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DJMala · 04-13-2008, 10:10 PM

Probably a slightly weird question... does anyone know how much heat a Cat 5e or Cat 6 cable can tolerate before it fails?

A little background... My cable modem and router live in the living room on the first floor. My office is on the second floor. Ideally, I'd like to have a wired connection between the switch in my office and the router. Ideally, my wife would prefer if I don't make any more holes in the walls and floor than absolutely necessary (i.e. none).

There is a pipe running from the radiator in my office that goes exactly where I need to run the cable, through the wall into the guest room closet and then down into the living room closet, and there is enough of a gap to sneak a network cable through. The problem is that it is steam heat, so the pipes get red hot. I'm not sure of the temps, but borderline too hot to touch, definitely too hot to grab for any length of time.

The cable would most likely only need to contact the pipe where it passes through the wall and the floor. Will a standard cable tolerate this without damage? Is there any kind of "high temp" cable I can get?

04-13-2008, 10:10 PM	#1 (permalink)
DJMala Crazy Location: MA	Heat tolerance of network cables? Probably a slightly weird question... does anyone know how much heat a Cat 5e or Cat 6 cable can tolerate before it fails? A little background... My cable modem and router live in the living room on the first floor. My office is on the second floor. Ideally, I'd like to have a wired connection between the switch in my office and the router. Ideally, my wife would prefer if I don't make any more holes in the walls and floor than absolutely necessary (i.e. none). There is a pipe running from the radiator in my office that goes exactly where I need to run the cable, through the wall into the guest room closet and then down into the living room closet, and there is enough of a gap to sneak a network cable through. The problem is that it is steam heat, so the pipes get red hot. I'm not sure of the temps, but borderline too hot to touch, definitely too hot to grab for any length of time. The cable would most likely only need to contact the pipe where it passes through the wall and the floor. Will a standard cable tolerate this without damage? Is there any kind of "high temp" cable I can get?