I am helping a friend with a new house he's getting built (giving advice on things I've learned and would do different in my next house). One thing that I advised him to do is to have all the network/telephone/coax lines run through conduit. That way, if he needs to add or remove them later, it wouldn't be hard to do (I had to cut a hole in my wall to run some more cables, so I plan on avoiding this in the future).

So, he met with the builder, and told him he wanted that, and they said they couldn't run the cables through conduit because it would be a fire hazard. :eek:

Is that true? I'm scouring the internet to try to find out more information, but haven't had much luck yet. This doesn't make sense to me. I thought some of you guys would probably have run conduit and may have researched the fire hazard issues too? Thanks for your help!

What kind of cables are you planning on running through conduit, and what kind of conduit?

I ran all my speaker wires through 3/4" & 1/2" ENT flex conduit "Smurf tube", and I ran 3" PVC from my equipment closet to my projector location. The inspectors saw them both, and didn't say anything about them. They passed me no problem.

Guy

What kind of cables are you planning on running through conduit,
Network & Telephone: Cat 5e or Cat 6
Coax: RG-6: double or triple shielded

and what kind of conduit?
Flexible conduit. Probably the blue smurf tube stuff. I'm not sure on the brand or details. That's flexible -- he didn't mention any details to the builder. If some flexible conduit is a fire hazard, and some is not, then he'd use the non-fire-hazard stuff.

But, the builder just flat out said that running those cables in a conduit was a fire hazard, so he couldn't do it. :(

He probably just didn't want to be bothered.

He probably just didn't want to be bothered.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking.

Guy

So, he met with the builder, and told him he wanted that, and they said they couldn't run the cables through conduit because it would be a fire hazard.

Bull. In fact, if the cables are not rated for direct in-wall or plenum installation (like a CL-2 or CL-3 rating), then you MUST put them in conduit if they go behind the walls.

That said, you have to have the right kind of conduit and cable for in-wall installation. Certain types of insulation should not be run in the walls because of the gases theygive off if they burn. The idea is that since you can't see it, it's more likely to cause problems before you are aware of the fire.

I can say that the electrical inspector didn't have any problem with the conduits I used for my video feed and speaker cables. I ran everything with plenum-rated cable in non-metallic electrical conduit, and he said nothing about it at all. [I wish I had been so lucky with the temp wiring for lighting - he failed that, and I had to tear it out.]

It's likely that in your municipality there are stringent requirements for firestopping any openings going through the top plate of the wall into any attic spaces. I know in my area, every opening through the top plate has to be sealed to prevent hot gasses, smoke, etc from migrating from the living area into the attic.

That said, there are ways to firestop conduit. I would research the local building codes or you can just call the local building inspection department. I think your builder is just taking the easy way out.

Chuck

Lazy contractor.