650’ pull

[Rmoore7167]

Hope this is ok to post here. I have a 650’ pull from home to our gate. The original owner put in 650’ of conduit but nothing to pull with. There is some water in the line and cant seem to blow out . There is air coming out of other end when blow so not blocked. Ive trid sucking a bag through line put just gets too water and stops. Any ideas? I see there it some pullers for about $200 on amazon but wonder it i could really push something that long through pipe

 

[PCustoms]

Do you know where the conduit is?

I think you'll need to dig in 1-2 spots and put in a pull box.

 

[Rmoore7167]

Not a bad idea!

 

[tool_scrounge]

I suspect you need pull boxes as PCustoms noted. Then you have an excuse to get a vintage Crosman jet line 101 CO2 conduit pistol. It does not shoot pellets, it launches the whole CO2 cartridge as a rocket thru the conduit with a thin string attached. Sorry I sold mine. I really did not need it but it was fun to test. But with standing water in the conduit this is probably not going to work so well.

The web site is in German, but the photos are pretty good.

Crosman Jet Line 101

Freie Waffen: Testberichte, Produktvorstellungen, Reportagen, Fachmesseberichte, Anfaenger-Orientierungshilfen, Kaufempfehlungen und Sammlertips zum Thema freie Schusswaffen. Schwerpunkt: CO2- und Druckluftwaffen, sowie Zubehoer.

www.muzzle.de

 

[RADcustom]

When I laid gas to my shop, I had to use a diesel compressor to blow the moisture out of the line. You could also use that to blow a pull line trough it too.

 

[Walkers]

If the problem is really only water, then just let the air run through it for a few hours to dry it out. More likely, there are a few stones in there too, causing the hood up.

 

[larry4406]

Can you not install a shop vac on one end and just leave it run till it ***** clean? I think the shop vac suckage will do better than trying to blow. The nozzle will try to self seal/**** in vs you restraining the blow (man this does not sound right..)

650' is a long run. Sparkies will be be along soon and talk about voltage drop.

 

[LXCam]

Buy a conduit mouse and blow or **** a pull string thru, that’ll get a majority of your water out. But If your bends are pvc, i wouldn’t suggest using the string to pull the wire, you will absolutely eat into n groove those bends and you wire pull will either end up stuck or chafed badly. Get some mule tape n pull that in with the string, then move onto pulling the wire.

But I highly suggest you install at least one pull box if not two.

 

[yhprum]

The question of where the water is getting in bothers me. Might need to pressure check it after the water is removed.

 

[Bert_]

You have to start with a piece of thin twine. I often just use a grocery sack tied to the end. **** on the end with a good shop vac.

What size conduit are you working with?

 

[vavet]

I suspect you need pull boxes as PCustoms noted. Then you have an excuse to get a vintage Crosman jet line 101 CO2 conduit pistol. It does not shoot pellets, it launches the whole CO2 cartridge as a rocket thru the conduit with a thin string attached. Sorry I sold mine. I really did not need it but it was fun to test. But with standing water in the conduit this is probably not going to work so well.

The web site is in German, but the photos are pretty good.

Crosman Jet Line 101

Freie Waffen: Testberichte, Produktvorstellungen, Reportagen, Fachmesseberichte, Anfaenger-Orientierungshilfen, Kaufempfehlungen und Sammlertips zum Thema freie Schusswaffen. Schwerpunkt: CO2- und Druckluftwaffen, sowie Zubehoer.

www.muzzle.de

That’s cool as hell. You could sell those on any aisle of Home Depot with absolutely no hint of what to use it for. Pretty sure the inventor‘s wife was out of town the weekend he invented that. It was the German equivalent of “hey y’all, watch this!”

 

[alfredeneuman]

Then you have an excuse to get a vintage Crosman jet line 101 CO2 conduit pistol. It does not shoot pellets, it launches the whole CO2 cartridge as a rocket thru the conduit with a thin string attached.

