Bending 1" and 2" EMT

[VietGnome]

Hey everyone,

Planning my shop build and for the most part I think I have the electrical down thanks to all my other threads. All surface mounted in 1/2" and 3/4" EMT. Obviously planning on picking up a bender for both.

However I'm planning on transitioning to EMT where 2" PVC comes out of the slab, and doing a short run straight up into the panel.

As well I'm planning on a short run of 1" straight up out of a 4x4 box into the ceiling to get some Romex up into the attic. I presume both of these are going to require a couple small kicks. Is there any alternative to spending hundreds of dollars on 2 big EMT benders that will only be used for a couple bends each?

 

[sparky 1971]

Plan everything out well enough and neither will be needed for straight runs. A 1" step bender can be picked up fairly reasonably but I don't see any reason for 1" EMT as a romex sleeve. Just use 3/4 and if you need to do two sleeves, so be it. Figure out where the 2" needs to come out of the slab to run straight into the bottom of the panel and put it in. If, after the concrete is poured you find out you screwed up and need to make an offset, stay with PVC that can be bent with heat and paint the conduit silver. You're not just going to run out and buy a 2" EMT bender. I have a bender that can handle 2" EMT but before that made it about 20 years using factory bends in 30, 45, and 90°.

 

[VietGnome]

Plan everything out well enough and neither will be needed for straight runs. A 1" step bender can be picked up fairly reasonably but I don't see any reason for 1" EMT as a romex sleeve. Just use 3/4 and if you need to do two sleeves, so be it. Figure out where the 2" needs to come out of the slab to run straight into the bottom of the panel and put it in. If, after the concrete is poured you find out you screwed up and need to make an offset, stay with PVC that can be bent with heat and paint the conduit silver. You're not just going to run out and buy a 2" EMT bender. I have a bender that can handle 2" EMT but before that made it about 20 years using factory bends in 30, 45, and 90°.

Thanks!
It's going to be 3x 14/2 running into the ceiling, so 2x 3/4" is probably my best bet.

As far as the 2", is 2x6 framing on a 8x8" stemwall, so it will likely be set out too much to run straight out into the panel, so maybe bending PVC is the best move.

 

[mm08822]

NM, you're surface mounted.
Locate the 2" pvc within the wall before pouring concrete. Since you can layout the entire building on paper, you can locate the conduit to reasonably hit the center of the stud bay. Finish it with a coupling and more pvc as you install the panel. Worst case you only need a small offset left or right to hit the center ko.

A sparky could easily complete this with his tools as you somehow need to bring one onto the job anyway for permitting.

He could also do the 1" emt bends.

 

[VietGnome]

NM, you're surface mounted.
Locate the 2" pvc within the wall before pouring concrete. Since you can layout the entire building on paper, you can locate the conduit to reasonably hit the center of the stud bay. Finish it with a coupling and more pvc as you install the panel. Worst case you only need a small offset left or right to hit the center ko.

A sparky could easily complete this with his tools as you somehow need to bring one onto the job anyway for permitting.

He could also do the 1" emt bends.

I may have found a workaround to the previous issue. Friend was an electrician, has since retired and changed fields. Has a friend/old coworker who is current and willing to let us do the work, and will come after and inspect.

Still not 100% solidified but is looking to be the best option so far.

 

[Chuckster in NJ]

In order to bend 2” EMT you will need a bender with "shoes" that prevent kinks, I have used trees, truck wheels along with other objects that will secure the pipe to "take out" some bends but you risk collapsing the EMT and hurting yourself if not careful.
Maybe a local rental shop rents EMT benders like a Greenlee 882 EMT bender.

TIP! Call a professional that has the right tools to help you……… You need one anyway!

 

[mm08822]

Sealtite is an option.....just more hardware/cost.

 

[sparky 1971]

Thanks!
It's going to be 3x 14/2 running into the ceiling, so 2x 3/4" is probably my best bet.

As far as the 2", is 2x6 framing on a 8x8" stemwall, so it will likely be set out too much to run straight out into the panel, so maybe bending PVC is the best move.

If you can't get it in a position where you are going to be confident it will come straight into the bottom of the panel, go up the outside wall and LB into the back of it. I've seen way too many hack jobs where the conduit was placed wrong and the end result looks like ****.

 

[mike93lx]

Why transition to emt for those runs? I'd be much more inclined to rent a heat box and finish the run in pvc vs dealing with bending big emt as an amateur

 

[VietGnome]

If you can't get it in a position where you are going to be confident it will come straight into the bottom of the panel, go up the outside wall and LB into the back of it. I've seen way too many hack jobs where the conduit was placed wrong and the end result looks like ****.

That's fair. It will definitely need some sort of kick back towards the wall to get over the stem wall.

Maybe this is the deciding factor to stub the feed in outside and go through the wall. I'll need to run the grounding wire through the wall to my rods anyways.

 

[sparky 1971]

That's fair. It will definitely need some sort of kick back towards the wall to get over the stem wall.

Maybe this is the deciding factor to stub the feed in outside and go through the wall. I'll need to run the grounding wire through the wall to my rods anyways.

If you already know it's going to be out too far and need to be offset back then definitely bring it up outside and use an LB. Inside with an offset is going to be ugly and in the way every time you go to or walk past the. panel.

