Routing fibre cable through loft space

[Jonwren]

I’ve got a similar situation... Did the engineer run the Fttp through the conduit through the loft in the end ? 

Thanks !

[OldGoat]

The short answer is YES

A  longer answer is after a slight bit of discussion. He came prepared to hammer cleats into  my beams but as I had pre-empted him, I'd laid lengths of large plastic trunking and removed the caps so it could be laid and the caps replaced later.

Wha you have to remember / be aware of it the overhead cable that comes in as a continuois lenght from the pole down to the 'modem' box.

The cable is very stiff and they don't like you to bend it round any tight corners (hence leaving the capping off until he's finished makes life easier for all. I'd designed-in curves to meet the standards - but the techie wasn't having that!  We arrived at a compromise. BT / whoever don't strip out the support wire on the inside run which makes it very stiff - but then it's quite self supporting, thus the trunking isn't really necessary.

10 minutes to run the cable inside and two hours to make the termination. All the perceived wisdom was that the cable would come in pre- terminated lengths - not in my case.....!

However two years + later the installation practices may have changed - they do seem prepared to update their proceduser as they go and in the light of experience.

My cable is 60+ foot long and waves in the wing, but it's as tough as old boots....

Have fun,

Mike

Edit:

I've just looked at the equipment end and seen a very amateurish cut to separate the fober in it's immediate sheath that runs the lasy 10 inches or so into the NTE ar whatever it's called nowadays

[Jonwren]

Great thanks Mike,

I’d already put 22mm pipe through from loft to side of door frame and again through floor to garage (network switches, ups etc). So pushing /pulling the fibre through the pre cut pipe as a protective route should be easy (following existing twisted pair route).

22mm pipe should be wide enough even if Pre terminated as believe drill whole needs to be 12mm.

One pipe is straight, the other curved corrugated flexible but curve radius Is 3 inches at least and I have left a pull wire so hopefully ok

Want to remove any reason they refuse to put the ont where I want it

will see

How far is the run from entering the house to ont ?

Mine is about 15-20 meters

[OldGoat]

Hmmm -

Mine is about 12m including the drop.

I had initially intended to pull the cable through the trunking - but that was ruled out by the OR installer.

He grabbed whatever length of one-end- preterminated cable he had on the van, 

Fixed it to the pole

chucked it over the hedge

attached it to my spare strainer on the eaves (I used to have 2 BT lines to the house)

and threaded the cable through the eaves to me to take up the slack.

The cable is very stiff and surprisingly did not want to be pushed  throughe the condiut - so I took the cover plate off and left it sitting there.

When he was satisfied that the bends were shallow - - he ignored the £2 coin radius as acceptable - settling for sometihng nearer a builder's tea mug. He was petrified about getting any signal loss (it was the first installation that  he'd done and apart from being slightly less tidy that I had anticipated, it made no odds to me (just left bits of cable haning out of the condiut in four places.

You may have to retthink your corrugated section - put the cable into a sleeve of  5/8" hosepipe, mebe??

[Jonwren]

Good thinking re the corrugated, will replace with thick walled (22mm 16mm internal) pipe to avoid kinking - should prevent any snagging and should still pull through 

Thanks 

[OldGoat]

Just a further thought -

Depending on where you are overhead installations are not that common and there may not be a huge amount of expertise locally, thus ther might be some resitance to your chosen route. OTOH the installer may have had a lot of experience in running cables in roof spaces and the whole thing may be a breeze. He may be on a tight schedule and therefore  will choose the easiest route. Sod's law says that may not be what you want - hence your query.

I also thing there's an assumption that the fibre will follow the same route as any current copper cable, certainly as far as the overhead 

I believe you are entitled to ask for a pre installation survey so that snags can be eliminated 'up front'

If possible make sure that there are access points to the trunking along the route and particularly where there are any bends.