I've used one to go through a new 1-1/4" underground run <150' long and it got wedged in an elbow. We tried unsuccessfully to remove it.
We finally had to sawcut and jackhammer the slab to replace the elbow.
Better to use the compressor/vacuum method

 

[sparky 1971]

Put a Vacuum on one end and hit the other end with a leaf blower or air compressor.

 

[The Cobbler]

^^^ beat me to it, I was going to suggest a vacuum and compressed air

 

[Bert_]

The question of where the water is getting in bothers me. Might need to pressure check it after the water is removed.

Water is completely normal in an underground conduit.

 

[nadogail]

Compressed air, lots of it, and a mouse made from a rag.

 

[Shiftless]

A pressure test even now with the water in it would be a good idea. Seal up one end and pressurize the other. The gauge will tell you whether or not there is a big hole somewhere. That would be good to know before you go any further.

 

[mike93lx]

A pressure test even now with the water in it would be a good idea. Seal up one end and pressurize the other. The gauge will tell you whether or not there is a big hole somewhere. That would be good to know before you go any further.

Why? Water is normal in electrical conduit. Most guys don't prime and definitely don't glue it up like plumbing. Expecting it to hold pressure will likely leave you disappointed

 

[Bert_]

Most guys don't prime and definitely don't glue it up like plumbing. Expecting it to hold pressure will likely leave you disappointed

Wouldn't matter if you did. Pipe is open on the ends. Even condensation will eventually fill up the pipe with water

 

[Half-fast eddie]

A hunnert yrs ago i was working for a gc building a high rise building … 49 floors. We pumped concrete for the elevater shaft walls all the way to the top. At the end of the pour th3 used nerf footballs to clean out the concrete pipe. Cut the ends off the footballs, soaked them in a bucket of water for an hour, put them in the pipe at the top and blow them through with compressed air. Repeat as needed until a football came out the bottom still looking like a football.

Point being … get a couple of high density rubber balls, insert them into the conduit, and blow them through to clean out dirt and water. Tie a pull string to the last one.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

before you go to all this trouble with the existing conduit, you should tell us what size it is and what load you want to put on it

the existing conduit may be too small...

 

[mike93lx]

Have you considered solar?

You're going to need some big wire for even a 10a draw.

 

[sparky 1971]

Have you considered solar?

You're going to need some big wire for even a 10a draw.

If he can come up with a 240 volt gate opener, #8 will probably work. That brings up another problem; where to get two lengths of #8 and a #10 that are 650' long. I buy it by the 500' spools, I've never needed more than that though I'm sure there are 2500' spools available as cutting reels at supply houses.

Me thinks this would be better served by digging the pipe up and cutting in Quazite style pull boxes.

 

[Noltz]

before you go to all this trouble with the existing conduit, you should tell us what size it is and what load you want to put on it

the existing conduit may be too small...

You're going to need some big wire for even a 10a draw.

Jesus you guys aren't kidding. Calculator.net says a 10A load at 650' needs 3AWG copper, or seven 14awg conductors per phase to get under 3%.

If it's less than 1A battery charger load then you can get away with 14awg. 1.5A (I'm thinking a LED pole light) needs 12awg. Just curious what the rules are when you're sizing a circuit for a specific load <15a? Does it need to be hard-wired to the opener here?

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Jesus you guys aren't kidding. Calculator.net says a 10A load at 650' needs 3AWG copper, or seven 14awg conductors per phase to get under 3%.

If it's less than 1A battery charger load then you can get away with 14awg. 1.5A (I'm thinking a LED pole light) needs 12awg. Just curious what the rules are when you're sizing a circuit for a specific load <15a? Does it need to be hard-wired to the opener here?

cant run parallel conductors for same phase, smaller than 1/0

 

[mike93lx]

Does it need to be hard-wired to the opener here?

I certainly wouldn't put a receptacle in beyond what is needed to feed the opener and if you did one for that, I would label it. If someone were to use it at higher draw, it could damage the device.

I know you can get 10a breakers, not sure about smaller

 

[Jlanciani]

#8 with a 7.5% voltage drop will be fine. It's a gate opener, not a data center.

