Long conduit pull

[bluedog225]

I’ve laid down about 500 feet of 1 inch conduit in a gently curving but mostly straight line. The plan is to pull a string through it with a plastic bag and a shop vac.

I’m guessing I use something like masons twine to get that first string through. My question is what’s the next stage.

I’m pulling two conductor 12 gauge wire through it. I’m worried that mason’s twine would break before I got finished. I’m assuming there’s a heavier line or strap I’m supposed to use for the actual wire pull.

Any recs appreciated.

 

[mike93lx]

I've had good luck with this. Could skip the Mason line with it.. It flies out of that container with a shop vac

I did use Mason line to measure for wire, though. Sucked it through, marked and pulled it back out, then used a 100' tape and my 8 year old to get a length

Klein Tools Poly Pull Line with Orange Tracer 500-Feet 56108 - The Home Depot

Run wire and cable through conduit without damaging cables by using this Pulling Line from Klein Tools. Polypropylene construction.

www.homedepot.com

 

[bluedog225]

Great. Thanks.

Do you happen to know if you can tie off the other end before the pull? I may be over 500’ and may need two strings.

 

[mike93lx]

Great. Thanks.

Do you happen to know if you can tie off the other end before the pull? I may be over 500’ and may need two strings.

Not sure if the other end is accessible. May just need to watch it

 

[dogdog]

As long as it is no more than 4x 90 deg bends you are good to go 2x 12 ga wires on a straight 500’ shouldn’t be that bad.

Have some one on the other end make sure the wires are not twisting when feeding into the conduit.

 

[bluedog225]

I knew I shoulda had kids.

 

[dogdog]

I have seen those winch for wire pulling with remotes ,

Or this maybe? If it is connect to a 4x4 box. They used to have these in metal and 4 mini rollers and cheaper sub $10 now this ridiculous price.

Rack-A-Tiers Wire Vortex Cable and Wire Pulling Guide for 4 in. Square Box 40001 - The Home Depot

Protect wire from damage when pulling with the help of this Rack-A-Tiers Wire Vortex Cable and Wire Pulling Guide for Square Box.

www.homedepot.com

 

[bluedog225]

I’ll have to measure and see if I need a bigger bucket of twine.

 

[sparky 1971]

I'd **** a string in and use that to pull in a 1/4" rope. Of course not everyone has a 500' long rope, but I do.

 

[PCustoms]

I’m pulling two conductor 12 gauge wire through it.

What wire are you pulling?

 

[nadogail]

Paracord is Very Strong.

 

[bluedog225]

Paracord is a good idea.

It’s direct burial stranded landscape lighting wire.

I had to run the pvc in a bit of a rush as the water line was going in. May not get to use the entire run so I stubbed it up at regular intervals. I’ve got some options on the voltage I run.

 

[Miss the Pontiacs]

I’ve laid down about 500 feet of 1 inch conduit in a gently curving but mostly straight line. The plan is to pull a string through it with a plastic bag and a shop vac.

I’m guessing I use something like masons twine to get that first string through. My question is what’s the next stage.

I’m pulling two conductor 12 gauge wire through it. I’m worried that mason’s twine would break before I got finished. I’m assuming there’s a heavier line or strap I’m supposed to use for the actual wire pull.
But
Any recs appreciated.

Instead of using Mason twine try Polyester or what we called Mule Tape. Strong, knots come free easily and you can apply cable pulling lubricant when pulling into place. Prelubing the conduit. Then adding more pulling lube when pulling you electrical cable
Another plus with Mule Tape due to its width won’t cut the inside of conduit on turns when the pulling gets tough. Maybe not overly important on straight pulls.
We used to even on the initial pulling in was to tie additional rags which we would add copious amounts of lube. May seem excessive but once the pull goes side ways it is cheap insurance for an easy pull.
I’ve used this tape for many different purposes. Great stuff.
Pulling cable lubricant also will come in handy down the road if you have any left over.

 

[The Cobbler]

I’m pulling two conductor 12 gauge wire through it

seems to me you are using jacketed wire and not individual ? so you are using 12/2 with ground underground rated ?

 

[bluedog225]

This is what I was looking at. Will adjust the gauge based on the final lighting design and voltage.

 

[PCustoms]

If you're buying something, don't use Paracord.

Amazon sells off brand mule tape, worked perfectly for me. The flat profile reduces the chance that you cut into your PVC.

You should be able to tie a Plastic bag directly to it and **** that through with a good vacuum.

 

[Lassen Forge]

Pulling wire is SOP here... we also use this crappy, er, awesome flexible plastic conduit, but given the right tools it's not an issue... Chaser cable(s) and cable conduit lube. (I tried different things, but the stuff they makes for this works best).

