack wiring":laughing:


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## 99cents (Aug 20, 2012)

FrunkSlammer said:


> Tap conductor rule! :laughing:
> 
> No seriously though.. could splice smaller conductors on the ends. At least the majority of the run is in oversized copper to eliminate the voltage drop. Just trying to help.. I live far from suppliers and big box stores and often get stuck with the dilemma of how to make things work. It's annoying.


You need to use the 99cents Scientific System of Material Organization...


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## sbrn33 (Mar 15, 2007)

It would be fine in Canada. Really this is just a canadian forum anymore anyway, so go get em eh.


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## Hippie (May 12, 2011)

well unfortunately we wont get to find out. ended up not having to replace the cable like i thought i was


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## geo5509 (Mar 9, 2010)

Hey Hippie, are you on the eastern shore?


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## Hippie (May 12, 2011)

geo5509 said:


> Hey Hippie, are you on the eastern shore?


yeap


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## FrunkSlammer (Aug 31, 2013)

sbrn33 said:


> It would be fine in Canada. Really this is just a canadian forum anymore anyway, so go get em eh.


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## Next72969 (Dec 9, 2012)

i think hes gone? :001_huh:


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## geo5509 (Mar 9, 2010)

Hippie said:


> yeap


Are you anywhere near Cape Charles? I'm doing a whole house rewire up there. If you need something from the southside I could bring it up there when I go back to work on the house.


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## Hippie (May 12, 2011)

geo5509 said:


> Are you anywhere near Cape Charles? I'm doing a whole house rewire up there. If you need something from the southside I could bring it up there when I go back to work on the house.


dude i work in cape charles just about every day actually. i live about an hr north of there though.


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## geo5509 (Mar 9, 2010)

Damn that's a hell of a commute everyday! I work over there several times a year, but coming from across the bridge I need to make every trip count. Finally finished the rough in on this house so next time I will be up there is for the trim. I think I have a pool to do coming up soon.


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## Hippie (May 12, 2011)

geo5509 said:


> Damn that's a hell of a commute everyday! I work over there several times a year, but coming from across the bridge I need to make every trip count. Finally finished the rough in on this house so next time I will be up there is for the trim. I think I have a pool to do coming up soon.


everything here requires a long drive pretty much. where im from a long trip to work used to be 20 minutes so its taken some getting used to being here. i enjoy doing to occasional job in va beach or norfolk just to be back in civilization but like you say every trip has to count


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## Meadow (Jan 14, 2011)

Just because its 24volts or the like doesn't mean it wont burn up under an overload. Some applications pull over an amp on them. 


I think we will die laughing if you burn something up running only 24 volts :laughing::jester:


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## five.five-six (Apr 9, 2013)

Low voltage doesn't mean low current, LOL


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## Hippie (May 12, 2011)

five.five-six said:


> Low voltage doesn't mean low current, LOL
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


the ampacity of #28 is like .8A aparently. im not sure if that would be enough or not, im not very familiar with HVAC controls.

on a similar note, i nearly melted a screwdriver this weekend using it to jumper the starter solenoid on my lawnmower.. definitely was lots of current there lol


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## geo5509 (Mar 9, 2010)

Hippie said:


> everything here requires a long drive pretty much. where im from a long trip to work used to be 20 minutes so its taken some getting used to being here. i enjoy doing to occasional job in va beach or norfolk just to be back in civilization but like you say every trip has to count


I understand that, I moved from the Va Beach area out to the Lake Gaston area for a couple of years about 10 years ago. Couldn't get use to the long commutes and having to drive 30 minutes for a gallon of milk. So back at the beach I am. Anyhow, I'm gonna be in Cape Charles on Saturday, if you need anything form the big box stores let me know.


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## drspec (Sep 29, 2012)

geo5509 said:


> I understand that, I moved from the Va Beach area out to the Lake Gaston area for a couple of years about 10 years ago. Couldn't get use to the long commutes and having to drive 30 minutes for a gallon of milk. So back at the beach I am. Anyhow, I'm gonna be in Cape Charles on Saturday, if you need anything form the big box stores let me know.


Wired a house at Lake Gaston almost 10 years ago.

Wasnt **** there but a Food Lion and an Andy's Cheesesteaks.


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## geo5509 (Mar 9, 2010)

drspec said:


> Wired a house at Lake Gaston almost 10 years ago.
> 
> Wasnt **** there but a Food Lion and an Andy's Cheesesteaks.


I wired a pizza shop and a BB&T in that same shopping center about 7 or 8 years ago.


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