c/cable-installers

Spent 6 months coiling coax the wrong way, a squirrel showed me why

Been doing residential installs in Boise for over a year now. Every drum I spun was against the natural lay, whatever that means. Last Tuesday I'm up on a ladder and this squirrel chews through my drop line, so I grab the spare and wind it off the drum by hand, and suddenly the loop comes off clean without that kinky twist I always fought. Tossed the old coil method and now I always check the direction the factory set it. Anyone else ever get tipped off by an animal on the job?

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tara_mitchell•1d ago

Open splice trays vs sealed closures, which one do you actually trust on a 3 year run?

I had to pick between open splice trays and fully sealed closures on a big FTTH build outside Portland last spring. The open trays are way faster to work with, like maybe 20 minutes per closure versus 45 for the sealed ones, and I can see every fiber without guessing. But after a wet winter, I got called back to three of the open trays because moisture got in and messed with the signal, even though I used gel wraps and torqued everything down. The sealed ones are a pain to reopen when you need to add a drop, and you have to be careful not to crack the gasket when you pry them open. So which do you guys run for long term reliability, or do you just go with whatever the engineer specs and hope for the best? Curious if anyone else has had similar trouble in rainy climates or if I just got a bad batch of trays.

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nancy_davis•4d ago

That customer who knew more than me about coax run

Last week I was doing a install in a older house, and this retired guy who worked for the phone company years ago starts asking about my ground block placement. He pointed out I was about to bond to a water pipe that had a plastic insert, and sure enough he was right, saved me a call back. It got me thinking, how do you handle customers who clearly know the trade better than you do, do you take their advice or stick to your company's playbook?

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valsullivan•5d ago

That Monday in Toledo where everything went right for once

Usually I'm the guy complaining about buried lines and attics at 110 degrees, but last week in Toledo I had a day that just flowed. Three jobs, all with easy access points, and the last one even had the customer's dog already locked in the backyard. I finished by 3:30 and even found a $20 bill in the truck between the seats. Has anyone else had a day where the other techs would think you're lying if you told them about it?

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calebw50•7d ago

Debate: Do you blame the engineer or yourself when prints are wrong on a rough-in?

Last Tuesday in Phoenix I was running a 2-story rough-in off a set of prints that had the kitchen island outlet on the wrong wall. I caught it after I already ran the homerun and stapled it. I spent 20 minutes rerouting, but my foreman said I should have called it in before touching anything and that it's the engineer's fault for not checking. Other guys on my crew said I did the right thing because the GC would have blamed me either way for flagging it late. I get both sides. Who do you think eats that time, and how do you handle a bad print on a tight schedule without looking like the problem?

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kevin_schmidt97•9d ago

Finally saw why everyone swears by the coax toner with a built-in probe

My old toner died after 10 years, so I picked up a Klein digital model last Tuesday. Ran a job in Aurora where the lines were a mess in a 1970s apartment complex. Before, I was guessing and pulling my hair out. This thing traced a buried drop to the third box in 20 minutes, no grunting or tone-finder dance. Does anyone else use the probe to check for shorts before you even climb the ladder?

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elizabeth438•13d ago

Unpopular opinion: fiber fusion splicers are overkill for most residential drops

I dropped $3,800 on a fusion splicer after my foreman swore it would pay for itself. Two years later I've used it maybe 12 times, and every single job could have been done with a mechanical splice kit I bought for $90 at the supply house in Dayton. The calibration alone ate up a full Saturday each month. Anyone else hauling around expensive equipment they barely touch?

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ryan_clark40•13d ago

Six years in and I just figured out how to use my own fish tape

Still kinda embarrassed about this one. My old foreman always told me to 'just pull harder' when the tape hung up, and I figured that's how everyone did it. Now I'm wondering what other basic stuff I'm doing wrong. You guys got any other little things that took you way too long to figure out?

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nancy_davis•15d ago

Anyone here ever check the actual temperature rating on their ladder stickers?

I was swapping a modem in a crawl space yesterday and glanced at the side of my fiberglass ladder, saw it's only rated to 140 degrees. That got me thinking about how many roof cable runs I've done in summer heat where the surface could easily hit that. Have any of you melted or warped a ladder doing direct sun installs, or am I just paranoid about the sticker specs?

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the_riley•17d ago

Told a coworker zip ties were trash for outdoor drops, now I eat my words

For 8 years I swore by stainless wraps on every weather exposed connection, but last month my buddy used 3 heavy duty zips on a south facing drop and they're still holding after all this rain. Anyone else flip flop on a tool or method they were dead set against?

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gavin_kim3•18d ago

Pro tip: that old fish tape trick from 15 yrs ago still beats the new flex rods

Pulled a 60 ft run through a attic in Phoenix last week, went back to the steel fish tape my old lead guy taught me with, and it got through a 3 inch gap where the fancy rod kept snagging, so for anyone fighting tight drops, what's your go-to when the new gear fails?

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aaron_ellis42•22d ago

Surprised that a cheap fish tape worked better than my $80 one

Picked up a 30 foot metal fish tape from Harbor Freight for 12 bucks last Tuesday and it slid through a 3 inch conduit that my expensive fiberglass one kept snagging on, so should I just stop spending big on this stuff or did I get lucky with a single good batch?

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the_beth•23d ago

Last week I found a buried coax line with no tracer and it bit me hard

Doing a residential swap over near Oakwood and my locator showed nothing. Dug 2 feet down with a shovel, hit a live drop from 2005 that nobody had on the map. Fried my cutter tip and got a solid 120v reminder why I never skip the grounding check. Anyone else trust old records less than a coin flip these days?

