FTTP failed install due to "fire risk"

[TrevorPH]

I ordered a new FTTP install from EE and Openreach sent a contractor round today to do the install. He took one look and  refused to do it as I asked him to route the fibre down through my lightwell and through a window frame into my basement where I have all my network kit, UPS etc. Apparently this is a "fire risk" though when I asked him to elaborate exactly how it was a risk, he was unable to do so.

I had a quick Google and some of the reasons that comes up with appear to be that drilling a hole might interfere with any inbuilt fire protection in the wood frame but since the window is 130 years old I think we can safely assume there is no fire protection that might be affected. It also says that the hole might allow oxygen to enter and feed any fire that might break out but, again this is a 130 year old sash window that rattles in the wind and has gaps all over the place so one more hole will make zero difference. There's also already a BT drilled hole in the window frame exactly where I want the cable to come in with a G.Fast copper cable going through it to a master socket 5C mounted on the wall. That's been out of use for at least 9 months so can be removed and the existing hole reused.

His suggested alternative was to drill a new hole in my wall upstairs and route the cable through that and mount the ONT in the wrong room on the wrong floor. I'd need to buy a new UPS to use that and then run ethernet cables from the basement to upstairs just to run the WAN cable. He's obviously never drilled through house walls like mine which are made of bungaroosh which is a unique material used by Victorian builders in Brighton made of lime plus whatever they could scoop off the beach and contains rocks, bits of wood and huge chunks of flint. It's not a cavity wall so it's an 18" drill through solid material full of undrillable flint. 

So, my question: was he just being a jobsworth? And if a different engineer turns up for the next appointment which is already booked for the 22nd, will he say any different? Am I being unreasonable in asking them to put the socket where I want it rather than where they think it's best? 

The only possible fire risk that I can see with this install is the remote possibility that lightning might strike the telegrph pole on the other side of the road then burn across 30 feet of cable insulation then all the way down my outside wall and the lightwell and finally set fire to the window frame. I think I might start doing the lottery because it'll have better odds than that happening.

Trevor

[36ULW]

Openreach won’t allow their DL and or their Contractors to drill through wooden window frames, in fact they’re not allowed to drill through any window or door frame.

Why can’t it be drilled into the wall by or near the window frame?

[TrevorPH]

There is no wall to drill into, it's all window and frame - the entire basement wall is underground and there's a lightwell with a cavity that you can stand up in with an iron set of bars over the top at pavement level. To drill a hole in the wall surrounding it you would dig to excavate the pavement outside and dig down and then it would emerge near the ceiling in the basement. Also they don't need to drill, there is already a hole that was drilled by Openreach in about 2019  for a G.Fast connection and already has an Openreach copper cable running through it.

[chrisjp]

I wonder, if you drill a hole yourself through your window frame, whether Openreach allows their technician to push the cable through it?
I am puzzled why Openreach won't drill holes though wooden window frame. This used to be the default way of getting outside cables into a house, and there are loads of aerial cables fed this way. It seems to me to be much preferable to drilling through thick walls or cavity walls where the drill might damage embedded pipes or electric cables.

[licquorice]

Fine until the wooden window frame is replaced by a uPVC window!

[TrevorPH]

I live in a conservation area and am not allowed to make any changes to the external look of the property so I would have to replace like with like. And I'd rather repair than replace since it's the last original window left in the house.

In case it's not obvious, my house butts right onto the street and my front door opens onto the pavement. Immediately outside my house, next to my front wall, there is a hole in the pavement that is approx 4' by 1' with an iron grille over it to stop people falling into it. Under that there is a 6' deep hole in the ground that's the same 1' width as the grille plus the width of the wall of my house as it open directly into my basement room. The window plugs the 4'x6' hole where the lightwell and is a 130 year old sash. 

[licquorice]

I was speaking generically, not specifically. Drilling through window frames is an extremely bad idea. Even in your situation, it makes repair/ replacement difficult.

[WSH]

I suspect the real reason here has more to do with the fact that fibre won’t tolerate the tight bends that the old copper would and is also somewhat more fragile when it comes to pulling and pushing it through awkward holes.

[chrisjp]

I would have thought that pulling or pushing a fibre cable though a ~2 to 3" thick window frame would be less likely to damage it than doing the same through a a 7 to 8" thick cavity wall with 2 separate walls and a cavity to get through.

[WSH]

According to the OP's description, it sounds more difficult to get to than that.  I think it's something we'd need to see to really understand though.  Just a thought, as the fire risk explanation sounded a bit strange.

(And I believe when it goes though a cavity wall it is inside a tube so it can deal with the cavity).