Question Outdoor Cat7 cables?

[Oasis Curator]

I'll be burying a water pipe in my garden.
It's about 40m in length.

While I have a trench dug, I was thinking about running some twin and earth so there's power at the back of the garden and in the same tube, I'd run an ethernet cable for wired internet access.

Firstly, is this advisable (running them in the same protective tube)?

Secondly, how do I make sure I'm not buying fake cables? I primarily buy from Amazon but happy to look elsewhere if the price is good.

 

[kanewolf]

I'll be burying a water pipe in my garden.
It's about 40m in length.

While I have a trench dug, I was thinking about running some twin and earth so there's power at the back of the garden and in the same tube, I'd run an ethernet cable for wired internet access.

Firstly, is this advisable (running them in the same protective tube)?

Secondly, how do I make sure I'm not buying fake cables? I primarily buy from Amazon but happy to look elsewhere if the price is good.

Run a separate conduit for your network cable. You at least have the chance of replacing the cable if you put a pull string in at the same time.
Don't buy "cat 7". That is fake cable. Cat6 or 6A are legitimate standards. Cat7 is not. Buy 100% copper, 24 gauge wire. Don't go cheap. Nobody ever got fired for buying Belden cable, for example.

 

[bill001g]

There are all kinds of code issue related to power wires. For example rules regarding depth and distance from water pipes.

Generally it is against code to run any kind of low voltage wire (ie ethernet) in the same conduit as power.

There are technical reason it can causes interference in ethernet but the reason for the code restrictions is a safety thing. If the electrical wire has some issue they don't want power running on the ethernet. There is no protection on ethernet and people assume there is no danger touching even the bare pins on ethernet.

Compare the cost of direct bury ethernet to the cost of a second conduit and indoor ethernet. Obviously conduit will provide more protection from say a shovel.

Be aware even when there are seperate conduits there are code restictions about how close they can be in a trench.

Best way to avoid fake cable is to read the ad carefully. Key is wire must be pure copper (no CCA) and have wire size 22-24. Valid cable vendors know all about the fake cable and they very clearly have this information displayed. If you can't find it assume the cable is fake and find another vendor.

 

[Oasis Curator]

Do you know what the codes are for how close cables can be?
I don't think it'll be a huge problem to run it as a separate conduit but I don't want to have to dig two or three trenches. May have to though.

 

[bill001g]

You do not even state the country you live in.

In the USA it can vary between states and even cities. There is a national electrical code that most local codes are based on. Mostly if someone needs to inspect it then it needs to be correct if nobody knows then you can get away with cheating but you don't want to be unsafe.

Likely you will find what you need with internet searches. Last time I looked at any this stuff it was about a foot but that was for the main power coming into the house.