Hi,

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

In reply to a post by pekoz1:

Running the fibre up front just seems sensible if only it was available and the engineer was likely to use it after you ran it for him.

The alternative is for your builder to install a cable pathway that the engineer could use.

This typically is an appropriately sized flexible conduit (20mm or 25mm dia. iis fine) with a decent draw wire/rope/string installed. On install the engineer pull the fibre cable back along the conduit to where it needs to exit to meet the CSP.

This is probably the easiest approach. Black 25mm water pipe, all the way from the building entry to the ONT location without any kinks or joints is a good choice - easy to pull a fibre through that.

Smooth bore conduit like twin-wall is a good choice.

The inside-out FTTP cable that Openreach use is actually very light and narrow (around 3mm OD) so even regular flexible conduit (aka Kopex) is generally fine as long as:
1. The run isn't massive (add regularly spaced and accessible inspection boxes if so)
2. Any bends are kept gentle and aren't too tight; and
3. Conduit is adequately secured in voids (use saddles or p-clips), so it doesn't bunch up when cable is being pulled through

Edited by Pheasant (Wed 30-Sep-26 10:44:05)

Hi,

That is why, for the inexperienced 25mm alkathene pipe is great. No issue with bunching, it'll be fine even if only secured haphazardly and (unless you kink it) you will never get a tight enough bend radius to cause any problems pulling stuff through.

Don't get me wrong I like your inventiveness (you don't happen to be a farmer by any chance! 😅) but personally I'm not really a fan of putting services through what amounts to (from external appearances) water pipe.

I know it's done, and I have plenty of evidence from farming acquaintances that think alkathene (HDPE) is the best thing ever. But I just can't bring myself to recommend using it for this. Especially indoors.

It's also an absolute barsteward of a thing to wrestle into place, at the best of times, let alone indoors.

I would certainly recommend against blue pipe but black is sufficiently meaningless as a colour that I don't see an issue.

I agree it is a pain to manoeuvre but that stiffness forces an installation such that it is easy to pull fibre through.

I used 25mm white electrical conduit, in retrospect, 20mm would have been fine. I used normal inspection bends.

You can get White 22mm Polybutylene water pipe, but quite expensive compared to 20 mm conduit, but it can be curved. £121.89p from Screwfix for 25 metres. Plus other options including 28mm.
I have not used the above, as stated I used PVC conduit with a total of six bends

Cheers!

Indeed Clive, rigid electrical conduit is going to be the Rolls Royce solution here (or anywhere) - it's just the costliest to supply and install, is all. Then again if the sparky is already on site...