Pullling cable in conduit

Someone made a comment awhile back about running a rag soaked in cable lube through the conduit before running the cable. I use half a plastic bag instead of a rag, but the lube pre-pull makes a big difference if you've never tried it before.

Had a crew pulling some buried cable in 300 feet of 1-1/2" grey PVC with three 90s and four 45s. They couldn't push a fish tape down it, so had them try a small 2 HP Walmart shop vac that I use for general cleanup instead of my 6 HP shop vac for that. Good tip - use half of a plastic Walmart bag tied to a pull string and the small vac pulls it just fine (a whole bag tends to clog up).

They ran the pull sting and there was a too much friction with the string getting pulled around the turns. So I had then pull half a plastic bag covered with lube in both directions. They had the whole pull job done in ten minutes later.

Reply to
DecaturTxCowboy
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You may have exceeded the max number of bends as per NEC, and of course would have caused problems.

What king of wire were you pulling?

Reply to
D.R.

I've heard of cases where the nylon pull will CUT the walls of the plastic duct at the elbow. I'd gently pull something with diameter with the string and THEN pull in the cable with the rope..

Reply to
David Lesher

Oh, it WILL...trust me. Same way with that skinny white nylon string.

Electrician's pull string will too, but its thicker (wider) and more surface area and not AS likely to cut into the PVC, but it still can if pulled real fast.

Reply to
DecaturTxCowboy

Or slow, or a combination of speed and pressure. I just go out and grab a hundred or 200 feet of plain old clothesline, the cotton over nylon kind for about $3 a hundred feet, lube the snot out of it, and pull it in place of the electricians pull string. I've even used the rope directly if the conduit run is 100 feet or less.

Reply to
Carl Navarro

Good idea! Cheaper (electrician's string is like $40 per 1,000 as I seem to recall - or was that for two buckets?) and the cotton less likely to "burn" a cut in the PVC.

Reply to
DecaturTxCowboy

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