dealing with the clueless (electrical conduit feed for your shop)

Grumpy

The Grumpy Grease Monkey mechanical engineer.
Staff member
I recently was asked to help pull electrical cable into a shop that was being wired,
( we all started out clueless, but the skill is in asking questions and following advice,
from the experienced or PROS in the field, to avoid problems)
( I spent 35 years doing this type of work , and a whole lot of other stuff,) for AT&T

the guy said he could not pull the cable through the 90 degree turns in the 2" electrical conduit
(keep in mind 3/0 cable to feed 200 amp service is not easily bent)
( but it darn sure helps to know what your doing vs screwing it up)


I had asked if the cable was lubed before he tried to pull it, and the conduit was all glued and clamped to the rafters or roof beams etc.there was access,points, and if the combined total of the turns was over 270 degrees, he had installed access points in the 2" conduit?
so all the cable could be pulled through the turns to those access points


before proceeding with the pulls,I ask if he ha JET LINE and a vacuum<or a FISH TAPE
but once I was on site, it was obvious he had no experience playing at being an electrician
he had purchased this type of 90 degree fittings, which have a
removable access plate,
that access plates there, so you can feed the cable in both directions from the fittings,
then replace the cover on the fitting the cable is NOT supposed to be pulled
through the 90 degree turn in the fitting
you feed all the cable trough in one direction, then push or pull the remaining slack in the other direction, once the cable is all in the conduit the covers refitted and secured

it's not designed to be mid installed mid conduit and pulled through with a drag line
its generally used on the first turn from outside the building and the other leg is a short vertical drop to the meter.

rather than the correct for the application 90 degree sweeps designed to pull conduit through where you can pull well lubed cable through the 90 degree turn in direction
a lack of knowledge, is going to result in problems, If you run into problems STOP ASK QUESTIONS

you will be amazed at how much easier it is to do electrical work if you know what your doing and use the correct tools
https://www.homedepot.com/p/IDEAL-1-Gal-Aqua-Gel-II-Pulling-Lubricant-31-371/300496794

 
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