Shielded direct burial cat6 cable questions.

I'm going to be running a underground cat6 cable from one house to another (actually a detached garage that will be used for living space). We are going to be running a 4/6 gauge direct burial line from the main house to provide 60amp power to the garage. I am planning at the same time to also bury a direct burial cat6 cable to get internet out there too. The run will be about 40-50 feet long and buried two feet underground.

My question are as follows.

If I bury the power line with the cat6, will it be ok having them near each other if the cat6 is shielded?

Will I need any specific equipment for using a shielded cat6 cable over a standard cat6 cable?

I am looking at buying a pre-terminated 75 or 100ft cat6 shielded direct burial cable.

I would go with unshielded and separate power and data by 12". Shielded doesn't do much good unless you drain the shield properly with correct termination equipment. Shielded can cause more problems than it solves if done incorrectly.
You can also run any cable type you want in conduit burried in the ground.
Also make sure you tie your structure and house grounds together, otherwise the ground could try to go down your network cable (that is bad).

I am doing the same, and will be running fiber. Post pics.

I would check local codes for running low-voltage in the same "conduit" or in this case trench as high-voltage.

Personally besides the noise issue, you have a potential electrical issue should something happen like someone driving a pick axe through the 2 cables shorting the high-voltage to the low-voltage, this could be a very bad thing. Which is why you should check local codes for this.

Honestly, being an electrician for quite a few years, I would recommend a few things.

1) PVC SCH 40 is very cheap and much better than direct burial.
2) Put in separate conduit or trenches.
3) Grounding is covered in Article 250 of the NEC. Very important stuff.
4) I would highly recommend consulting a professional electrician.

Shielding is beneficial, but as said above, it has be dont properly to be effective. In most cases, it is not legal to have different voltages in the same raceway (e.g. trench) unless in separate conduits.

gc8dc95 said:

Honestly, being an electrician for quite a few years, I would recommend a few things.

1) PVC SCH 40 is very cheap and much better than direct burial.
2) Put in separate conduit or trenches.
3) Grounding is covered in Article 250 of the NEC. Very important stuff.
4) I would highly recommend consulting a professional electrician.

Shielding is beneficial, but as said above, it has be dont properly to be effective. In most cases, it is not legal to have different voltages in the same raceway (e.g. trench) unless in separate conduits.

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If you are not wanting to run PVC for it. Can you not use something like BX? As the metal shield would offer protection against the weight of the soil? (Can't forget about the wodden plank)

PVC is recommended for many reasons including its corrosion resistance. That will be your primary issue with MC/FMC (BX is old school version). FMC (flexible metal conduit) is not permitted to be installed underground per Article 348 of the NEC. The metal armor will protect against the weight of the soil, but not the moisture and corrosive properties of soil.

You can use HPDE flexible tubing for direct burial. (smurf tube or continuous)


Pricing and availability wise, I would choose PVC. If you are worried about extra strength you could always use SCH 80.

gc8dc95 said:

PVC is recommended for many reasons including its corrosion resistance. That will be your primary issue with MC/FMC (BX is old school version). FMC (flexible metal conduit) is not permitted to be installed underground per Article 348 of the NEC. The metal armor will protect against the weight of the soil, but not the moisture and corrosive properties of soil.

You can use HPDE flexible tubing for direct burial. (smurf tube or continuous)


Pricing and availability wise, I would choose PVC. If you are worried about extra strength you could always use SCH 80.

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Yeah I'm going off what I could do in Canada. And I noticed there a few differences from the NEC and the CEC.