1/2 inch pull string arggghhhhh

[Kaizen]

Before I go buy a 200 foot snake anybody got any ideas? ten years ago I put in a 1/2 inch plastic electrical conduit from my basement 115 feet to my garage along with a 2 inch for the sub panel. now I'm trying to put cat 6 through it and spent 2 hours with a vacuum, a piece of tissue, and several thicknesses of twine and thread. they only get so far but I don't think the pipe is broke as I shot a ball bearing through it with compressed air. lol good fun. any other tricks I don't know about to get a pullstring through?

 

[Mr_fixit]

borrow a fish from a friend.

 

[Ilikeike]

Could be full of water or dirt if it's cracked or broke. That would cause some trouble trying to run a mouse through it.
If you can't barrow or rent a fish tape, maybe craigslist or wait for a 30% off at Zoro : )

 

[brewchief]

It may have some moisture in it so tissue may not be ideal, try a piece of plastic bag, you can vac on one end and push with compressed air from the other if you need to.


Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

[Backpack Hunter]

Attach a pull string to the ball bearing and shoot it thru again?

 

[Kaizen]

It may have some moisture in it so tissue may not be ideal, try a piece of plastic bag, you can vac on one end and push with compressed air from the other if you need to.


Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

Attach a pull string to the ball bearing and shoot it thru again?

the air won't work as the string will needs to go past the filler nozzle.
I think the plastic might help though. good idea. the tissue was coming out wet so def moisture in there.

 

[ND80]

Watch this Link

All you need to do is go get a cheap plastic tip for your air hose and drill a hole in it big enough to get the string in.

Look for fishing mice in the electrical section at Home depot or lowes. Mice...

 

[rlitman]

You don't even need that fancy pipe adapter for 1/2". Just use a rubber tipped air blow gun and your hand. Point the blow gun down the pipe and cover the opening with your fingers to just let the string in. The foam ball used in the video is a good mouse.

 

[ddawg16]

Vacuum on one end, compressed air on the other.

Nothing wrong with using water too. When the mouse stops, pour some water in then it with the vacuum and air at the same time. The mass of the water should push it past the obstruction.

 

[nadogail]

Has the string made it through the conduit yet?

 

[encantofred]

i did 2 of these yesterday. conduit will usually always have condensation in it. i used nylon pull string rope and a small piece of a home depot sack. works best with two people. the two runs i did were each about 60 feet, but i did a 80 foot one last saturday in 1 inch conduit the same way. no fancy attachments, i just put the shop vac over the end and plug the rest up with a rag or my hand. on the other end the second person is feeding it and pulling it up and down if it snags.

tom

 

[Kaizen]

Has the string made it through the conduit yet?

nope not yet. have to work unexpectedly will hit it tonight

 

[Kaizen]

you ever have one of those projects........
tried all the suggested and it kept getting caught up at two elbows for some reason. after 90 minutes of cursing I bought the metal 250 foot tape as I had 130 feet needed. I was able to push it 115 feet but when it hit that second elbow it just wouldn't go. ended up making a snake catcher from the other side and pulling in the metal tape. wrapped the 2 cat6 on an old air hose reel and pulled it 125 feet to the second damn elbow where the tape finally pulled off of the cat6. gad dang I'm hitting the whisky and digging it tomorrow. its like I used plumbing elbows instead of sweeps it was so hard. last time I ever put in a freaking 1/2 conduit.
only genius of the project moment was I wanted to watch the cable spool in the basement as I pulled from the garage. took 2 iphones did facetime, put one in the basement and took the other to the garage. That part worked out awesome. Thanks for all your suggestions.

 

[Aceman]

last time I ever put in a freaking 1/2 conduit.

I do this for a living Kaizen, for what it's worth we don't even install 1/2" pvc or rigid conduit. It has hardly any room for wire and in my limited experience with it, it's always been a bear to get a fishtape through.

We use 3/4" pvc/rigid minimum. It's not any harder to run but it's considerably easier to get wire through.

 

[Kaizen]

I do this for a living Kaizen, for what it's worth we don't even install 1/2" pvc or rigid conduit. It has hardly any room for wire and in my limited experience with it, it's always been a bear to get a fishtape through.

We use 3/4" pvc/rigid minimum. It's not any harder to run but it's considerably easier to get wire through.

I'm pretty sure I buried it in 1998 which was pre computer age and all I could picture putting through it was a tel cable. man how times change.

 

[Slowgsr]

I'm pretty sure I buried it in 1998 which was pre computer age and all I could picture putting through it was a tel cable. man how times change.

Your not kidding! I was shopping for a new toilet, decided to browse some flyers on my iPad - they have smart toilets now!

 

[Falcon67]

Good luck - I just did this in a 35' 1/2" conduit run. It had a cable in it and I tried to pull a string through for a Cat 5 run. I ended up cutting the cable, pulling it back and pulling both through again then splicing the cable. I used both an adapter to get my big shop vac on the far end and even pushed with compressed air on the near end - no dice. Cut, string, pull back, tie bundle, re-pull.

 

[zmaxmotorsports]

I wouldnt run 1/2" pipe underground for anything,2" is the smallest pipe Id install if i was going to the trouble to do it.

 

[nadogail]

The plumbing elbows are what made your job so difficult.

Experience is the name I give mistakes.

 

[Slednut]

I wouldn't have tried two cat 6s in a conduit that small. Pulling one cable with a string may work.

BTW did you use lube? Any kind of liquid soap will help, even with the fish tape.

 

[cleason]

next time run bigger conduit, eaiser to pull,get a fish tape in. 40 yrs electrician,

 

[Kaizen]

The plumbing elbows are what made your job so difficult.

Experience is the name I give mistakes.

I was joking. I had to dig where it broke and I did use long sweeps. I had said I was having so much trouble like I had used elbows.

I wouldn't have tried two cat 6s in a conduit that small. Pulling one cable with a string may work.

BTW did you use lube? Any kind of liquid soap will help, even with the fish tape.

agreed one definitely would have been easier but I needed two for the next couple months i'm running two different security systems. yes I used some aerosol thing they had at HD. Problem was only the first 20 feet got lubed and as I was doing this myself no one there to lube as it went.

next time run bigger conduit, eaiser to pull,get a fish tape in. 40 yrs electrician,

ayuh figured that one out myself. BUT for a communication run 20 years ago would you have?? I definitely will never again.

Its fully pulled now and in and working as of last night.

 

[cleason]

we always used over sized conduit for communications, the phone co were a bunch of pussies about trying to pull wire. ibew member 33 yrs. 86 rochester ny