Home Improvements

[kelsochris]

Another question regarding our remodel and running wire in conduit.  I have talked with an electrician and we have figured out what wire and conduit to use to come from the pole to the house.  I of course failed to ask him how to ruin the wire up the conduit.  My thought process is as follows 1) push the wire (4/0 aluminum) up the first pice of conduit pulling an additional 12 feet or so then sliding the next piece over the wire and applying the pipe solvent to join the two sections of conduit.  I would repeatedly pull some wire and add another section of conduit until I get to the house.  Or, should assemble the conduit run a fish tape up it then pull the wire through it.  I am wanting to run the line then bury it while the contractors are gone deer hunting this week.

[jandsjacobson99]

I can tell you that you are not supposed to do it that way, and that there are many that do it that way.  The arguement against it is that the solvent can get on the wire insulation and break it down.  The "right" way to do it is to run the conduit and then pull the wire.  You can not have more than 360 degrees in bends without putting in  an access point.  If you pull the wire you won't be able to pull it with much more than 270 degrees.  The secret to pulling wire is lots of lube and good strong cord.  You can either feel the cord through as you glue the pipe, or you can use a vacuum to suck the cord through, or you can use a wire fish tape if it's not too long and you have a long enough fish tape.  Then you connect your wire to the end of your pull device, and wrap the bundle in electrical tape, being careful to keep the bundle as low profile as possible.  You can do this by staggering the ends of wire so they aren't all ending right together.   You're trying to create a good angle on your wire head.  Then feed the wire from one end with some occasional wire lube squirted into your conduit (buy the real stuff from your electrical store).  Takes two guys, one feeding and one pulling.  It will be hard and will require a lot of sweat.  One bit of advice, have a towel at the receiving end to wipe that wire off while you pull it out.  There's nothing quite like trying to get a grip on a piece of wire that feels like a calf seeing the light of day for the first time!

[kelsochris · Accepted solution]

I did the run from the pole to the shop today using 2/0 and 1 1/4" conduit.  I did do it a section at a time but what I did was to pull 12' through the first section then wrap the wire with duct tape for about 1 foot right at the joint.  Next I slid on the next section and doped the two pieces up and twisted them together.  As I added each section I pulled the cable through so that the taped section was at the new joint.  Tomarrow night I plan on tackling the big run from the house to the pole using 4/0 and 2" pipe.  Thanks for the advice.

[wiigelec]

Just so you know ...

NEC 2008 300.18 (A)  Complete Runs.  Raceways ... shall be installed complete between outlet, junction, of splicing points prior to the installation of conductors.

[kelsochris]

OK, duly noted.

[jandsjacobson99]

Just so you know, your way, though obviously spoken against in the NEC, is often done.  I know of a local electrician that does it just like that as he is a one-man show.  Sure, it should be done the other way, but if you're careful you can actually save yourself some headaches by doing it like that.  One big problem with pulling is burning through the sides of elbows.  It's pretty common for the pull wire or cord to wear through the 90's where they rub up against the side.  Your way avoids that.  So it just comes down to how closely you want to follow the law, and then make your own decision.

[kelsochris]

My hole point in asking was to hopefully save me some labor cost with the electrician yet still do a passable job.  I rented and ran the trencher myself so I have that part done as well as the 100 amp line to the shop.  Weather has held me up on the 200amp run to the house but I might go after that tomarrow.  The engineer for the electric co-op was by today and called me at work and did not mention any irregularities in the work I have done so far.  Code is not heavily enforced in this area but I did follow the depth instructions, gauge suggestions and layout pointers I was given by the electirician and the engineer.  An interesting point to make is that the engineer had no issue with me putting a T in the conduit and running the line to the shopoff that as long as there were no splices in the lines, the electrician on the other hand told me he wouldn't hook it up if I did it that way.  That was the only discrepancy between the two and I went with two seperate conduits.

[jandsjacobson99]

Wow, I can't believe he would allow you to T your conduit.  That pretty much assures that you would have to put your wire in as you do your glue up.  And if there was ever a problem with the wire, you would have to dig up your line to fix it, thereby also having to replace your other line.  Doing two separate conduits was definitely the best choice.