Steam pipe and cable tv wire

ansky

I strung a standard cable tv wire down through a hole in the floor next to a steam pipe. It looks like the wire is not touching the pipe at all, but it is very close. If the wire were to touch the steam pipe, is the pipe hot enough that it could potentially melt the plastic coating of the cable and start a fire? FWIW, my boiler runs up to 0.7psi in pressure.

crash2009

Two of my favorite subjects

  Steam and Wires.  I wouldn't worry much about starting a fire, however, I would be concerned that the temperature of a steam pipe might melt the inner foam insulator and this would cause reception problems.  It would be better if you could find another way to get cable from one floor to another.  A half inch hole and a couple grommets makes a nice clean job out of it and allows for future upgrades. Maybe some Cat6?

ChrisJ

coax

RG-6 is rated to 80C or 176F.



I'm with Crash, find another place to route the coax. 

crash2009

Wow 176 F

 Steam 213 F, not a good combo.  How is your reception Ansky?

AaronH

Measure the pipe's temp...

I'm not saying it's a good idea to keep the wire there, but I know how hard it can be to fish cable in some spots. 



I'd be very curious to see what an infrared temp gun would read on the outside of the pipe. With the cooling effect of the surrounding ambient air you just might make it...