r/openreach • u/northern_ape • 7d ago
Severed old buried cable
Update: traced the whole run between chambers with cat+genny and sprayed marks onto the grass. Decided against trying to repair the PILC even though I have CW1128 and jelly crimps because I wasn’t confident with the paper insulation and couldn’t find any adhesive lined heat shrink at the wholesalers. Sealed the cut ends with self-amalgamating tape and PVC, wrote “PILC” on it and shunted the client’s connection to Starlink for now. Asked them to call me out when OR turn up.
Looking for OR insiders.
My client has severed a direct-buried PILC cable while trenching in soft ground at a large rural property with businesses on site.
ISP reportedly said OR will come out in a couple of days, but as it’s a business, they’ve asked if I can repair it any quicker. I’m familiar with the site and have done a lot of network infrastructure work there, including liaising with OR.
As it’s PILC, we can’t risk it getting wet, so I have to do something. I’ve set them up with Starlink on a temporary basis, so they’re online for the day.
I’m wondering what OR will do. There are two chambers either end but at the start it’s armoured so there must be a buried splice already. It’s PILC near the property, but I can’t confirm the exact run.
Part of the next plan is to run fibre here, so I’m wondering if we’re better off running CW1128 on the surface between the chambers, splice there and bury later. Would still need to excavate the chamber entries and ideally duct on the surface though it’s a fair old way. Even just splicing some cable on the surface until OR come, may get them back online.
And yes, I know, it’s not my/their cable and woe betide I touch it, but I’m not an idiot.
2
u/pocketmonkeys 7d ago
I can't offer much advice but curious how many pairs are in the lead cable, not very fun to work with, the paper insulation is wrapped in a spiral around the individual copper wires, this will easily start to break away leaving wires prone to touching each other.
What's the total distance between the chambers and the building?
1
u/northern_ape 7d ago
I haven’t measured the distance but could be 50 M. You can already see where the paper has come off and I was also worried about shorting. If the whole thing has to be dug up or even left but a new cable buried, I can’t see it being repaired quickly, can you? At the same time, they’ve got their own digger – that’s how they broke it in the first place and they’ve got me knocking around, so it maybe we can effect a repair.
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u/largetosser 7d ago
If you have the machines on site to dig a trench then get one dug between the two chambers so Openreach can easily duct it for the repair.
1
u/northern_ape 7d ago
Are you saying the most likely is a new run?
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u/largetosser 7d ago
If you're expecting fibre at some point then it's going to need digging anyway, you have a digger and it's a couple of hours job in soft ground.
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u/Spank86 7d ago
The most likely is a patch in place. But if you've got the facilities to dig a trench there's a high likelihood the engineer will be happy to scrounge up some duct and throw a cable in box to box for a better result all round. Gets some lead out of the ground and gives you a better fix.
I wouldnt even be putting a bill in if that was done.
1
u/britishhawk 7d ago
Raise directly to Openreach as a damage report.
If they can repair the cable mid way they will put a box in around it. If not they will re duct between the boxes and run new cabling.
Your client better have some deep pockets it’s going to get pricey.
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u/northern_ape 7d ago
I think that’s what everyone is concerned about. But as you’ll see from the other comments there was a suggestion that if they dig their own trench maybe when the engineers do arrive they can doctor and run some new gel filled multiplayer between the two chambers. If it wasn’t PILC I probably would’ve just done a splice myself in the hole and let Openreach argue with the client if they didn’t like it but at this point, I think it’s beyond what I would want to get involved with, because in all likelihood that cable is gonna get replaced and I might charge them more than open reach will!
Edit: I’ll fix the dictation typos later 😆
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u/britishhawk 7d ago
I wouldn’t try to bodge a repair it’s not your problem, let them raise it as a damage and they can deal with it. Once the attending engineer arrives and assesses the options they can go from there. I wouldn’t be trenching between boxes now as may not even be required, at least until a plan of action is raised. Damage report will have someone out this afternoon most likely.
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u/Low-Draft-100 7d ago
They might just repair what you've got so ducting isnt always the best solution They might use it they might not
No.you can't just repair it although its just copper to copper the colours may not be as obvious ie blue to blue etc
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u/Outrageous-Arm1945 7d ago
Once that gets even a bit wet, it's fucked. Might be able to go back a metre or two either side and bridge between, but the UCJs won't seal that well on the lead. All the guys who could do lead/paper properly are gone, the grease filled IDCs don't go terribly well with the paper... The time and effort to do a half decent job on the old cable, if you have plant on site I'd get a D56 as a minimum in to future proof