HDTV on the wall.

bphyatt · 02-03-2010, 06:50 PM

I'm hanging an HDTV on my concrete wall in the basement. I'm feeding the wires through the 12"x18" soffit above. I'm going to run the low voltage (HDMI's, BGR, etc) through PVC to the media closet I'm building 8' away. Does it matter what kind of PVC I use? (White, Gray, etc)

Another question is how should I power the TV? Do I run a single ROMEX and install a gang box e/w plug directly above the TV (in the soffit) and plug it in there, or run a seperate PVC and use an extension cord to carry the power from the media closet to the TV?

What's the standard code for running either ROMEX or low voltage through PVC? Is there one? Does it matter what kind or size of PVC that's used? I'm wanting to use PVC to make it easy to change out the
cables should i need to in the future.

I've done some googlin' but no luck finding concrete answers.

Thanks for the help,

**Termite** · 02-03-2010, 06:55 PM

A lot of people run their audio and video cables through flexible nonmetallic conduit (the large version of blue smurfpipe...the name escapes me but it is orange).

Personally I'd run the romex in flexible smurfpipe, separate of the aud/vid cables. That'll eliminate the chance of any sort of interference in the signal and will also ensure that you won't get any flack from a home inspector or codes inspector.

bphyatt · 02-03-2010, 06:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thekctermite

A lot of people run their audio and video cables through flexible nonmetallic conduit (the large version of blue smurfpipe...the name escapes me but it is orange).

Personally I'd run the romex in flexible smurfpipe, separate of the aud/vid cables. That'll eliminate the chance of any sort of interference in the signal and will also ensure that you won't get any flack from a home inspector or codes inspector.

So you'd recommend not even doing PVC then. Is it easy to pull wire through the "smurfpipe." I know the orange you're speaking of too. Roughly 1.5-2" thick I believe.

What about the outlet? Run the romex to directly above the TV?

**Termite** · 02-03-2010, 07:04 PM

You could do PVC if you prefer. You should still do two separate runs though. The smurfpipe is plenty stiff enough to fish wires through if it is adequately secured and not just drooping.

Whichever you choose, you'll install the receptacle in a proper box and make the appropriate connections to the box with conduit. There are some really slick recessed boxes sold for this application that incorporate connections for all the cables as well as the 110v receptacle.

**Termite** · 02-03-2010, 07:06 PM

On mine I used the big smurfpipe and a 2-gang mudring (backless electrical box) for the AV cables. The 110v is ran separate, but just fished in the wall to the box conventionally.