Running a line to the barn

[Smitty]

We are in the process of building a workshop/barn that is 250 feet from our house.  I would like to run two phone lines out there, one for regular phone service and one for an intercom line between house and barn.  I am cheap and would like to do this myself.

Have any of you tackled something like this before?  Will this distance pose a problem, signal-wise?  Any advice as to type of wire, type of conduit, and any general tips would be greatly appreciated.

Mike

[TelePlay]

Are you going to run it over head or bury it?

[Smitty]

My plan is to bury it.

[jsowers]

Here's 500' of indoor/outdoor cat5e wire from Home Depot for $58.97. I didn't do an exhaustive search, so it may be found cheaper elsewhere. Just be sure it's indoor/outdoor.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Syston-Cable-Technology-Cat5E-500-ft-Tan-Indoor-Outdoor-Twisted-Pair-Cable-1006-PB-TN-500/207052007

I have no experience with it, but it sure is cheap enough. I ran about 250' of Radio Shack indoor-outdoor phone cable to my greenhouse, buried in the top of a deep trench with the power and plumbing lines, and as far as I know it still works. I don't have a phone out there now. I think 500' would still work for a phone, but a computer would be limited to 300' if you ever wanted to do that. The wire from Home Depot has four pairs, so it's plenty for what you need to do. You would need a couple phone jacks too.

You would have to rent a trencher and make sure there's nothing buried in your yard power/cable/phone-wise before you start. They come out and ID it free. It doesn't have to be buried very deep. The phone company buried my new cable line about 6" deep above the old phone/cable/electric lines buried deep 30 years ago.

[Babybearjs]

Look at www.deepsurplus.com for wire. I just rewired my system and you can get Cat5 wire in 1000, 500, or 250 foot cuts. the other thing I did when I wired my shed which was 25 Feet from the house was to include the "Internet" in my wiring scheme. I have a computer in my shed so I have access to the web while working on various projects. wireless doesn't always work and having a wired connection really makes sense...

[poplar1]

The link to Syston wire above says it is not for direct burial. I believe the phone company used some kind of gel-filled 2-pair wire. I have heard that  even a buried conduit will eventually take on water.

[TelePlay]

The link to Syston wire above says it is not for direct burial. I believe the phone company used some kind of gel-filled 2-pair wire. I have heard that  even a buried conduit will eventually take on water.

Yes, that is correct. The Syston direct burial cable is about 2.5 x more expensive, $160 for 1,000'.

But shorter lengths are out there, such as this 300' for $65 with free shipping. Cost per foot is about the same.

     https://www.ebay.com/p/300ft-Cat5e-GEL-Outdoor-Direct-Burial-Flood-Cable-Waterproof-Network-Ethernet/1131516533

Lot of sources out there.

     Deep Surplus has 500' of gel filled direct burial for $85 plus shipping.

Even if using direct burial gel filled, keeping it nick free when burying it would be a plus.

[dsk]

e just got fiber here, and they used some tubing or pipes of PE, I guess the inside diameter is about 10-12 mm. When I looked at it I thought they used PP water pipes.  Running something like that, you may pull out a cable and in with a new one if you ever needs it.  What  ever you do, almost everything will end up with water inside, even a water tube. Cables made for be buried underground is probably whats having the longest life span.  Here they dig the ditches, drains them and fill with stones, sand, cable, sand, stones and soil, often fiber mats between the layers. Those cables just lasts...   I would have used some tubing and a cheaper cable, just buried in the soil.  Remember if you are crossing the cable with heavy machinery, tractors etc. they need to be buried deeper than else.

dsk

[jsowers]

Yes, gel-filled is the solution for buried cable. Sorry for the mistake in my recommendation. One thing you may need if you strip that gel-filled cable is some orange hand cleaner. That gel is very sticky and gooey and that's what our local wiring reseller said removed the stickiness the best when you terminated gel-filled fiber, so I'm assuming it also works on copper. I terminated gel-filled fiber once and it was no picnic. The copper should be a lot easier. I hope your project goes well.

[Smitty]

I had assumed I needed conduit of some sort but it sure would be easier if I could do without it, so I'm glad to hear about the gel filled direct burial wire. That may be the way I need to go, and I will do some more research on this.  I sure appreciate all the expertise and experience that is available here.  Thank you all for the great information and direction!