A Guide to the Standards, Regulation and
Codes Governing Multifamily Wiring
2009 Broadband Properties Summit
April 29, 2009
Hyatt Regency DFW
Dallas, Texas
Standards, Codes and Regulations
∼ Standards
∼ Are voluntary rules
∼ But, sometimes adopted as code or regulation
∼ Establish an accepted degree of functionality,
compatibility, and longevity
∼ Codes
∼ Are mandatory rules enforced by government agencies
∼ Designed to ensure safety during installation, use, etc.
∼ Regulations
∼ Are mandatory rules enforced by government agencies
∼ Like standards, regulations are more concerned with
performance
Page | 2
Standards, Codes and Regulations
∼ ANSI/TIA/EIA 570-B Residential Telecommunications Cabling
Standard
∼ The de facto standard for residential cabling in North America
∼ ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-B.1 and addenda
∼ Commercial Building Telecommunications Cabling Standard - Part 1:
General Requirements
∼ ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-B.2 and addenda
∼ Commercial Building Telecommunications Cabling Standard - Part 2:
Balanced Twisted-Pair
∼ ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-B.3 and addenda
∼ Optical Fiber Cabling Components Standard
∼ ANSI/TIA/EIA-569-A and addenda
∼ Commercial Building Standard for Telecommunications Pathways and
Spaces
∼ ANSI/TIA/EIA-606-A and addenda
∼ Administration Standard for Commercial Telecommunications
Infrastructure
∼ ANSI/TIA/EIA-607-A and addenda
∼ Commercial Building Grounding (Earthing) and Bonding Requirements
for Telecommunication”
Standards, Codes and Regulations
∼ Codes vs. Regulations
∼ Codes usually pertain to safety while regulations
relate to the quality of service
∼ Regulations are generally federal while codes are
primarily state/local
∼ Both are usually enforced by the authority having
jurisdiction (AHJ)
∼ Although regulations are also mandatory, most AHJs only
know and enforce codes
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Standards, Codes and Regulations
∼ Example Regulation:
∼ FCC requires that all copper Inside Wiring be “at a
minimum, solid, 24 gauge or thicker, twisted pairs,
marked to indicate compliance with the electrical
specifications for Category 3, as defined in the
ANSI/EIA/TIA Building Wiring Standards”
∼ Daisy chaining phone cabling is not only unwise,
but may be a violation of federal regulation
Page | 5
Standards, Codes and Regulations
∼ Codes
∼ National Electrical Code (NFPA)
∼ Grounding and Primary Protection
∼ Listing (fire rating)
∼ Abandoned Cables
∼ Article 770: Optical Fiber Cables and Raceways
∼ Article 800: Communications Circuits
∼ Article 820: Community Antenna Television
Page | 6
Standards, Codes and Regulations
∼ Codes
∼ Important evolution of NEC grounding and listing
requirements limits many former code “work
arounds”
∼ 2008 NEC precludes many of the customary fixes to
challenging code requirements
∼ Unfortunately, many providers and owners have a
poor record of following pertinent life safety
codes
Page | 7
Standards, Codes and Regulations
∼ Grounding and Primary Protection
∼ While grounding is a basic principle that almost
everyone understands, it is often forgotten or
incorrectly installed
∼ There are also significant performance challenges
when infrastructure is not properly grounded
∼ Beyond increasing the danger of electric shock, ground
loops and potential differences can damage electronics
Page | 8
Make the lazy grounding option the correct one!
Standards, Codes and Regulations
Paragraph 820.100(D) requires bonding of CATV and power
grounding electrodes grounding electrodes at the same
building or structure. A common error made in grounding
CATV systems is connecting the coaxial cable sheath to a
ground rod driven by the CATV installer at a convenient
location near the point of cable entry to the building instead
of bonding it to the electrical service grounding electrode
system… A separate grounding electrode is permitted only if
the building has or structure has none of the has known of the
grounding means described in 820.110(B)(1) or (B)(2), which is
rare…. (t)he earth cannot be used as the equipment
grounding conductor or bonding conductor, because it does
not have the low-impedance path (between the CATV and
Electrical System) required
2008 National Electrical Code Handbook, Comment to 820.100 (B), Page 1214-1215
Page | 15
CATV
Power
-
+
Standards, Codes and Regulations
∼ Listings and Fire Ratings
∼ Cable running in the ceilings, floors, and walls of a
building can contribute to the spread of a fire and
worsen the damage it causes
∼ The NEC attempts to address these concerns by
establishing a fire-rating classification system for
communications cables
∼ Most multifamily fire-rating mistakes result from using
the wrong classification
∼ The cable rating commonly used in single-family homes
does not have the fire-rating classification to pass
through more than two floors in a multifamily building
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Standards, Codes and Regulations
Twisted Copper Cables
Type
Use
Substitutions
CMP
Plenum
CMR
Riser
CMP
CM/ CMG
General Purpose
CMP, CMR
CMX
Limited Use
CMP, CMR, CM, CMG
Type
Use
Substitutions
CATVP
Plenum
CMP, BLP
CATVR
Riser
CATVP, BLP, CMP, CMR, etc.
CATV
General Purpose
CATVP, CATVR, BLP, CMR, etc.
CATVX
Limited Use
CATVP, CATVR, CATV, BLP, CMR, etc.
Coaxial Cables
underground cable
plenum rated
riser rated
general purpose
limited
use
IDF/ BCR
Standards, Codes and Regulations
Unlisted outside plant communications cables shall be
permitted to be installed in locations as described in
800.lS4(C) where the length of the cable within the building,
measured from its point of entrance, does not exceed I5 m
(50 ft)…
This section limits the length of unlisted outside plant cable
to 15 m (50 ft), while 800.90(B) requires that the primary
protector be located as close as practicable to the point at
which the cable enters the building. Therefore, in
installations requiring a primary protector, the outside plant
cable may not be permitted to extend 15 m (50 ft) into the
building if it is practicable to place the primary protector
closer than 15 m (50 ft) to the entrance
2008 National Electrical Code Handbook 800.48 and Footnote #2 to 800.48, Page 1191
Page | 20
Standards, Codes and Regulations
∼ Abandoned Cable
∼ Installed cable that is not terminated on both ends
or tagged for future use
∼ Code requires the removal of accessible
abandoned cables
Page | 21
Questions
Henry Pye
Vice President
Resident Technology Solutions
Realpage, Inc.
311 Marist Court
Durham, North Carolina 27713
(919) 361-7603
henry.pye@realpage.com
Tom Stender
VP and CTO
InfiniSys, Inc.
482 Fentress Boulevard
Suite N
Daytona Beach, FL 32114 USA
(386) 236-1514
tom.stender@electronicarchitect.com