What to use for pull string

[Milton Shaw]

I would be careful blowing through the conduit. I was at a building once where they did that and the conduit came up under a secretaries desk and she did not appreciate the rotten smelly water they blew all over her. Vacuum first and make sure you are on the right conduit.

 

[BBQ&Love]

A little warning on the vacuum trick. I tried it yesterday on a 88' run of 1 1/4" PVC conduit. Had a 225' roll of nylon string tied to a grocery bag. My lovely wife was feeding the string in one end and I was running the shop vac on the other end.

I flipped on the shop vac and almost instantly I heard a pffft sound. I wondered if it was the grocery bag but there wasn't enough time for it to get to the other end. I waited a few seconds and my lovely wife started hollering. I shut off the shop vac and here her string was almost gone. The rest of the string was in a tangle in the shop vac tank.

It works. Just don't let go of the string on the other end.

PS. I cut the string on my end and it fell back into the conduit. Hooked the shop vac up and it instantly pulled the end of the string back out.

 

[green.bubbly]

Well, the wire is run and it was easier than I thought it would be. The run was only 45 feet and I had a 50' fish tape. Pushed it through and attached the rope and pulled in back through. Taped my four wires to the rope and gave it a generous squirt of the ky jelly stuff. I pushed, my wife pulled and it was over in probably less than a minute.

I was kinda worried as I was stretching out the #2 wire and the fact that it was only inch and a half pipe. Those four wires were a lot stiffer than I thought but it all went smoothly.

Thanks again for all the help and suggestions.

 

[ixlr8]

Well, the wire is run and it was easier than I thought it would be. The run was only 45 feet and I had a 50' fish tape. Pushed it through and attached the rope and pulled in back through. Taped my four wires to the rope and gave it a generous squirt of the ky jelly stuff. I pushed, my wife pulled and it was over in probably less than a minute.

I was kinda worried as I was stretching out the #2 wire and the fact that it was only inch and a half pipe. Those four wires were a lot stiffer than I thought but it all went smoothly.

Thanks again for all the help and suggestions.

Good to hear, was it a straight shot or did you have some turns? I am going to be pulling #4 wire, 110ft straight shot but then I have 4-90's to get through at the end, 135ft total run.

 

[BBQ&Love]

Good to hear, was it a straight shot or did you have some turns? I am going to be pulling #4 wire, 110ft straight shot but then I have 4-90's to get through at the end, 135ft total run.

I pulled an 88' run with 4 #4 wires in 1 1/4" conduit last night. 1 90 and 2 45's.

I pulled a string with the shop vac and pulled some nylon strap with the string. Then I hooked my wires up to it and got out the Clear Glide.

This isn't the first time I have pulled wiring. Pulled tons of it in my life. But seldom this big or this long.

I was amazed how easy it went. Lickity split and we were done. Had an 18 year old office worker kid pulling and I was feeding. My 12 year old son was squirting the lube onto my gloves at frequent intervals.

 

[babzog]

I am getting ready to pull 45 feet of #2 copper from my house to my garage sub panel. In the next few weeks, I will also run the underground conduit for my house from the main panel to the POCO pole.

What do I use for a pull string? I know, stupid question but I have no idea how strong the string needs to be, especially for the main panel to the pole. Both will only have two sweeps. From the house to the pole, it is about 125 feet.

When I ran conduit from the house to the tower, I put in a length of 1/4" yellow nylon rope (put it in as I glued the pipes together so it was already there after the pipe was buried). Very strong and not very large in the pipe. Cheap to buy by the spool. When you pull your wires, pull another length of rope through as well... for the future.

 

[green.bubbly]

Good to hear, was it a straight shot or did you have some turns? I am going to be pulling #4 wire, 110ft straight shot but then I have 4-90's to get through at the end, 135ft total run.

It was a straight shot with a sweep on each end. It did not take that much lube either. I thought I was applying it liberally but when I was done, the bottle was still almost full. I would have thought I used over half of it.


Now taking bids on almost full bottle of wire lube.