Anyway, these conduit chasers, you can attach them to each other to make them as long as you need. (I have a bunch of 10 and 15 meter ones, and a few 5's). Put a "cable eye" (screws to the end of the chaser), wrap the joint with electric tape, get a rag with your cable lube on it, and coat it as you feed the eye end into the conduit. As you come to the end of your chaser cable length, screw on the next one, wrap with tape, and continue to feed it until you get to the other end, adding (and wrapping) as needed.

.Once your "eye" pokes out the other end (where your spool of wires are), you hook and attach a decent length of dtripped conductor to the eye, folding it over, twisting it, and wrapping it with yon tape. Not too much, again, you're just making it a smooth junction for the conduit
Get your helper (yes, you need a wire feeder to keep everything from being a tangled mess) and as they feed the wire (with the gorilla snot lube rag lubing it) you pull until you get the wire to your end.

BTW - we pull multiple conductors at once - easy!!!

 

[Jim greengo]

Paracord is Very Strong.

550

 

[BlindViper]

Great. Thanks.

Do you happen to know if you can tie off the other end before the pull? I may be over 500’ and may need two strings.

You can get the same stuff in a 5 gallon bucket its like 6000+ feet and its about the same cost as buying two of the 500' ones.

 

[mike93lx]

You can get the same stuff in a 5 gallon bucket its like 6000+ feet and its about the same cost as buying two of the 500' ones.

Wow, yeah, $20 for 500', $45 for 6500'. Hadn't bothered checking as I will never need that much, but that's cheaper than I would have guessed

 

[tarmy]

Wow, yeah, $20 for 500', $45 for 6500'. Hadn't bothered checking as I will never need that much, but that's cheaper than I would have guessed

I am on my second bucket of that stuff! I always use a shop vac and **** a line thru any new conduit I lay and cap off each end. That way I know the conduit is intact and I can use the line when/if I need the conduit. I have pulled a lot of wire thru the conduit I have laid. I always lay more than what my current project calls for and I always over size a bit as it makes the pulls easier.

I built this reel cart to make pulls easier too. I position it over the conduit vault and can easily pull one or several wires thru as it sits directly over the upward end of the conduit in the vault.I slobber, if needed , the open end of the conduit with pull slime and since I have previously sucked a line thru…tie off the wire and start pulling.

 

[jblnut]

Do yo have a Farm and Fleet style store locally ? If so go buy some orange baler twine. I’ve used it for ages and have put some serious pulling force on it with no issues. It’ll pull a pair of Cat6 wires apart before it snaps for a strength reference. Comes in a really long roll and is dirt cheap.

As far as lube I’ve had really good luck with the Klien foam stuff. Smells good and isn’t sticky when it dries.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

I’ve laid down about 500 feet of 1 inch conduit in a gently curving but mostly straight line. The plan is to pull a string through it with a plastic bag and a shop vac.

I’m guessing I use something like masons twine to get that first string through. My question is what’s the next stage.

I’m pulling two conductor 12 gauge wire through it. I’m worried that mason’s twine would break before I got finished. I’m assuming there’s a heavier line or strap I’m supposed to use for the actual wire pull.

Any recs appreciated.

mule tape is what you should use so you dont burn any bends

what are you powering with #12 at 500'?

 

[wyliesdiesels]

seems to me you are using jacketed wire and not individual ? so you are using 12/2 with ground underground rated ?

no he is using LV landscape wire. doesnt have a ground wire

 

[The Cobbler]

^^^ I saw that in one of his later posts .

 

[rabidsquirrel]

mule tape is what you should use so you dont burn any bends

what are you powering with #12 at 500'?

If it's landscape lighting he better have 277v at the beginning of that run...

 

[wyliesdiesels]

If it's landscape lighting he better have 277v at the beginning of that run...

not gonna happen with landscaping lighting. it wont be rated for that voltage. best thing you can do is use a higher voltage tap like 24v or 36v on the transformer, use higher voltage rated lights near the transformer, and lower voltage rated lights towards the end.

 

[bluedog225]

I’ve got the option to break it up to 200’ and 300’. And run a larger wire with higher voltage. There are a surprising number of led lights that are tolerant of a wide voltage range. I’ve got some design work to do.

 

[rabidsquirrel]

not gonna happen with landscaping lighting. it wont be rated for that voltage. best thing you can do is use a higher voltage tap like 24v or 36v on the transformer, use higher voltage rated lights near the transformer, and lower voltage rated lights towards the end.

I know, it was a voltage drop joke.