Ngl I didn't know coax cable can go bad after 10 years until last week

I was troubleshooting a customer's signal loss in a house near Denver. Pulled out the old RG6 that was installed back in 2013. Swear it looked fine on the outside but when I cut it open the copper was all corroded and green. Found out from a supplier that moisture gets in through tiny cracks in the jacket over time. That explained why their internet kept dropping out at random times. Has anyone else run into old cable that looked okay but was actually shot?

3 comments

3 Comments

morganl711d ago

Yeah I used to be one of those people who thought coax either worked or didn't, that age wasn't really a factor. But after seeing a few cables with that green corrosion inside the shielding, I started checking more carefully on service calls. It's wild how much damage a tiny pinhole in the jacket can do over a decade or more.

mason_murray81d ago

Blew a service call once because I was too stubborn to replace a 15 year old cable that had that exact green crust. Customer was patient, but I felt like a real clown when the new line fixed everything in five minutes. Now I just assume coax is lying to me until proven otherwise. The pinhole thing is nasty too, especially when the jacket looks fine on the outside. I probably deserved that extra hour of troubleshooting.

oliver_baker491d ago

Moisture ingress is a valid issue but I've seen perfectly functional 20 year old RG6 in Denver.