Good source for Outdoor Cat 6 cabling?

[Cerpin Taxt]

Like the title says, I'm looking for some inexpensive, yet quality Outdoor Cat 6 cable which I intend to use for wiring a small home network. I'm going to make only 2 runs, so I'll need probably 100-120ft and 60-75ft respectively.

I'm asking on here because preliminary googling only reveals spools of 1000ft minimum which exceeds my requirements.

Here are the basics about what I'm trying to accomplish:

I have a 3-story townhouse. My office is on the ground floor, my HT is on the 2nd floor, and my bedroom is on the 3d floor.

The cable internet source enters the house on the ground floor, where I have the modem and a router. I want to run the Cat 6 cables from the router to the exterior and up the side of the house where it will enter the house again on the 2nd (main) and 3rd (bedroom) floors. I can probably run the cabling behind the rain gutter chutes for the most part.

I realize that this will be 2 independent runs in parallel up the side of the house, and I may also use conduit. Advice with regard to the pros/cons of conduit are welcomed. If I used conduit, would outdoor cabling still be required/recommended?

The nice thing is that the locations where I want to install the RJ-45 faceplates in the walls are essentially aligned vertically among the floors on the same side of the house -- that way I don't have runs going a bunch of different directions.

What measures should I take for lightning protection? What else should I consider?

 

[cmetz]

If you can do this indoors, that's a *much* better idea.

If you do it outdoors between floors of the same structure and use conduit all the way, it should be okay from an electrical safety perspective, but I strongly urge you to have a professional installer do it to be sure. The weather will probably cause trouble to the cable over time, but you could probably replace it when that happens. Make sure to seal the system well to prevent moisture from getting in.

If you use metal conduit, you need to consult local code for grounding requirements.

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

Originally posted by: cmetz
If you can do this indoors, that's a *much* better idea.

I'm sure it would be, however I don't really have easy access to crawlspaces that would allow me to make drops in the walls, and I didn't really want to start drilling thru the floors on the outside of the walls.

If you do it outdoors between floors of the same structure and use conduit all the way, it should be okay from an electrical safety perspective, but I strongly urge you to have a professional installer do it to be sure. The weather will probably cause trouble to the cable over time, but you could probably replace it when that happens. Make sure to seal the system well to prevent moisture from getting in.

If you use metal conduit, you need to consult local code for grounding requirements.

Y'know, it probably would be a pretty easy job for a professional installer, such that it would likely not be a greatly significant expense to me, and it would ensure that a quality job was done. I think I'll call around and see if I can get a reasonable bid on it.

Thanks for your advice.

 

[Modelworks]

If you decide to do it yourself, they make an outdoor cat6 cable that is gel filled for direct burial and also UV resistant.
The stuff is really tough. I have some made by belkin and I think it is about strong enough that you could use it for rock climbing. It is a pain to terminate but it is quality stuff.
This is the stuff:
http://www.cat5ecableguy.com/inc/sdetail/14224