canare L-5CFB not in-wall rated? (1 Viewer)

[ThomasL]

Does anyone know if Canare L-5CFB is rated for in-wall use? I see it mentioned a lot here for home installations and runs and I am curious since I can't find a rating for it anywhere.

thanks,


--tom

 

[ThomasL]

In case anyone is wondering other than me, Canare RG6 cable is not rated for any type of in-wall use. I received an e-mail back from the company stating such.


--tom

 

[Rik P]

I use Canare L-5CFB in my walls. Its runs a Very low voltage video signal whats the big deal.? IMO

Question though??

If your building out your room in the sheet rock stage could you run the Canare through a piece of conduit and it be legal.

Rick

 

[ThomasL]

Rik,

The issue has to do with fire-ratings and electrical codes in your area. The voltage carried on speaker wire or coax cable is not the issue. Instead it is the jacket that encases the wire and how resistant it is to fire. The reason that the codes want a flame retardant jacket is that if there is a fire in your wall, the cable won't more quickly spread the fire to all parts of your home. e.g. if you have a cable run from your basement up through to your 2nd floor. There are different levels of ratings. Some are plenum-rated which means that in addition to being flame retardant, the jacket won't give off toxic fumes when it does begin to burn. This type of rating is used for runs that go through air ducts for example. As you can guess, it is so toxic fumes are not spread throughout the structure. For example, Belden's 1694A cable seems to be equivalent to a CL2R rating for use in vertical shafts, up through walls, etc. while their 1695A cable is the highest rated and for use in plenums/air ducts. What your area requires will depend on the local code. Finally, what most people are really paranoid about regarding this is if there is a fire, and someone from the insurance company notices that there was non-rated wire running through walls, there could be hassles. I always make sure to run something that is officially rated for in-wall use with usually a CL2 or CL3 rating if I know it'll be going up into a wall even a few feet.

hope this helps,


--tom