Fitting a Toby box?

I am getting my drive block paved and was wondering if I can replace the old cast iron inspection cover that's on the outside of my house, with a Toby box such as this?

Currently this is what it looks like:

Pic 1
Pic 2

Openreach are currently doing work in the area, so really don't want my drive dug up after the block paving is fitted, once it becomes available to order that is.

Is the toby box I linked to ok to use or is there something better? Idea was to have it fitting like in this video.

Edited by Matt182 (Fri 14-Oct-22 23:38:51)

In the second picture, you can see armoured cable, so I think fitting suitable duct across your drive is sensible.

Surely the pictured Toby is in the footpath, so not on your land ? You’ll need publc indemnity insurance to work on that., and permission from the council

Matt182

You need to consider the duct more important than the box. Working out where to put the duct at the pavement end to join up with where OR will have their duct may be difficult if the FTTP is not already present.

First thing is are they planning it overhead or UG. If OH your drive is safe.

Trace your existing feed to where it enters the property boundary and make sure you have roped the duct to that point.

The Toby box can then be placed where you want it against the house wall remembering that OR will want to put an external CSP on the wall and drill though, with the other end of the rope coiled up inside the box. You will not be able to put the existing feed in the Toby.

Could you show an additional picture of where it is in relation to your property? I am also concerned that the cable looks armoured as 'Zarjaz' suggests so its not clear if its fully ducted across your driveway which would need to be done if its not already if you don't want Openreach digging it all up again.

Your mains cable looks to be of the lead sheathed bitumen coated variety as well. If that's the case and you're preparing for the future then I'd be inclined to chuck some duct down in case you want to replace it in the future

https://www.drainagesuperstore.co.uk/product/undergr...

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

In the second picture, you can see armoured cable, so I think fitting suitable duct across your drive is sensible.

Surely the pictured Toby is in the footpath, so not on your land ? You’ll need publc indemnity insurance to work on that., and permission from the council

Sorry should have been clearer, at the end of my drive is a man hole cover like this, from there ducting runs under my drive to the cast iron inspection cover in Pic 1 directly outside the house.

Openreach should have no problem pulling the fibre through (I hope), however I was concerned once it got to that cast iron box they would have trouble bringing it up to fit a CSP and would have to disturb the new drive.

So just made sense, while I was having work done to get them to fit that toby box to make Openreach’s life easier.

In reply to a post by kitcat:

Matt182

You need to consider the duct more important than the box. Working out where to put the duct at the pavement end to join up with where OR will have their duct may be difficult if the FTTP is not already present.

First thing is are they planning it overhead or UG. If OH your drive is safe.

Trace your existing feed to where it enters the property boundary and make sure you have roped the duct to that point.

The Toby box can then be placed where you want it against the house wall remembering that OR will want to put an external CSP on the wall and drill though, with the other end of the rope coiled up inside the box. You will not be able to put the existing feed in the Toby.

Thankfully there is already ducting running under my drive from the service strip to that cast iron box. Everything is run underground on this estate.

Ah ok, so that Toby box I linked to is not open at the bottom? Not really a big problem as its just slack cable.

In reply to a post by dect:

Could you show an additional picture of where it is in relation to your property? I am also concerned that the cable looks armoured as 'Zarjaz' suggests so its not clear if its fully ducted across your driveway which would need to be done if its not already if you don't want Openreach digging it all up again.

Not really sure why the mains power shares the same route, it will be an armoured cable that's for sure,

The copper cable is in its own ducting, that comes from the manhole on the service strip to the cast iron box.

Pic 1
Pic 2

Matt182

Sorry needed a different pair of glasses to read the words on the first set of pictures.

So you have two ducts to the existing Box, one for OR copper and one for Mains. It is unusual to have 1 box for both but builders will often do things oddly.

Not sure how you would replace the existing with a new box without disconnecting things. Tidy link up the wall OR should do when fitting the Fibre.

Interestingly it looks like that's a footway chamber but there are driveways next to it - maybe someone assumed that putting it in the middle would never get a car running over the box.

Footway boxes can have a driveway lid , so become a little tougher and can withstand the occasional vehicle beings driven over it , if it were in the carriageway proper then it would be the wrong box.
Personally I’ve never seen a ‘BT’ toby box like that , it seems a little unnecessary, they could have simply brought the duct up against the house wall , using the more common connector bend 4a , capping 25 and cover 101 , TBH , if the toby box is ducted , then installation should be simple enough, provided the duct is serviceable, and if it were blocked at some point between the toby box and jointbox , even if the metal box were replaced with the current plastic one , the duct would still need to be exposed to repair it.

Edited by Iniltous (Sat 15-Oct-22 15:47:53)

I can see why you would want to sort this out especially if you're having the driveway sorted but to be honest I think you will run into problems if you touch it. There is the issue of the mains power feed running under it and the fact that the existing telephone service may need to be disconnected to get in and out of the new toby box (unless you plan to cut and shut the new toby box around it)

Out of interest where does the existing telephone service first appear within the property? is it the other end of the duct that leads from the cast iron inspection cover?

Yeah, I'm not sure of an easy solution either, not with out disconnecting things. However I did read the Toby box can split in 2 to go around cables so might work if it does.

The duct in the picture goes to the manhole on the service strip, Where you see the cable disappear to the right, it goes into the wall and comes out of the concreate slab in ducting, then goes into the wall terminating into the NTE5. Why it's been done the way it has is anyone's guess.

Half is like mine and other half has capping on outside wall, all built in 91-93

Pic 1

You have the problem of how do you get first toby box off without disconnecting cables.

If you change it OR and the Power Company will have an excuse to claim its your pronlem, and as you said block paving you dont want to disturb the ground and end up with a sunken patch in 5 years just for a cap a can of spray paint could of covered up whilst the driveways up

I'd trust a 30 year old metal box more than a plastic one, especially with block paving supporting it