Black conduit and Boxes

[Kmp259]

Has anybody ever seen Black Conduit & boxes for sale .....or did they have to paint them before installation......???

I saw the exposed black conduit on wooden ceiling.......looked great

 

[Bert_]

Colored conduit can be had pretty easily, ask at an electrical supply. Not sure about boxes

Really old electrical gear was all painted black instead of galvanized.

 

[metaleltr]

The stuff I have seen was at a resturant setup like an 1800s brewery. Conduit was painted and light fixtures were made to resemble gas lights.

 

[mc4life27]

not sure on code and what kind of electrical your running. but what about using black pipe like steal plumbing pipe. it comes in black and galvanized. now it may rust if your dont clear coat it over time.

 

[Stuart in MN]

Black pipe isn't rated for use as electrical conduit. I've never seen colored conduit, it may be available but would be special order. It would be a lot simpler to just paint regular conduit.

 

[The Cobbler]

Oh No
I see an up-comming thread, how can I powder coat my conduit & boxes for the garage...

 

[alfredeneuman]

Black Iron (Steel) pipe is unsuitable for use as conduit, and is not listed for the application.
I worked on a wax museum, and all the conduit (lots of EMT on multiple levels) was painted flat black after installation. It blended right into the flat black ceiling.

 

[PelicanPines]

or Plasti Dip... get some camo conduit...

 

[PugetDude]

Oh No
I see an up-comming thread, how can I powder coat my conduit & boxes for the garage...

...or how to disguise PVC airlines.

 

[taumac]

...or how to disguise PVC airlines.

LMFAO..... I saw that coming.

 

[dscheidt]

Black pipe isn't rated for use as electrical conduit. I've never seen colored conduit, it may be available but would be special order. It would be a lot simpler to just paint regular conduit.

It's readily available from suppliers who deal with industrial sites. Colored EMT is used for coding what's in the conduit. Red, blue, and green are more common than black, but it's used too.

heck, even Menards lists it as available special order, in increments of 10. (standard bundle, what a trade supply house wants to sell you). About 50% price premium over regular stuff.

I've never seen boxes any color other than red, but I'm sure one of the customizing shops will paint them anything you can give them a color code for.

 

[cybrdyke]

colored EMT is readily available in 7 or 8 different colors thru 4". Most electrical suppliers stock red and maybe blue, but can get all the other colors within a week. Black and white are commonly used for exposed ceilings in restaurants and retail. Colored rigid conduit is just starting to come out. Red fittings and boxes are readily available to denote fire protection circuits. Other colors of Fittings and boxes are spray painted to match the conduit color. You can get sealtite in all the colors, too.

 

[Norcal]

Galvanized or black iron pipe does not have very smooth inner walls, so besides not being listed, it has a good chance of chewing up the insulation as the wire is being pulled.

 

[PhysicsDude]

You can order colored conduit. I've worked on jobs where they had black conduit and white conduit.

Most of the time people just spray paint it. When you order it colored, it usually gets scuffed in the ordering process, and its special order so you have to wait a week or more just to get it, not to mention its twice the price, etc. The last time we ordered it through Graybar, but I'm not sure how easy it is to order through them as an individual without a corporate account.

I worked on a hospital new construction job site for awhile and all the conduit/boxes had to be color coded, and we had an apprentice spray paint conduit/boxes in bulk, and then stack them on shelves by color.

The "in" thing right now in retail spaces is to have an exposed ceiling with everything black (conduit, cables, HVAC, etc). Usually the GC literally has a guy go around with a rattle can and go spray paint everything in the ceiling black that isn't able to be ordered in black.

 

[readhead]

Is grounding an issue with prefinished conduit? Just wondering.

 

[captaindiode]

You really need to wipe the conduit down with cleaner and use self-etching primer if you want it to last. Reglar paint doesn't stick well to galvanized unless you prime it.

 

[MrSurly]

Another option, and *possibly* something the OP saw: Plastibond PVC-coated (rigid) conduit and boxes. Stupid expensive and massive overkill as far as meeting code in a garage. If you only needed a short run and had a desire for a particulkar look....well look here.

 

[Miss the Pontiacs]

You really need to wipe the conduit down with cleaner and use self-etching primer if you want it to last. Reglar paint doesn't stick well to galvanized unless you prime it.

After the priming, you could fill a PVC tube with a hammered style paint then dip the conduit. I’ve seen conduit done this way and used for deck railing. Looked good. Don’t know how it stood up after.

 

[Kmp259]

Thanks for the ideas.....I’m looking at buying a old building with a dome ceilings and like having the old truss and roof showing.....and thought black conduit for the lights and lifts would show as a nice contrast against the wood.....I’ve never seen colored conduit....but glad to here it’s available......
Thanks for the insight

 

[nadogail]

Rattle cans are very handy for touching up painted conduit.

I have a wrought iron fence that occasionally gets repainted, I slide a sheet of plywood between it and the shrubs to keep the spray off the shrubs.

In an overhead I would probably use a cardboard spray shield.

 

[eejack]

Is grounding an issue with prefinished conduit? Just wondering.

No. Typical conduit fittings are either set screw, which will bite through the paint, or compression, which has a spring steel ring that will bite through the paint as it is tightened.

They do make prefinished fittings, which will bond through the locknuts in the interior of any box.

You might be able to make a case for threaded fittings going into a threaded condulet body, an LB or a Tee for example, but I suspect the threads will clear themselves of paint.

 

[Jim greengo]

It's readily available from suppliers who deal with industrial sites. Colored EMT is used for coding what's in the conduit. Red, blue, and green are more common than black, but it's used too.

heck, even Menards lists it as available special order, in increments of 10. (standard bundle, what a trade supply house wants to sell you). About 50% price premium over regular stuff.

I've never seen boxes any color other than red, but I'm sure one of the customizing shops will paint them anything you can give them a color code for.

He was talking about non plated/non painted rigid pipe/gas pipe not being listed for it.

 

[cybrdyke]

Link here--> colored EMT
They have rigid conduit in colors as well.
As others have said, the intended use of this product is to identify what's inside it. It's not designed to be pretty, so it comes from a very basic coloring process. Plus, it gets easily scratched during shipping and installation. Normally, when it's installed to be visible, usually black or white open ceilings, it has to get painted anyway, along with all the hangers and strut that's supporting it.
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