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margaretrivera•24d ago

Old timer swore by his own crimp tool, I say factory is fine, who's right?

Last week I was on a job in Fresno swapping out a bad drop on a two story ranch and this retired installer, must have been doing this since the 80s, watched me use my standard crimp tool on an F connector. He said I was doing it wrong, that you have to use the old three piece compression tool or the connector will fail within a year. I've been using the same cheap crimp tool for 4 years now and I've maybe had two callbacks total, both times the issue was a loose fitting I didn't torque down. He kept pushing his method, saying the factory style just doesn't grip the dielectric the same and he's seen it fail in the heat. I get that he's got 40 years of experience, but my numbers don't lie. Is there actually a real difference between the two tools, or is this just old school preference? Has anyone else had a connector fail specifically because of the crimp tool used?

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mark676•24d ago

Homeowner's one comment changed how I terminate every drop

Guy in Reno watched me punch down a wall plate and said, "You're leaving too much slack, it looks lazy." I always left a foot of loop behind the drywall. He wanted it tight, less than 4 inches. Now I cut everything to length before I even pull the cable. Slower at first, but I've reworked maybe 10 percent fewer service calls since I switched 6 months back. Anyone else get a random critique that actually stuck with you?

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skylercooper•25d ago

Wasps took over a pedestal in Waco, now I carry a special can

Got called to a rural spot outside Waco last Tuesday, open the pedestal and about 40 wasps come straight at my face. I ran back to the truck with three stings on my neck, and the homeowner just laughed from his porch while I suited up. Picked up that foaming wasp spray that shoots 20 feet, and I hit the nest from a safe distance before touching anything now. Anyone else keep a dedicated can in their truck for these little demons, or am I the only one who learned this the hard way?

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the_eva•28d ago

The cheap toner trick I laughed at actually saved my butt on a bad splice

I used to see guys carrying those little handheld toners from Harbor Freight and figured they were junk. Then I had a 300 foot drop in a crawlspace last month with the labels all peeled off the cables and zero time to trace everything by hand. Borrowed one from a coworker, and it found the right line in maybe 2 minutes after I spent 40 minutes guessing wrong with the built-in beeper. Now I keep one in my truck but I still refuse to pay the name brand price for it. Anyone else had a budget tool surprise them on a rough job?

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the_eva•1mo ago

Picked the cheap crimper over the name brand. Big mistake.

Had to choose between a $12 crimper and a $45 Klein at the hardware store in Tampa. Went cheap, and it mangled 8 connectors before I gave up. Has anyone else had a tool that just ruined your whole day?

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evan_dixon67•1mo ago

Ran 200 feet of line through a crawlspace I barely fit in

Last Tuesday I got sent to this house off Maple Street. Old lady wanted cable in her back office. The only path was through a crawlspace under the house. Maybe 18 inches high. I'm 6'2". Spent an hour on my belly pulling coax through mud and spider webs. Got poked by a nail near the end. My back still hurts three days later. Ended up using a fiberglass rod to fish it through once I got stuck halfway. Has anyone else dealt with a crawlspace that's basically a coffin? What's your go-to trick for tight spots like that?

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the_max•1mo ago

Paid $150 for that fancy cable toner and it's a paperweight

Bought that Klein Tools toner with the digital display thinking it would save me time hunting lines in a mess of wires. First real job with it, the probe wouldn't pick up the signal past 20 feet through drywall. Total waste of cash, back to my old $40 unit that actually works. Anyone else got burned on a tool that reviewers hyped up?

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beth_hart68•1mo ago

That one customer who timed my every move with a stopwatch

I was running a new drop in a basement in Toledo and the homeowner stood two feet behind me with a stopwatch, literally saying "you're at 14 minutes" every time I paused to breathe. Has anyone else had someone treat your install like a timed competition?

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johnthompson•1mo ago

Just found out my crimper was misaligned for 6 months

I was checking a customer's drop yesterday and noticed some intermittent signal loss, so I swapped out the connector and boom, issue gone. Looked closer at my old connector under a lamp and saw the crimp was off center by about half a millimeter every time. Has anyone else calibrated their crimper lately and found a hidden problem in their own work?

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the_fiona•1mo ago

Hot take: Compression fittings are way better than crimp connectors for RG6

I did a 20 drop job in an old apartment building downtown last month and tried both methods. Crimp connectors kept failing on the first test because the cable was slightly thicker than spec. Swapped to compression fittings halfway through and every single one passed first try. Has anyone else noticed compression just holds up better in the long run?

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beth_hart68•1mo ago

Old fiber termination trick still works better than I thought

Been doing this 15 years and always used the standard cleaver and fusion splicer. Tried my old mechanical splice and crimp method on a tight attic job last week. Worked like a charm in 30 degree weather where my fusion splicer kept throwing errors. Anyone else keep the old school kit for backup?

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ericschmidt•1mo ago

Warning: Don't buy those cheap clear silicone grommets from Amazon

I ordered a 200 pack of those clear silicone pass-through grommets for $12 last month. Installed them on about 30 jobs and they all started cracking within 2 weeks in the sun. Had to go back to 8 houses to replace them (lost a whole Saturday). The ones from Graybar cost more but they don't fall apart after a few weeks. Anybody else get burned by that cheap Amazon stuff?

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