 

[Bobthewrench]

Maybe you should put up some photos. I was a Union Electrician, now retired. Usually when you run conduit the first thing you do is set all the panels, junction boxes, machinery etc. then you have targets where they belong to run the conduit between, to take measurements from so you know exactly what sort of bends and offsets and kicks you need to make. Are you talking about putting romex inside EMT? Usually EMT is for single conductors, and you would switch to romex coming out of a junction box. In an industrial setting usually it is all metal where work is happening, so the electrical circuits are safe from damage from say a forklift hitting the conduit. In industrial settings it would be all rigid conduit anywhere that machinery and forklifts etc are moving around. Usually half-inch emt is almost never used at all except for the most mundane installations, because it's small diameter is a block to future expansion, adding more wires and circuits or larger wire in the future. The standard is 3/4" emt for most all installations. Up to 1" emt is bent using simple Benfield style hand benders, it is the 1 1/4" emt that used a hand bender with a moveable step for a two-stage bend, and you had better get a heavy or young guy to jump on it. The artists in the industry run rigid pipe using "Chicago" benders and hickeys, or run large rigitd and EMT using hydraulic benders, those were the days. One big electrical supply house in SanFrancisco I dealt with had tools to rent, including any bender you could think of, renting may be worth looking into. I used to be good at running conduit, enough so that the foreman on more than one job I was on had me re-do the conduit jobs other workers did who's work looked shabby, crooked and out of plumb etc., and I know I was far, far from being the best, a lot of electricians who are travelers will specialize in running conduit or some other aspect of the trade, and will just go around the country to nuke plants and steel mills etc. where everyone will know them and what they are good at, and let them do it. I got to work at steel mills, nuke plants, power plants, auto factories, paper mills, chemical plants etc. all over the USA and it was very interesting for a young man, but boy am I glad to be retired and have nothing to do with it now. Good Luck. P.S. if you go to your local union hall, they very well may have some books or booklets for you to buy on conduit bending, such as they supply to their apprentices in training.

 

[Chuckster in NJ]

Maybe you should put up some photos. I was a Union Electrician, now retired. Usually when you run conduit the first thing you do is set all the panels, junction boxes, machinery etc. then you have targets where they belong to run the conduit between, to take measurements from so you know exactly what sort of bends and offsets and kicks you need to make. Are you talking about putting romex inside EMT? Usually EMT is for single conductors, and you would switch to romex coming out of a junction box. In an industrial setting usually it is all metal where work is happening, so the electrical circuits are safe from damage from say a forklift hitting the conduit. In industrial settings it would be all rigid conduit anywhere that machinery and forklifts etc are moving around. Usually half-inch emt is almost never used at all except for the most mundane installations, because it's small diameter is a block to future expansion, adding more wires and circuits or larger wire in the future. The standard is 3/4" emt for most all installations. Up to 1" emt is bent using simple Benfield style hand benders, it is the 1 1/4" emt that used a hand bender with a moveable step for a two-stage bend, and you had better get a heavy or young guy to jump on it. The artists in the industry run rigid pipe using "Chicago" benders and hickeys, or run large rigitd and EMT using hydraulic benders, those were the days. One big electrical supply house in SanFrancisco I dealt with had tools to rent, including any bender you could think of, renting may be worth looking into. I used to be good at running conduit, enough so that the foreman on more than one job I was on had me re-do the conduit jobs other workers did who's work looked shabby, crooked and out of plumb etc., and I know I was far, far from being the best, a lot of electricians who are travelers will specialize in running conduit or some other aspect of the trade, and will just go around the country to nuke plants and steel mills etc. where everyone will know them and what they are good at, and let them do it. I got to work at steel mills, nuke plants, power plants, auto factories, paper mills, chemical plants etc. all over the USA and it was very interesting for a young man, but boy am I glad to be retired and have nothing to do with it now. Good Luck. P.S. if you go to your local union hall, they very well may have some books or booklets for you to buy on conduit bending, such as they supply to their apprentices in training.

When I first got into the Union as an apprentice I worked with a toothless old guy who knew nothing about electrical circuits but boy could he bend conduit……… He told me on my second day that he was a "Can Do It man" and he taught me a few tricks on how to use a Chicago bender as long as I was willing to learn about bending GRC when we were working at a chemical factory.
Bending and installing 3/4” to 4” GRC was a daily job for about six months.

 

[kngelv]

Some thoughts based on earlier posts: Why not just bring the conduit straight up through the stem wall. If unsure of your contractors ability to make this work then find another contractor. If necessary just use an LB. Transitioning to EMT will look like **** and as someone mentioned you'll need shoes on a bender so the EMT does not kink too bad. Never run 14/2 in a shop. It's only fusible at 15A. No 1/2 EMT either. Better to go 3/4" just in case.

James

 

[fitter30]

Like others have stated its a art. Don't care if it's pipe or conduit Pulling wire with a correctly bent conduit isn't to bad with the correct tools and lube.

 

[75gmck25]

I don't know what is available for large conduit, but for 1/2" and 3/4" you can get short connectors that are sized to make the necessary jog so that you come out of a metal box and then jog back to be flat with the wall. There are also 90 degree sweeps and LBs that give you options for changes in direction. In my opinion they are kind of ugly because of the screws that hold them together, but they don't require bending skills.

 

[Chuckster in NJ]

I don't know what is available for large conduit, but for 1/2" and 3/4" you can get short connectors that are sized to make the necessary jog so that you come out of a metal box and then jog back to be flat with the wall. There are also 90 degree sweeps and LBs that give you options for changes in direction. In my opinion they are kind of ugly because of the screws that hold them together, but they don't require bending skills.

Those "cheater fittings" are for guys who don’t know how to bend conduit and I agree that they are ugly. I have seen a few jobs where they used LB's for all bends and when I ask why, one guy told me because it made pulling the wire easy and this was on a 50’ run of 3/4” emt.

I must confess that when I did my whole house generator install I used a pre made 2” 45* on a short 3' long "dog leg" (I had it hanging around) because I didn’t want to travel one hour to borrow a hot box and when my electrician friends come over they give me **** for using it instead of using a field bent 45* one piece.……… Honestly IDGAF!