In wall wire in Ducts?

hexumjunkie

can i put wire in my Heating and cooling Ducts?

unc2701

In some areas it might be a code violation... not to mention the logistics. I you want to play it safe, get plenum rated cable if you can find it (it'll be more explensive).

amulford

You should use plenum rated, but usually that's for public occupancy. That code is to ensure if there is a fire, the cable's jacket doesn't produce toxic fumes easily spread by the HVAC system.

Yes you can run it, but make sure you seal the penetrations when you breach the duct wall. No use in letting the air go where you don't want it to go.

jdhdiggs

Yup, get plenum rated cable and be done with it. One other nice feature of plenum rated cable is that it has a foil shield in it that helps protect from EMI. (Not its original purpose, but nice side benifit.)

If you are worried about code, you need to look at number of floors it passes through, # of walls, length of run, etc... If you go with plenum rated, you can ignore all of that.

McLoki

Just so you know, the 10 ga. cable from Blue Jeans Cable (called 10 white speaker cable) is plenum rated. about $.58 / ft. (or about that)

Michael

brendy

I do HVAC for a living in Florida.No wire should be run in ductwork.

McLoki

McLoki wrote:

Just so you know, the 10 ga. cable from Blue Jeans Cable (called 10 white speaker cable) is plenum rated. about $.58 / ft. (or about that)

The 12ga wire is in-wall rated, but not plenum rated.

Michael