Electrical Wiring and Cat5 question

Ok, my jaw hit the floor when i heard this. I have been doing structured wiring for 10yrs now. I had an electrician tell me that this new yellow coatiing that is on there wire makes the EMI a thing of the past, he ran all the wiring in the same holes, the same chases,etc on a house. I have been trying to reroute some of these cables around the mess, but he is insisting that this yellow cable makes the EMI a thing of the past. Anyone have any info on this? Am I just far behind in the curve on EMI?

Thanks,

Ryan
 
I don't think so! The color coding on what I'm assumming is romex is for the purpose of easier identification of wire size(i.e. 14 ga white/12 ga yellow/10ga orange..). There is no EMI shielding in (NM) romex new or old. I don't have my NEC book with me, but I don't think you can put a low voltage cable in the same hole with high voltage (just like conduit, not that you would want to). I'll sure check this when I get to the book.

I think your ahead of the curve Ryan.
 
I just pulled an all-nighter last night putting new wiring in for a kitchen remodel. I am a big EMI person so of course I used armored cable for all the AC and I still made separate holes for my low voltage wires.

If I had known that magic yellow no-EMI romex was available, I probably could have done the work a lot faster and gotten a few hours of sleep last night!
 
He inisits that this replacement yellow jacket from the previous white is EMI shielded. That he doesnt need to worry about where his cables go, I had the homeowner make a chase for low voltage only, he ran a cable right across it, the wires are just thrown on top of the rafters, if there was a hole for the cat5, he ran his wires down it, if there was a telcom outlet in the wall he ran his wire across it,etc.. My only idea is too take and put the telecom stuff into conduit.

thanks for the info guys :)
 
You probably won't have a problem just because cat-5 is pretty good at rejecting noise on telecom lines. Conduit would probably be overkill for telecom. I just can't believe the inspector is going to let him put AC lines in the same holes as low voltage stuff. (Maybe he will just claim the holes were his and that you are the one who messed up!)
 
Even for the data? I had an arugement on the phone with him a few mins ago, he's running the main feeder cable through the smc wall space, and insits that would cause any problems to the speaker wires, data wires, coax, etc. <shrugh> I told the homeowner to have him sign something to that effect that states he'll come fix it when the speakers are humming..
 
If I were the home owner I would put my foot down NOW. This is a one chance deal. Once the sheetrock is on even if the knowledgable electrician says he'll take ownership nothing will happen.
 
True, I just told the homeowner that, hes contacting the electrician and demanding him to show up on site for a walk through.
 
Wow, ok this one takes all..

The electrician got the electrical inspector to show up as well.

This yellow coated wire does provide some form of EMI shielding, if the structured media panel is grounded to its own ground on the other side of the house from the main ground, the EMI wont effect the structured meda stuff.

So, the inspector says that he will pull the permit for the house on the electrical if the electrician isnt happy on who the low voltage is ran. This place is odd ball..

thanks for your guys input.
 
Ryan,

If you get a chance, can you take a look at the cable and get the manufacturers name and part number (or even the safety registration number, it usually starts with E then digits). I would like to learn more about this miracle cable.

Thanks
 
OK, you can tell this one just hit my button. I am surprised at what I found. From the 2005 NEC:

Installation of Telephone Conductors (Article 800.55(A)(2))
(conductors) shall be seperated by at least 2 in (50 mm) from light and power conductors unless the light and power conductors are in raceway, or in nonmetalic-sheathed cable, Type AC cable or Type UF cable.

There is similar verbage for CATV cables in Article 820.55(A)(2).

...the NM (romex) covers the same hole issue.

OK, it may be to code to put those wires in the same hole but if I'm spending $10,000 to install structured wiring in my house, the wires will be in seperate holes. For those of you that posted "dream house" questions recently remember to spec this issue if you choose a "pro" to install your wiring.
 
Could it be that the "same hole issue" is from a SAFETY standpoint (OK's is safe to run these wires in the same hole), rather then from a performance issue?

ie - UL certification says the product is safe, not that it will work worth a darn.

Just wondering since that is all the reasoning I can see in this spec.
 
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