Can we talk about how people run coax through the same hole as electrical?

I swear I see this on almost every service call lately. Last Tuesday I pulled a drop at an older house and found coax sharing a 3/4 inch hole with 14-2 Romex about 4 feet from the panel. I get that it saves time on a new build, but I've seen interference on HD channels more than once from that setup. Am I wrong for stopping and re-drilling a separate hole every time, or is this just how crews do it now?

3 comments

3 Comments

young.thomas19d ago

Four feet from the panel with 14-2? That's asking for a noise disaster.

carr.abby19d agoTop Commenter

Nah, you're overthinking it. 14-2 at four feet is totally fine for a home panel in a basic residential setup. The kind of noise people worry about usually comes from long parallel runs with high voltage lines or induction motors, not a short hop from the panel. Most modern homes don't have enough interference to make that a real problem unless you've got a welding shop next door. I've seen plenty of installs like that pass inspection and work just fine for years.

simon_carr19d ago

Nah you're right to fix it every time. That 4 feet of parallel run can absolutely mess with SNR on the higher frequencies. 14-2 isn't shielded and coax hates sharing a hole even for a short distance.