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TIL that two year old fiber cable can snap if you look at it wrong
Was pulling a new drop through a crawlspace in an old apartment building in Tulsa last Thursday and the jacket just split open for no reason, any tips on handling aged fiber without having to re-run the whole thing?
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gavin_kim6d ago
Man, I've been there far too many times (crawlspaces in old buildings are the absolute worst). Honestly, my go-to trick for that brittle jacket stuff is to hit it with a little heat from a heat gun set on low - just enough to make it pliable again before you even think about bending or pulling it. If it's already split, I'd strip back the jacket a few inches past the crack, give the buffer tubes a good wipe with alcohol, and put a new piece of heat shrink over the whole mess. It's not pretty, but it saves you from pulling a whole new drop through that nightmare.
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stella_scott966d ago
Old fiber in crawlspaces is basically a gamble every time. Jacket splitting happens when the heat cycles have cooked the plastic brittle. Short of splicing in a new section right at the break point you're stuck replacing. Did you at least get the drop through without snagging anything else?
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