Riser vs Plenum - Which Cat5e Cable To Get?

[DaCurryman]

OK, so I was in Lowe's today looking to pick up some Cat5e cable to run in my house. We're doing some remodeling, so I figured while the walls are torn down, I can run the cable between the rooms/floors that I want.

The main connection will be in my home theatre in my basement. I wanna run wiring from there to 2 other rooms in the basement and also to the 2nd floor of the house (we're building a 2nd floor on top of the 1st floor).

I saw two types of cable in the store....I didnt know which one to pick, so I'm asking all of you geniuses.

Riser: It said that it was good for wiring from floor to floor. Requires conduit. $0.09 /foot
Plenum: It said that it was good for wiring from room to room. Does not require conduit. $0.22 /foot

Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[imported_Paladin]

Originally posted by: DaCurryman
....
I saw two types of cable in the store....I didnt know which one to pick, so I'm asking all of you geniuses.

Riser: It said that it was good for wiring from floor to floor. Requires conduit. $0.09 /foot
Plenum: It said that it was good for wiring from room to room. Does not require conduit. $0.22 /foot....

The difference is in the jacket. Riser is PVC, Plenum is Teflon. PVC, in a fire, releases horrid toxic fumes; Teflon doesn't. In case of fire, I wouldn't be anywhere fumes might be released. Unless your local fire code requires plenum I would go with the riser cable. It is a lot easier to work with.

If you need one cable, run two.

 

[DaCurryman]

Originally posted by: Paladin
The difference is in the jacket. Riser is PVC, Plenum is Teflon. PVC, in a fire, releases horrid toxic fumes; Teflon doesn't. In case of fire, I wouldn't be anywhere fumes might be released. Unless your local fire code requires plenum I would go with the riser cable. It is a lot easier to work with.

If you need one cable, run two.

How do I find out whether or not my local fire code requires it? Like who should I be calling....the fire dept.?

Also, what do you mean the riser is easier to work with, because they both seemed very bendable/twisty.

Lastly, what do you mean if I need one, I should run two? So basically double the wiring everywhere leaving one set just laying there not crimped to anything?

Thanks for your help!

 

[ScottMac]

Riser cable has a strength member (helps prevent stretching in floor-to-floor vertical installations).

Plenum cable uses jacketing with a higher flash-over point (but is still toxic when it burns). Teflon jacketing hasn't been available for years (outlawed with other PTFEs). The jacketing is generally stiffer and smaller diameter. It should only be terminated at a punchblock - it doesn't properly strain-relief using a mod plug - the jacketing pops out of the connector.

Given the choice of the two, riser is the better candidate for your stated intent.

Given the burning toxicity of current common building materials, a little bit of smoke from some cabling isn't going to make the slightest difference. The reference relates to use in an "air plenum space," and still doesn't make a bit of difference in 99.999% of any home installation.

The third kind of cabling jacket you can choose is "LSZH" - Low Smoke, Zero Halogen - which gives off the least toxic fumes when it burns.

If you put in the cabling, and it's not up to code, you'll get to do it again until it meets the code (assuming your second floor construction is being inspected). Read up on the code and do it right the first time. Some areas (like Chicago) have code that says even "plenum-rated" cabling needs to be in conduit (for commercial facilities ...). If you have a data-cabling-aware electrician pull the cabling, it should meet the code (if it doesn't, he should re-do it until it does for no extra cost).

FWIW

Scott

 

[imported_Paladin]

What he said.

As for running the extra cable -- in my professional experience, if you do run the spare you will not need it. If you do not you will need it and not be able to run it. It is cheap insurance.

 

[skyking]

Plan your data runs to be at least 2 feet away from any parallel power runs. Crossing power at 90 degrees is OK and necessary most times, but paralleling it closely is bad news. Think long and hard about intercom runs, speaker runs, extra phone runs. Think about establisihing a conduit route that you can add wires to later, after the construction is finished.
I cannot reitereate enough the extra run concept.

 

[netsysadmin]

To add to all the info...Home Depot usually has better pricing on Cat5e than Lowes. A 1000ft spool is usually in the mid $50 range at HD.

John