Cat 5e cables lashed across ceiling

[ForkEnigma]

Doing a commercial EICR, the original electrical is very good, 25 years old, all trunking and conduits, with klicks on tube near as dam it above the light. (This is what I was brought up on) Anyway cat5 or whatever have been lashed across the ceiling no support or anything. Is this now deemed a code 3 as no fire supports have been used?

 

[telectrix]

don't think cat5 cables come under your remit , doing a EICR, unless run in with LV cables and/or posing a hazard/danger.

 

[snowhead]

Are these Cat 5 run above the false ceiling, consisting of a metal grid and drop in / clip in tiles?

 

[ForkEnigma]

don't think cat5 cables come under your remit , doing a EICR, unless run in with LV cables and/or posing a hazard/danger.

Yeah tough one as an observation. As 2 fire personnel have died by being entangled in cables, thus bringing in new regs.

 

[snowhead]

As 2 fire personnel have died by being entangled in cables, thus bringing in new regs.

That's from cables fixed below a ceiling.
If it's a false ceiling, they'll get tripped up by fallen ceiling tiles and grid before they get entangled in Cat 5.

 

[davesparks]

That's from cables fixed below a ceiling.
If it's a false ceiling, they'll get tripped up by fallen ceiling tiles and grid before they get entangled in Cat 5.

The problem with this is establishing whether the ceiling is suitable for taking the weight of the cables, or whether it would fall sooner than it might normally due to the weight of the cables.

In this case its cat5 and unlikely to cause an issue for the ceiling.

But when you consider many ceiling grids seem to be held up by the minimum number of tiny/dodgy fixings possible then a bunch of cat5s may affect it.

 

[Ian1981]

It’s important to remember the voltage bands that bs7671 deals with, so yes ELV cables will come under bs7671 and are code able under bs7671.

 

[davesparks]

It’s important to remember the voltage bands that bs7671 deals with, so yes ELV cables will come under bs7671 and are code able under bs7671.

It's a discussion I've had many times with installers of ELV cabling such as burglar alarm installers, CCTV installers and data monkeys.
They seem to be under the misguided belief that they are exempt from BS7671 requirements and best practice. Oddly this goes hand in hand with the misguided belief that I will agree to run their cables for them, free of charge, or accept their terrible work as a finished job.

 

[Ian1981]

It's a discussion I've had many times with installers of ELV cabling such as burglar alarm installers, CCTV installers and data monkeys.
They seem to be under the misguided belief that they are exempt from BS7671 requirements and best practice. Oddly this goes hand in hand with the misguided belief that I will agree to run their cables for them, free of charge, or accept their terrible work as a finished job.

Yes there’s been many a time where we have installed 3 compartment dado trunking, only to find that they have run their data cables in the same compartment as the LV cables, ? ends.

 

[davesparks]

Yes there’s been many a time where we have installed 3 compartment dado trunking, only to find that they have run their data cables in the same compartment as the LV cables, ? ends.

At least they managed to get inside the trunking!
I've had one where burglar alarm cables were cable tied to the outside of steel conduit which had the burglar alarm cables from the original install inside it, all they had to do was connect to the existing cables and not run any new cable.