Fish tape for adding recessed lighting

[branimal]

I am adding some recessed lighting in my bathroom over the shower and bathtub.

Is fish tape the right tool for the job? Also I noticed some tapes are firmer than others. Is there some minimum gauge or thickness I should look for so the tape isn't flexing everywhere?

Thanks


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[branimal]

I'm assuming you mean for feeding Romex through an inaccessible ceiling? What kind of distance do you need to travel? A fish tape is usually too flexible to be of much use outside of a conduit. If you are doing what I think you are doing, you will probably want something more like this. It is a segmented fiberglass rod that is flexible but still quite firm so you can push it and feed it through areas a fish tape would never traverse easily.

https://www.zoro.com/klein-tools-fi...gclid=CIrUgf3tpNMCFRSDfgodhZgLLw&gclsrc=aw.ds

Don't underestimate what you can do with a junk tape measure (with the end cut off) or by throwing a small bolt tied to a string either.

The bathroom lighting will be 5-6 feet.

Once I got to my living room the distances will increase to 30 feet.

But as you mentioned if I'm connecting a series of lights the distances will be less than 12'.

Do they make extensions to the rods? So I can run longer than 12'


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[branimal]

I think I have ~6" of clear space above the ceiling before the joists start.

I know this because I took up my subfloor on the floor above. Is 6" enough to move wires through and add recessed lighting?



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[CTyankee]

I think I have ~6" of clear space above the ceiling before the joists start.

I know this because I took up my subfloor on the floor above. Is 6" enough to move wires through and add recessed lighting?



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Shouldn't be a problem if you have that much room. I'd think you'd be able to do it with a regular snake. Got to ask though...What's the ceiling hanging from if it's 6" away from the joists?

 

[tonyprovo723]

They say remote control cars work great for this. Tie a string and let it run. If it is a straight run with no obstructions, you may be able to use a simple wind up car. If it does not work, pull the string back and try again.

Someone formally used to sell a dart gun of sorts. Might of been Greenlee. Had a string attached and a Zebco style closed face fishing reel.

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[Thumper68]

Fish rods like mentioned are the tool for this job.

I have fished cables 50 or more feet with them many times.

The make a basket like thing to put on the end that allows you to navigate obstacles by rolling and bouncing them.

Another tool that works well for longer distance are fiberglass chimney rods same concept but stiffer.

 

[tonyprovo723]

Harbor Freight has...
3/16 in. x 33 Ft. Fiberglass Wire Running Kit for $10

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[Roobaix]

Klein makes a set of lo flex rods that are a little stiffer than the average rod.

Without knowing exactly what you're snaking it's impossible to tell you the right tool.
For example, if your snaking the wall and need to get the wire to a hole cut into the ceiling, using rods may be difficult because of the 90 bend from wall to ceiling.

 

[cheechi]

The HF set has been mentioned here a few times as 12v installers use them to fish wires through firewalls. However, that HF kit will turn your hands into salad.

Between my Klein 50 (or 100?) ft fish tape and my Klein medium flex rod kit I haven't had an issue with any outlet, fixture, etc that I've wanted to do in my house and never got cut or sliced in the process.

 

[electroman187]

Make sure you install those to meet code. I believe in your situation those lights will have to be on a GFCI circuit.

 

[bastage]

The HF ones ****. I've owned a couple sets and they always fall apart. The fittings come off the glass and they don't line up well. The Klein ones are very good though. Ultimately for 1 job I would buy the HF ones and hope they survived.

 

[kctyphoon]

If you need to go through beams, home Depot sells long 4' flexible drill bits that come with a basket grip that can attach to the nose.. lay out your lighting, probe for beams before cutting holes. From one hole, drill across to the other, going through 2 or 3 beams is possible.. when drill bit reaches the next hole, insert Romex into basket, attach basket to tip of the bit, pull the drill bit out using the drill.

I installed 8 recessed lights in my dining room without creating any extra holes. If your running Romex, 14/2 is standard wire, but 12/2 isnt much more money at all - so I always use the 12 gauge instead. Romex itself is pretty stiff. Most times if your running in the same direction as the beams you can just push the Romex where u need it to go.

 

[branimal]

It's hard for me as well to picture how you have 6" of clear space between the ceiling and the bottom of the floor joists unless you have a section of the ceiling that's soffited, a dropped grid tile ceiling (unlikely if you have to fish wire around), or one of those older expanded metal and plaster dropped ceilings. Either way, one thing that might help you out is that you can take a string and put a large ball of crumpled up tape, etc on the end of it and then use the fiberglass flexible rod to push the tape ball and string 12-13 feet above the ceiling. Then you can pull the rod back, put a hook on the end of the rod, and feed the rod into the next can light hole in the lighting chain. Use the hook to grab that crumpled tape ball and pull it the rest of the way to you. That way you can span 24-26' using only 12' of fishing rod.

I am assuming I have 6 inches of space based on what I saw under the bathroom subfloor. I could be wrong.

One reason my ceilings could be dropped is we have a sprinkler system in the ceilings. Could that be the reason??? It's an old loft building in Manhattan.

Here for example there's a slight visible drop (3 3/4") right by the window.





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[branimal]

Shouldn't be a problem if you have that much room. I'd think you'd be able to do it with a regular snake. Got to ask though...What's the ceiling hanging from if it's 6" away from the joists?

Good question. I should have asked myself that when I had the subfloor up. I'll be pulling it up this week to make final drain alignments. I'll let you know, but my guess would be some top of rods connected to the bottom of the joists.






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[branimal]

I checked out the Klein fish tapes. The tape dropped after sending it out 4 feet. My Stanley tape measure is better than that!!


I ended up buying the Klein fish rod.. $36.

Seems like I could have rigged my camping tent poles for the job.


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[prostreetamx]

I use the fiberglass rods, grid ceiling wire or even 3/4" pvc pipe for longer runs. Had to pull some 6/3 romex in a finished model home at the last minute for an oven they didn't have on the prints. We just jammed a few sticks of 3/4" pvc together to run all the way across the house so we did not have to cut up the ceiling. Just left the pvc there since we attached a small rope at the end to pull the wire with. Was able to remove some existing can light inserts to help guide the pipe along it's way. Probably a 60' run with only 2 holes cut in ceiling at the ends.

 

[ddawg16]

I sometimes use polyflow....hard flexible 1/4" plastic tubing....

But your idea of the tent poles is a good one....I'll have to keep that in mind if I need to run more

But then again, I wired my house up for everything in advance.....and conduit for future expansion....which I've already used.