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Hi
We are going to be getting FTTP in our area in December. The Openreach engineers were around yesterday and I had a chat to them regarding the route of the fibre cable. One thing I forgot to ask though was how deep I needed to dig the trench in our garden. It is 65 metres from the boundary to the house so I want to make sure I get it right.
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The author of the above post is a thinkbroadband staff member. It may not constitute an official statement on behalf of thinkbroadband.
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Why aren't they doing the digging?
This shows 350mm below footpaths - https://www.ournetwork.openreach.co.uk/resources/sit...
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Thanks for the replies guys!
It's a community project for the village here in the Highlands funded partly by Better Broadband Vouchers and money from the community council received from the wind farm. I think to keep the costs down the householders are responsible for digging the trench within the property. He said that they would leave me the cable for me to put in the trench.
I don't have to go under a path or drive as it's straight up the garden. I don't think that there will be any ducting as this is from the letter:
"This offer is possible due to a new method of armouring fibre optic cable which means that expensive ducting is no longer required - the cable can be buried directly in the ground."
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Keeping photos/records of where the cable goes even if armoured is important e.g. someone needs to put a soakaway in latter they know where cable is (e.g. after a house sale) or extension etc
Another fail safe could be coloured tape (you can get fibre optic cable below) a few inches higher in the soil so that any digging would hit that first (hopefully).
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The author of the above post is a thinkbroadband staff member. It may not constitute an official statement on behalf of thinkbroadband.
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Thanks for that. I will take photos of the trench. We recently had new carpets in the house and the fitter wouldn't take the old ones away so I thought that i could cut it into strips and put it underneath and on top of the cable.
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Depending on the carpet construction, that might decompose into a horrible mess!
Using some sand to surround the cable would be better, with the warning tape on top:
http://undergroundwarningtape.co.uk/product/fiber-op...
This page is about ducting, but I guess it covers direct burial too:
http://www.pavingexpert.com/ducting.htm
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The author of the above post is a thinkbroadband staff member. It may not constitute an official statement on behalf of thinkbroadband.
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Okay, good point. It's wool carpet and I intend to use it to suppress weeds when I get round to doing some landscaping. Where we live there is some sand around so I can go and dig some from there, it's soft sand so I assume that would be okay.
Thanks for the link to the tape.
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I think the point (from the second link) was that the sand should be a "distinctive" colour so that it is enough to stop someone digging if they see it.
So long as it stands out next to the soil, it should be fine. I don't think it will matter whether soft or sharp.
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My FTTP cable is inside a blue plastic water pipe for protection. It no doubt resists pressure from any stones that are in the ground and is probably harder to put a spade through. The piping is the wrong colour but easy to buy. Gigaclear use a black plastic pipe that is easy to bend because it does not have a uniform thickness.
The Openreach Developers Guide page 24 does show cable TV and Communications in a green pipe 250-350mm deep, as well as Telecommunications 350mm deep in a purple pipe.
If your neighborus have the same problem it might be worth while trying to buy some piping of the right colour.
Michael Chare
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I had originally thought about putting it inside water pipe but as it is a run of 65 metres I don't know if it would be possible to push it through that length of pipe.
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I happened to know that I could push foam filled TV coax down about 20m of straight pipe. Using this technique I installed string in the pipe. There is a joint in the pipe which because of the inserts is difficult to pull a cable past without opening the joint.
Another technique is to use a vacuum cleaner to suck something like a cotton ball attached to a thread down the pipe.
Michael Chare
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This would be a run of 65m and not straight or level unfortunately. 
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Get a decent high powered vacuum cleaner,form a ball of fabric and tie a piece of fine fishing line to it. Seal the vacuum hose around one end, switch on, introduce the fabric ball at the end and gradually let out the line. When it is through, tie teh line to the fibre and pull it through whilst someone else feeds it in.
If you fail to do it in one, cut the pipe into three sections and then join using plenty of self amalgamating tape.
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M H C
taurus excreta cerebrum vincit
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Lay the pipe out straight perhaps using bricks to hold it down and then get the string in before you install it in the trench.
Michael Chare
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Highlands
...Or drag the pipe to somewhere nearby with a pretty harsh 65m slope, attach a small weight to your draw-rope, then drop it down until it comes out of the other end for someone to catch?
I think at one point some aircraft manufacturers used ferrets to do the cable runs, didn't they? Well, draw-rope runs.
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Or proper duct. For example
https://www.drainagepipe.co.uk/products/bt-duct/
Adds up over 65 metres, though.
Do you have to get the fibre cable into the duct yourself? Or just leave a draw rope for BT to pull it through with?
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Openreach is saying no need for ducting as its armoured and can be direct buried...
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The author of the above post is a thinkbroadband staff member. It may not constitute an official statement on behalf of thinkbroadband.
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BT didn't mention that I needed a duct, they just said that I had to dig a trench up to the house and they would supply the cable. I wasn't thinking about putting any ducting in as I thought it would be okay if it was deep enough and covered with soft sand.
How thick is the cable?
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Only just seen this, that's great so just a 350 deep trench with sand should do it.
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The kelvar armoured fibre drop cable versions if I recall are in the 8mm to 10mm diameter region
Corrected typo on thickness i.e. dropped 0.
Edited by MrSaffron (Thu 07-Sep-17 16:41:49)
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The author of the above post is a thinkbroadband staff member. It may not constitute an official statement on behalf of thinkbroadband.
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A*
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As an idea, that truly sucks 
A compressor used to blow is more effective.
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As an idea, that truly sucks
A compressor used to blow is more effective.
But how many people have access to a compressor let alone have one at home?
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M H C
taurus excreta cerebrum vincit
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And warning tape ...
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M H C
taurus excreta cerebrum vincit
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The kelvar armoured fibre drop cable versions if I recall are in the 0.8mm to 10mm diameter region
That is pretty thin!
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M H C
taurus excreta cerebrum vincit
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As an idea, that truly sucks
A compressor used to blow is more effective.
But how many people have access to a compressor let alone have one at home?
I do actually have one.
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If i was going to the trouble of digging a 65M trench i would 100% be putting duct in.Just make sure you put a draw rope in as you go along, thats the way the contractors do it.
these comments are my own and in no way represent any company that i may or may not be linked too.
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I have a compact tractor with a backhoe so I won't have to do it by hand thankfully.
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After digging the trench I decided to get some flexible ducting as there are lots of big stones, some quite sharp, and I didn't want to risk any damage to the cable. It's a 50 metre length so not quite long enough, but I do have some grey BT duct left over from when we built the house over 20 years ago so can use that to make the full length up.
The ducting is 50/63 with a draw cord pre-installed. How difficult will it be to pull the fibre through? I have no idea how heavy the cable is and I'm trying to decide whether to fill over the ducting before the cable arrives. It's not a straight run but there are no tight bends either.
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Depends somewhat on what type of fibre will be used, though neither is at all heavy, BFT being lighter than the connectorised stuff.
You say there�s no tight bends, so that�s good, make sure too that the transition between duct types is smooth inside so as nothing might catch ... then I�d say you can backfill with impunity.
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Thanks Zarjaz, that's what I was hoping.
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