In reply to a post by naylor2006:

MJ Quinn were the guys who did my install, I asked them if they could drill outside to into the house given our outside rendor was fairly new and I didnt want it to blow off, even if the CSP is quite large and would probably cover it, they were very nervous about doing it because its not part of their SOP.

This was the same for my Youfibre chap. He said that all drilling had to be inside to out, presumably so they can eyeball potential cable and pipe runs. I had much the same request as you, as I wanted my hold to come out in the under-floor void so wasn't bothered by it blowing bricks that would never be seen, but would rather not destroy the outside appearance. As I mentioned above, we solved this by me drilling my own hole (and routing my own cable), but I was still rather surprised that I had to use a 2ft drill bit to get through the lower wall! They don't build 'em like they used to

In reply to a post by daern:

In reply to a post by naylor2006:

MJ Quinn were the guys who did my install, I asked them if they could drill outside to into the house given our outside rendor was fairly new and I didnt want it to blow off, even if the CSP is quite large and would probably cover it, they were very nervous about doing it because its not part of their SOP.

This was the same for my Youfibre chap. He said that all drilling had to be inside to out, presumably so they can eyeball potential cable and pipe runs. I had much the same request as you, as I wanted my hold to come out in the under-floor void so wasn't bothered by it blowing bricks that would never be seen, but would rather not destroy the outside appearance. As I mentioned above, we solved this by me drilling my own hole (and routing my own cable), but I was still rather surprised that I had to use a 2ft drill bit to get through the lower wall! They don't build 'em like they used to

Yeah....I live in a 30's house, seems SOP was walls are to be 1Ft thick

Ive got my own 450mm Masonary drillbit these days, I recently installed data points to most rooms along with a Unifi install to take care of WIFI, this drill bit has been used so many times, I only bought it for one job originally.

Still I havent got used to it though, still gives me the heeby jeebies going through such a thick wall even if im 99% sure there is nothing in it!

MJ Quinn had other reference points on the outside wall, where I wanted the ONT was next to an ethernet run that already went to the attic, it was easy to line up. Still like you I drilled the hole myself and scribbled on a bit of paper I was cool with it, not that it mattered, they were helping me out I thought bending the rules....I wasnt going to report them, they didnt take the paper in the end, they just accepted my word for it.

Sky Broadband is dealing with it now.

They've put in a complaint to openreach, as the part of the loft where the MJ Quinn engineer needed access to is boarded. The MJ Quinn engineer was demanding the whole loft to be fully boarded.

I'll let you know what happens.

In reply to a post by daern:

In reply to a post by naylor2006:

MJ Quinn were the guys who did my install, I asked them if they could drill outside to into the house given our outside rendor was fairly new and I didnt want it to blow off, even if the CSP is quite large and would probably cover it, they were very nervous about doing it because its not part of their SOP.

This was the same for my Youfibre chap. He said that all drilling had to be inside to out, presumably so they can eyeball potential cable and pipe runs. I had much the same request as you, as I wanted my hold to come out in the under-floor void so wasn't bothered by it blowing bricks that would never be seen, but would rather not destroy the outside appearance. As I mentioned above, we solved this by me drilling my own hole (and routing my own cable), but I was still rather surprised that I had to use a 2ft drill bit to get through the lower wall! They don't build 'em like they used to

How on earth could any installer possibly object to the client rather than them drilling a hole anyway !?

There's no way in the world I'm going to allow 'inside out drilling' of my house. In any case, I built it, so I know exactly where all the hidden pipes and cables are thanks to hundreds of photos taken during the build !

(Although I was forced to do it recently, (taking an electrical spur cable out of the back of an indoor socket, by incredible good fortune, I came out in the mortar !)

In reply to a post by broadbandjockey:

In reply to a post by daern:

In reply to a post by naylor2006:

MJ Quinn were the guys who did my install, I asked them if they could drill outside to into the house given our outside rendor was fairly new and I didnt want it to blow off, even if the CSP is quite large and would probably cover it, they were very nervous about doing it because its not part of their SOP.

This was the same for my Youfibre chap. He said that all drilling had to be inside to out, presumably so they can eyeball potential cable and pipe runs. I had much the same request as you, as I wanted my hold to come out in the under-floor void so wasn't bothered by it blowing bricks that would never be seen, but would rather not destroy the outside appearance. As I mentioned above, we solved this by me drilling my own hole (and routing my own cable), but I was still rather surprised that I had to use a 2ft drill bit to get through the lower wall! They don't build 'em like they used to

How on earth could any installer possibly object to the client rather than them drilling a hole anyway !?

There's no way in the world I'm going to allow 'inside out drilling' of my house. In any case, I built it, so I know exactly where all the hidden pipes and cables are thanks to hundreds of photos taken during the build !

(Although I was forced to do it recently, (taking an electrical spur cable out of the back of an indoor socket, by incredible good fortune, I came out in the mortar !)

It might come down to silly compliance things such as your typical "what if's", I mean to say that if they dont do that part of the job should some crazy situation occur where the hole drilled by the customer causes some other issue then there is a grey area. I dont see an issue and cant really see how the customer drilling a hole would cause an issue.....buuuuuut what if the customer hit a water pipe and then tried to blame the installer, I know its ridiculous but we do see this type of thing.

On another note, pretty sure engineers wont install CSP's off the ground so this install will likely have a CSP at ground level then fibre running back up the external wall into the attic if that is where the agreed location of the ONT would be.

Nothing will happen..it's the individuals own risk assessment that matters. He may have determined that the risk of falling through an unboarded area combined with the confined space was too much of a risk, whether justified or not. The next one might be prepared to go up there.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

Solid state electronics can generally get hotter than 50C without issue. The mechanical hard disks and fans in servers are often the parts that fail first. I saw this in a server room where the AC failed and it got to 68degC. Not pretty 😂

Its not that simple, as the capacitors used will be based on the design operating temperature.

The hotter the device, the quicker they fail.

Given Openreach are responsible for replacing the ONT, its perfectly understandable that they refuse to install them in a place where they would potentially run outside of design specifications so it would cost them more to maintain.

In reply to a post by alexatkin:

In reply to a post by jchamier:

Solid state electronics can generally get hotter than 50C without issue. The mechanical hard disks and fans in servers are often the parts that fail first. I saw this in a server room where the AC failed and it got to 68degC. Not pretty 😂

Its not that simple, as the capacitors used will be based on the design operating temperature.

The hotter the device, the quicker they fail.

Given Openreach are responsible for replacing the ONT, its perfectly understandable that they refuse to install them in a place where they would potentially run outside of design specifications so it would cost them more to maintain.

Even in a boarded or fully converted loft the temps are pretty high, loft conversations are all the rage but man they are uncomfortable places to be in the summer.

The ONT will likely be fine for the number of years that it is require to run but companies who are responsible for their equipment always have to draw the line somewhere, which is fair enough.

Update,

BT Openreach engineer came today.
Had no problems installing through the loft. Installation only took one and a half hours.

Edited by woohookid (Fri 26-Jul-24 14:12:06)

Great news, and the right result.

I've had Openreach (actual Openreach engineer, not contractor), and FullFibre install their ONT's in my loft, including in both cases the CSP's to avoid having them external in our conservation area.

We are overhead fed from a pole and I installed a metal conduit to pull the external fibre in through, no problems on either installation.

As you can see