Most buildings and data centers contain miles of abandoned cable, especially hospitals, schools, and office buildings that were built years ago and then expanded or remodeled. According to the National Electric Code (NEC), any abandoned wire in your building’s riser or plenum spaces is a violation. In most cases, being out of code jeopardizes your hazard insurance and represents a dangerous legal liability. Over the years, as companies expand their infrastructure, antiquated cables are often left in place. We commonly find that over 50% of cables in a building or data center environment have been discarded, and by code, are required to be removed.
In addition to code violations, excessive cables create other critical liabilities:
- Block airflow, preventing cool air from getting to hot spots near critical systems
- The weight of unused cables causes expensive structural damage
- Difficulty in identifying and servicing live cables
- Removing the wrong cable can paralyze the IT system