Jesus you guys aren't kidding. Calculator.net says a 10A load at 650' needs 3AWG copper, or seven 14awg conductors per phase to get under 3%.

If it's less than 1A battery charger load then you can get away with 14awg. 1.5A (I'm thinking a LED pole light) needs 12awg. Just curious what the rules are when you're sizing a circuit for a specific load <15a? Does it need to be hard-wired to the opener here?

 

[dcg9381]

Hope this is ok to post here. I have a 650’ pull from home to our gate. The original owner put in 650’ of conduit but nothing to pull with. There is some water in the line and cant seem to blow out . There is air coming out of other end when blow so not blocked. Ive trid sucking a bag through line put just gets too water and stops. Any ideas? I see there it some pullers for about $200 on amazon but wonder it i could really push something that long through pope

Tried sucking the water out with a shop vac? That's worked better for me.
Once you clear the water, the plastic bag thing will work a lot better.

 

[mike93lx]

#8 with a 7.5% voltage drop will be fine. It's a gate opener, not a data center.

2k ft of #8 copper is $1500...

I think I would be looking at a transformer to bump the voltage up

 

[wyliesdiesels]

#8 with a 7.5% voltage drop will be fine. It's a gate opener, not a data center.

Thats a good way to burn up your motor. Plus youre not factoring in-rush current. Voltage drop may be too great for the motor to even start.

 

[dcg9381]

Is the opener DC or AC? My openers typically are 12V DC. Don't want them to fail to function if the power is out.

 

[kaffine]

What are you using to try and blow out the conduit?

I've had to have conduit blown out with a compressor a few times. We used a large tow behind compressor. I would think a compressor with a decent size tank would be able to. You may not get all the water out with a small compressor but should be able to get a mouse through the conduit with a string attached. Then use the pull string to pull in mule tape (a wide flat rope) so you don't cut through at corners assuming pvc pipe.

As far as using a fishtape well duct rodder at that size that far unless it is really large conduit that is mostly straight I would be surprised if you can do it. I've had fairly straight shots of 4 inch conduit 400 feet that I wasn't able to get a duct rodder through. I did have issues as it was partially filled conduit, I ended up having to backpull an existing wire to get a pull string in.

 

[Innovate1]

Seems like a good spot for a DC opener with battery. Then you just need a very small current to keep the battery charged so reasonable size wire would work or use a solar panel.

 

[Ilikeike]

Battery, inverter (if ac) small solar panel.
maybe a small trickle charger for battery off your 650' run so you could down size wire to a 1amp trickle charger load.
Just a thought, I did this for a remote irrigation controller, minus the trickle charger.

Me, I'd trench and put a couple Christy boxes in and run wire for the gate and maybe a dusk to dawn light.

 

[mike93lx]

Is it along the driveway? If you have a desire for any lighting, that could give good places for pull boxes

 

[wyliesdiesels]

where did the OP go?

 

[tdkkart]

Leave one of the kids at home, call when you're within a couple miles, have them run down and swing the gate open.

Maybe a trained goat pastured at the gate?

I'm thinking the solar setup would be way easier than dickin' with a 650ft wire run. Likely the conduit isn't big enough for the wire you need.

 

[larry4406]

where did the OP go?

I was thinking same.

About a month or so ago we had another one these “long run power to gate” threads.

 

[kbuhagiar]

Just curious...

Say we are starting with a gate located 650ft (or more) from the residence (and power source), but nothing has been done. No conduit, nothing installed yet.
What would be the recommended solution from the experts? I just recently visited a residence where the outer gate was easily a half-mile from the dwelling, with no adjacent structures/improvements/poco lines close by. As I punched in the gate code I was wondering how in the heck would they get power out here?

 

[mike93lx]

Just curious...

Say we are starting with a gate located 650ft (or more) from the residence (and power source), but nothing has been done. No conduit, nothing installed yet.
What would be the recommended solution from the experts? I just recently visited a residence where the outer gate was easily a half-mile from the dwelling, with no adjacent structures/improvements/poco lines close by. As I punched in the gate code I was wondering how in the heck would they get power out here?

Solar