Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community  

Go Back   Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community > Interests > Tilted Technology


 
 
LinkBack Thread Tools
Old 02-01-2006, 11:26 AM   #1 (permalink)
The Death Card
 
Ace_O_Spades's Avatar
 
Location: EH!?!?
Running cable through heat vents

Well I live in a finished house and my roommate got a computer, and wants to see if I can hook her up to the network.

Getting a wireless router and two wireless cards isn't a financial option, so barring massive structural damage to the house the only way I can see to get the cable to her room is through the duct.

Is this even an option? Will it get too hot? Her room is above and beside mine in the house, and it would be extremely simple to get the cable to her room through the vent.

Cure my ignorance.
__________________
Feh.
Ace_O_Spades is offline  
Old 02-01-2006, 11:30 AM   #2 (permalink)
Getting it.
 
Charlatan's Avatar
 
Super Moderator
Location: Lion City
Ace... as long as the cables are fire retardant this shouldn't be a problem (i.e. you don't want them to spread a fire from one room to another).
__________________
"My hands are on fire. Hands are on fire. Ain't got no more time for all you charlatans and liars."
- Old Man Luedecke
Charlatan is offline  
Old 02-01-2006, 11:41 AM   #3 (permalink)
Comedian
 
BigBen's Avatar
 
Location: Use the search button
I know from personal experience that wiring is easy through the duct work, but in my case it has always been in the COLD-AIR duct work, instead of the heat vents.

Do you have a cold-air return to your furnace? If so, I would recommend that route. If not, I really see no problem with it as long as the cable can take the heat...
__________________
3.141592654
Hey, if you are impressed with my memorizing pi to 10 digits, you should see the size of my penis.
BigBen is offline  
Old 02-01-2006, 11:45 AM   #4 (permalink)
AHH! Custom Title!!
 
liquidlight's Avatar
 
Location: The twisted warpings of my brain.
The worst that you'll have to worry about is some signal degradation if the cable gets really hot. Just make sure if you put the vents back in that you're not pinching/stripping the cable, otherwise it shouldn't be an issue.
__________________
Halfway to hell and picking up speed.
liquidlight is offline  
Old 02-01-2006, 12:45 PM   #5 (permalink)
Junkie
 
Are you positive that your ducts are connected? You don't want to have to go past the heat strips (if you have electric).

Is it possible to go under the house and through the baseboard? Or through the attic and behind the crown molding (if you have any)? I've done it this way many times. Just be careful taking the molding down and you should be fine (no major structural damage). In fact, an ethernet port is a good thing in a modern house.


Last edited by vanblah; 02-01-2006 at 12:55 PM..
vanblah is offline  
Old 02-01-2006, 01:16 PM   #6 (permalink)
Industrialist
 
Mondak's Avatar
 
Location: Southern California
Quote:
Originally Posted by vanblah
Are you positive that your ducts are connected? You don't want to have to go past the heat strips (if you have electric).

Is it possible to go under the house and through the baseboard? Or through the attic and behind the crown molding (if you have any)? I've done it this way many times. Just be careful taking the molding down and you should be fine (no major structural damage). In fact, an ethernet port is a good thing in a modern house.

Not a bad idea although I have not had any problems with useing heat ducts in the past. One note is that you should be careful with any bends or twists the wires make. Most Cat5 is somewhat thin wire inside and could break if you are not nice to it.
__________________
All truth passes through three stages:
First it is ridiculed
Second, it is violently opposed and
Third, it is accepted as self-evident.

ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER (1788-1860)

Mondak is offline  
Old 02-01-2006, 01:29 PM   #7 (permalink)
Adequate
 
cyrnel's Avatar
 
Location: In my angry-dome.
Be mindful of punching holes. HVAC ducting is not at all inexpensive.

Wireless cards can be had for $10/ea on the cheap. Routers aren't much more.
__________________
There are a vast number of people who are uninformed and heavily propagandized, but fundamentally decent. The propaganda that inundates them is effective when unchallenged, but much of it goes only skin deep. If they can be brought to raise questions and apply their decent instincts and basic intelligence, many people quickly escape the confines of the doctrinal system and are willing to do something to help others who are really suffering and oppressed." -Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media, p. 195
cyrnel is offline  
Old 02-01-2006, 01:33 PM   #8 (permalink)
Junkie
 
SirLance's Avatar
 
Location: In the middle of the desert.
Use plenum version of cat5 for any airspace. It is fire retardant.
__________________
DEMOCRACY is where your vote counts, FEUDALISM is where your count votes.
SirLance is offline  
Old 02-01-2006, 01:47 PM   #9 (permalink)
Psycho
 
Location: North America
You can use the duct work but you have to use plenum cable, it's fire resistant and when burned isn't as toxic as the non-plenum cable.
catback is offline  
Old 02-01-2006, 01:53 PM   #10 (permalink)
Tilted Cat Head
 
Cynthetiq's Avatar
 
Administrator
Location: Manhattan, NY
Quote:
Originally Posted by cyrnel
Wireless cards can be had for $10/ea on the cheap. Routers aren't much more.
exactly what I was thinking... four about $30 you can go wireless router and card... be on the lookout for sales.
__________________
I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not.
Cynthetiq is offline  
Old 02-01-2006, 02:25 PM   #11 (permalink)
Drifting
 
amonkie's Avatar
 
Administrator
Location: Windy City
I did this for my setup at the beginning - tied the cable to a tennis ball... rolled it down the duct and retrived it at the opening into my room. I had about 200 feet of cat5 to work with, and was passing it about 15 feet down the hall from the router.
__________________
Calling from deep in the heart, from where the eyes can't see and the ears can't hear, from where the mountain trails end and only love can go... ~~~ Three Rivers Hare Krishna
amonkie is offline  
Old 02-08-2006, 07:00 PM   #12 (permalink)
Tilted
 
Cat 5 Plenum cable is not exactly cheap. If you are not sure it is plenum grade cable don't use it.
Look for sales and specials on wireless sets.
__________________
Jack1.0
----------------------------------------------
I've learned to embrace my inner Geek.
I haven't found anything else I'm good at.
Jack1.0 is offline  
Old 02-09-2006, 02:42 AM   #13 (permalink)
beauty in the breakdown
 
Location: Chapel Hill, NC
For the easy solution, I'll echo the suggestions to just look for a sale on wireless equipment.

If you really want to go with a wired network--I personally would, but I regularly move large files across the network, so need the bandwidth--then I'd take Vanblah's advice and try to run it through the attic, walls, and crownwork, to make it as nice and professional as possible. If you're going to do it, do it right.

Out of curiosity, would running it through the ducting not require shielded cable?
__________________
"Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws."
--Plato
sailor is offline  
Old 02-09-2006, 05:40 PM   #14 (permalink)
<3 TFP
 
xepherys's Avatar
 
Location: 17TLH2445607250
You don't need a router to do wireless either... you can just use the ad-hoc wireless option.
xepherys is offline  
Old 02-09-2006, 07:48 PM   #15 (permalink)
Psycho
 
Location: North America
Quote:
Originally Posted by sailor
Out of curiosity, would running it through the ducting not require shielded cable?
No but it does require plenum cat 5, which is fire retardant and doesn't give off toxic gas when burned
catback is offline  
 

Tags
cable, heat, running, vents

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On



All times are GMT -8. The time now is 02:38 AM.

Tilted Forum Project

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.6.0 PL2
© 2002-2012 Tilted Forum Project

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360