Cat 5 Cable Hangers

I don’t know much about data cable, but in selling tools, fasteners and hangers to the cabling field for over 15 years I have seen many changes in the hangers becoming important with cat 5 cable and getting even more important with cat 5E, cat 6, fiber and even more on the way. To hang cat 5 cable and others properly you need to know the limitations of each type of cable. Again, I don’t know much about cable but I do know with cat 5 cable and others, radius of the bend, weight on the cable, bearing area of the hanger and support intervals are important. The best thing to do is check your cable manufacturers recommendations for your cable type. Now as for the actual hanging of cat 5 cable and others, that I understand a little better. I have had opportunity to spend time on the job with many of our local contractors and ask them a lot of questions. I have also been able to work with them in coming up with customized hangers for their cable. Many installations require use of cable tray but many times you can mount your cable with cable hangers like j hooks or loops. There are many types of hangers around that are designed around cat 5 cable, fiber and others. These typically have a bearing area of at least 1 ½” to support the cable. The usual problem we run into is how to hang the hangers themselves. Some of the hangers just have a single hole, which is fine if you have a cable run along a wall. But what about when you have to run your cat 5 cable under some duct work, but at least a foot over the false ceiling? One of my favorite solutions I was asked to build was a clip to shoot into a concrete/metal deck, with 3 cable hangers supported on ¼” threaded rod 28″ long with two hangers at the bottom and one about a foot above to hold cat 5 cable and fiber. Well if you have ever checked your cable hanger catalog, you won’t find anything like this. We ended up assembling the clip to the rod with 2 Arlington Loops (plenum rated plastic hanger) at the bottom and then the contractor added the third hanger, an Arlington Loop with a multi clip or bat wing on the fly. Very cool, we assembled several thousand for this project. Another very common installation is when you are running cable through a warehouse either with or against the bar joist. Several hangers are available that will hammer right on to the bar joist and can rotate 360 degrees. This makes it much easier to make gentle gradual turns and still support the more sensitive cable better. Anytime you can use a pre assembled hanger in your install work, even though the initial cost is higher you will save money in the long run. Not only will the cable install faster, and hang better, but you will keep up the morale on the job. Jeffrey Richard has been supplying the data cabling field with tools, fasteners and hangers for over 15 years. Speed up your next install with these cat 5 cable hangers.