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Actually, you don't have to put gel filled or even air core PIC in pipe, although it never hurts for protection. Gel filled got big as a result of divestiture, when the deal became that the RBOC's (regional operating bell companies) had to give much of the cable infrastructures to home, business, and property owners. The problem with air core and private owners is that is has to be pressurized to keep water and moisture out. No private (other that the FAA) bothers and lots of cable gets ruined as a result. So long as you don't get holes, cuts, etc in the sheath of your gel filled, the gel will keep the moisture out. And if gets cut or nicked, allows for repairs/splices in that spot only because the gel keeps the moisture from spreading into the cable. Believe it or not, the coatings on the individual pairs (wires) are not water proof, and if is air core, water will wick up into and through the cable. Those coatings aren't as absorbant as napkins, but aren't far off. Take a pale and fill it with water, take a piece of your cable and shove it into the pail, leaving it hang down over the side. By morning the water will have wicked/siphoned out of the pale, and if take an ohm meter across the actual wire conductors, will be shorted together. Those pair/wire coatings are not water proof. Good luck. I do it for a living. Mark.
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