I'm working on a redo of my upstairs bonus room for my HT. I've got a cabling question, but it's not about the room itself. At the moment, we're putting in a pool in the back yard...the HT is later this Spring/Summer, but I want to get this right the first time.

Our pool contractor has made plans to run conduits (PVC chase pipes) under a set of stone steps for cabling; we may want to use the conduit now, but certainly in the future if we ever need to re-route our cable, phone, etc., we won't have to remove the steps, concrete, etc. The steps are the most narrow place to go under as the bulk of the rest of that part of the yard will be a concrete patio.

Here's the question: Is there a problem running the different cables in close proximity to each other? The contractor has planned a 4" Gray PVC pipe under the steps with multiple 3/4" pipes within the 4" pipe. The smaller pipes would contain individual cables for:
a.) cable TV/internet,
b.) phone,
c.) low-voltage (12V) ground level landscape lighting,
d.) high-voltage (120V) lighting (lanterns on posts), and
e.) {possibly} the feed to the pool pump (120V).

We'd like to consolidate as much as possible, but I don't want any of the signals from cable and phone degraded, either. I know there's rules about speaker wires and video cables running 90° across power cables, but I didn't know if that also applied here.

Any suggestions if there's any problems with any or all of these close together?

Thanks!

Harry

The twisted pair design of telephone and network cables cancels the majority of interference from outside sources and quad-shield coaxial cable does the same, but I'd guess it's still a good idea not to run low voltage wiring of any kind within the same conduit as the 120 VAC lines. The pipe-within-a-pipe approach your contractor suggests may address that concern, though. I'd think the 120 VAC for the pump motor would generate the largest amount of potential interference anytime the pump starts/runs/stops.

Can your contractor provide examples of other clients' installations where the pipe-within-a-pipe technique is used? That's probably the best way to see for yourself.