Basic safety/cat6 performance/wiring question

[stillLearning]

As I indicated in my first post, and as you'll quickly deduce, I'm a complete newbie to all-things-home-networking.

I am pulling cables in my condo from our office, to an overhead crawl space. (that is the lucky part).

I have drilled a hole in the wall, used a cable snake to go from office to overhead area.

Now I have noticed that where I drilled the hole is about 6-8 inches and ~1/2 inch below center from the 120V power outlets in the wall.

Arg... There is metal flex cable directly in the path of where my new cable would go. I would expect that the back of the keystone jack for the cable may rub against this flex cable (it's metal, spiral).

I can of course, wrap the keystone with electricians tape, but 1. is that enough?, 2. Will my cat 6 1GB performance possibly be affected by such close proximity of 120 V current?

I can redrill an inch or two above, but would prefer not to have to patch and paint.
Am I safe (enough) on both counts?

Thanks for your feedback!!!

StillLearning(andSuffering!
Neil

 

[System Error Message]

Its best to keep data cables away from power. There are also flat rj45 cables which is good to lay on the walls, ceilings or floors to avoid drilling.

 

[KenZ71]

Since you already have the hole in the wall why not run the cables then check the performance? Be sure to do so with current flowing through that nearby Power line and not for comparison.

Worst case you move the box over and put an extra wide plate over the hole. Perhaps one of the data & video plates those are almost double width.

 

[azazel1024]

It is best to keep it away, but the metal conduit, especially since it is possibly grounded will actually act as at least a partial shield for the AC wiring. Beyond that, at gigabit speeds, AC wiring isn't going to generate enough interference to compromise speeds at all. The best thing to do is cross the AC wiring perpendicular instead of running it along the wiring if you can.

That said, I have cat6 running for an easy 15-20ft right on top of AC wiring, because there is no other way to run it and it works just fine at full speed and full duplex without a hiccup.

There are not safety issues with what you have mentioned.

 

[thiggins]

AC is not going to bother data unless the two cables are bundled together in a long run. The keystone jack body touching the AC cable metal is not a problem because it is grounded.

 

[stillLearning]

Thanks all!