Rewiring Coax Conduits

[Fano]

I want to wire up 2 extra rooms in the house for satellite tv .
They are at the front of the house and the dish is at the back but I do have tv points in the rooms.
The problem is that the wiring in the walls is very old and poor quality and not really suitable for a satellite signal.
So the plan is to run two new wires from the dish up into the attic and then down to each room through the conduits in the walls.
Its a 2 storey house so I have to get the cable down 2 floors through the conduits which are narrow.
Does anyone know a good way to get the new cable down through the wall without it getting stuck ?

[Curious123]

Years ago when my parents house was rewired I remember the electricians tying the cable to something called the 'fishwire' which was a long metallic wire but it was flexible so it could go round corners but hard enough to be pushed through gaps.

[tomhick024]

Use medium tensile fencing wire, get some off local farmer or your hardware shop.
Bend a little loop at the head of it and it shouldn't get stuck in slight bends!
I had to fish wires up to my attic when I converted it to a bedroom, so i shoved the fishing wire down from the top, then secured and taped the electrical cables to it and puled it up from below!
Tedious work I know but its the only solution other then running them down in the corners of the rooms!
Best of luck!

[plamen.1973]

That right what other people said, but I will other idea.
go to electrical waresale and ask them for Yellow 777 ilubricat for conduit.Put this on new cable and attach to old one then pull it.

[glic83]

with the way our houses are usually wired mate the cables will go up the wall and then under the floor boards and then up through a partition wall,mightn't be straight forward at all,are you able to lift any of the floor boards in the up stairs?

[Fano]

Thanks for the feedback guys.
I will try the fishwire and the Yellow 777 lubricant if I can source some .
The existing conduit is very narrow ~1cm wide I'd say so it will be a tough job .
Perhaps there is some way I can glue the new wire onto the old wire at the ground floor and then pull it up from the attic ?
You could be right Glic about the conduits not going straight up.
I cant really remove any of the floorboards to be honest.
I will go up into the top attic and see if the conduit is in line with the ground floor ,if not I could be snookered .
If the worst comes to the worst I'll just attach the new wire to the old one via a coax joiner and hope it will be ok.
Its the old type brown coax cable though with the honeycomb insulator so it might not be up to carrying satellite signals.

[dick b]

silicone oil from a diy shop is a good lube as well.(they use it on plastic plumbers fittings) the old co-ax is no good for sure you need minimum rg6 double screened satellite cable.

[patkins]

Thanks for the feedback guys.
I will try the fishwire and the Yellow 777 lubricant if I can source some .
The existing conduit is very narrow ~1cm wide I'd say so it will be a tough job .
Perhaps there is some way I can glue the new wire onto the old wire at the ground floor and then pull it up from the attic ?
You could be right Glic about the conduits not going straight up.
I cant really remove any of the floorboards to be honest.
I will go up into the top attic and see if the conduit is in line with the ground floor ,if not I could be snookered .
If the worst comes to the worst I'll just attach the new wire to the old one via a coax joiner and hope it will be ok.
Its the old type brown coax cable though with the honeycomb insulator so it might not be up to carrying satellite signals.

I was going to suggest a co ax joiner as you say but if you are going to use one- after you tighten both cables at the joiner file the corners of the hex shaped heads round for less resistance going round bends if there are any bends. At the most you will be at the loss of a joiner if it works and also the honeycomb earthing may provide a tighter /stronger grip in the joiner than the newer stranded type. Best of luck.

[barrowmanandrew]

very easy way to this.
go into your loft locate the ends of coduits. cut old cable about a foot from conduit, then join your new cable to it.
do this by stripping 6 cms of outer cables leaving only the inner copper cores of both cables.
make hooks with both ends of copper. loop the hooks together and wrap the ends round. so they are linked.
then get some electrical or gaffa tape and tape along the length of the copper loops to make the joint strong.
then you neeed a helper to go into the room and gently pull cable down as you help feed it down from loft.
pull it down until the joint has cleared conduit iin room. then measure how much cable you need to get to dish or splitter and cut it, then repeat for next room.
sounds a bit long winded, but really easy to do....

p.s. when your taping round the joint, keep it thin, no wider than width of original cable, this should help it not to get snagged

[glic83]

very easy way to this.
go into your loft locate the ends of coduits. cut old cable about a foot from conduit, then join your new cable to it.
do this by stripping 6 cms of outer cables leaving only the inner copper cores of both cables.
make hooks with both ends of copper. loop the hooks together and wrap the ends round. so they are linked.
then get some electrical or gaffa tape and tape along the length of the copper loops to make the joint strong.
then you neeed a helper to go into the room and gently pull cable down as you help feed it down from loft.
pull it down until the joint has cleared conduit iin room. then measure how much cable you need to get to dish or splitter and cut it, then repeat for next room.
sounds a bit long winded, but really easy to do....

p.s. when your taping round the joint, keep it thin, no wider than width of original cable, this should help it not to get snagged

wont be as straight forward as that,the way the cabling is done in irish houses id be very very surprised if the cable ran in conduit straight from the attic down to the rooms hes looking to get to

[barrowmanandrew]

wont be as straight forward as that,the way the cabling is done in irish houses id be very very surprised if the cable ran in conduit straight from the attic down to the rooms hes looking to get to

easy way to check, have one person at each end of conduit, one person pull at one end, see if cable moves at other..

on the other hand the coax already in walls should be fine, ive used cheap coax for satellite before, worked no probs...

[ITS A SCAM !]

Speaking as someone who has spent years and years using these types of conduits when rewiring houses, there is no cast iron guarentee that any of these methods will be suitable for yourself. Before you go and spend money on lubricants etc, try a little washing up liquid/water solution to see if it will help.
If you are attempting the use the original coax as a "draw wire" to pull your new coax through the conduit, try pulling through a smaller diameter ( and stronger ) cable first, and then use that to pull the new cable through the conduit, also its easier to pull down the wall, rather then pull up. If you can see the opening to the conduit in the you can pour some water/washing up liquid solution down the opening to help you.......But personally i think you are worrying too much and the new cable will easily pull through the conduit.

[Fano]

Thanks guys,I will attempt the job next weekend and let ye know how I get on.Fingers crossed it will go well.

[glic83]

which rooms are you trying to get the cables to?

[Fano]

which rooms are you trying to get the cables to?

One is a bedroom on the first floor ,the other is a lounge on the ground floor.
I have a bit of time to work out a plan before the soccer season starts.