removing stripped romex from underground conduit

[rattle_snake]

As with most work done by previous owner, no surprise to see romex in underground non-metallic conduit.

This run is 70' and has 2 bends on one end. I assume that the conduit was assembled onto the wire as apposed to being pulled. It's 14 gauge with bare ground in 3/4" pvc. At least it's 18" down.

Should this come out easy enough or ? Tips/tricks? Gave it a tug didn't want to move.

Planning to pull a rope in as romex come out then replace with THWN.

Thanks
Justin

 

[Syberia]

It could be glued to the pipe if it was inserted one piece at a time. I want to say I've heard of people using a winch to get stubborn wire out of conduit.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

What are u powering with this circuit? @ 70' a 120v circuit will have quite a bit of voltage drop with a medium sized load.

 

[sberry]

We just pulled 2 number 2 out of 1 1/2 to add another wire. Used a cherry picker and pulled a swab with a little lube on it on the way out, came out hard, went back in easy.

 

[rattle_snake]

What are u powering with this circuit? @ 70' a 120v circuit will have quite a bit of voltage drop with a medium sized load.

Just a 24VAC wall-wort for a automatic gate. 25W so just 0.2 A. Charges the battery used for the ram.

 

[boobag]

Just a 24VAC wall-wort for a automatic gate. 25W so just 0.2 A. Charges the battery used for the ram.

is there a short? why change it?

 

[ssdave]

Only tip I have for this is to put a vacuum on one end of the conduit, and feed in lube to the other end. When you have lube come out to the vacuum, you've got enough. Now, using a power puller will do as much as can be done.

If you need to, dig up the end with the bends, and cut off the conduit prior to the bends. That might help a bit, and you can reconstruct the bends as needed. Of course if it's all buried under your concrete drive or something, this isn't a good option.

 

[rburke65]

When you tried to pull it out, did you pull on all the wires? Try one at a time and see if you are able to get one conductor to move.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

is there a short? why change it?

Because NM-b aka Romex is not allowed underground...

 

[7thDimension]

assuming its 14/2 NM-b its not allowed underground...

Yeah, but if it works... It's not likely to hurt anyone or anything.

Not saying I'd do it, but it's already there...

 

[wyliesdiesels]

When you tried to pull it out, did you pull on all the wires? Try one at a time and see if you are able to get one conductor to move.

Its NM-b so that isnt gonna work...

 

[justsam]

If the wire is still good, and you are not happy because it is NM-b being used underground and is a code violation, perhaps you could just run the 24VAC on this wire. Then it is low voltage use only. If it is just for a battery charge on gate opener, than the added voltage drop should not bother it. That way you can keep the wall wart inside too.

 

[checkthisout]

What are u powering with this circuit? @ 70' a 120v circuit will have quite a bit of voltage drop with a medium sized load.

Throwing out #s for general principles.

The ~200' or so run to my chicken coop is 14-2. For giggles I took my DVOM down there along with a 1500W heater.

I measured 122 Volts, no load.

With the heater on full I measured 108 Volts with the slightest drop visible on the 64Watts of T12 flourescents I have out there. The heater seemed to run at about 2/3rd's of it's normal output on high. I let it run for about 10 minutes. I was sure the 15 amp breaker back at the source would pop but nope.

On the low setting the heater draws 1000 watts. I measured 114 volts and no drop on the light output of my flourescents.

My normal load is about 300 watts max. The voltage holds @ about 118-120.

In summary, I think 14-2 for his application would be just fine.

 

[matt151617]

If the wire is still good, and you are not happy because it is NM-b being used underground and is a code violation, perhaps you could just run the 24VAC on this wire. Then it is low voltage use only. If it is just for a battery charge on gate opener, than the added voltage drop should not bother it. That way you can keep the wall wart inside too.

Exactly what I would do also. It's against code if you're running 120 volts, but low voltage doesn't matter. Or you can always put a vacuum on one end, and feed yarn/string through the other, then pull the new wire through with the yarn and leave the romex in place.

 

[rburke65]

wyliesdiesel....you are correct....and I should have know better as I'm a retired electrician. For some reason I was thinking TW wire. My bad....

 

[rattle_snake]

I needed to move the location of the gfci outlet for this gate another 30' farther from the box. Can't use a junction box to splice as the old box location is now in the middle of the driveway. After finding romex I knew it all had to be replaced to get to code. Unfortunately the problems continue, the feeder to the panel was leftover ****, 2 red #6 and 2 black #8 in 3/4" conduit, PLUS the romex for a total of 7 wires. GND not hooked up. After clearing this I was able to pull out the romex.

So in the end I replaced every wire including new feeder, and added another conduit just for the remote outlet. The conduit had leaking sprinkler valves installed over the top of it, so I removed the un-needed sprinkler system completely. The crack in the foundation makes sense now...

thanks for the advice.

 

[rattle_snake]

.. perhaps you could just run the 24VAC on this wire. Then it is low voltage use only. If it is just for a battery charge on gate opener, than the added voltage drop should not bother it. That way you can keep the wall wart inside too.

Dooh! would have considered this.. wouldn't have needed to put conduit extension 18" underground, could have gone shallow. And I guess an in-conduit splice... thanks for the idea

 

[wyliesdiesels]

I needed to move the location of the gfci outlet for this gate another 30' farther from the box. Can't use a junction box to splice as the old box location is now in the middle of the driveway. After finding romex I knew it all had to be replaced to get to code. Unfortunately the problems continue, the feeder to the panel was leftover ****, 2 red #6 and 2 black #8 in 3/4" conduit, PLUS the romex for a total of 7 wires. GND not hooked up. After clearing this I was able to pull out the romex.

So in the end I replaced every wire including new feeder, and added another conduit just for the remote outlet. The conduit had leaking sprinkler valves installed over the top of it, so I removed the un-needed sprinkler system completely. The crack in the foundation makes sense now...

thanks for the advice.

Wow. What a mess.

Whats the feeder size(in amps) for the subpanel? What size wire did u use?

 

[rattle_snake]

Wow. What a mess.

Whats the feeder size(in amps) for the subpanel? What size wire did u use?

This subpanel is feed with a 40A breaker and #8 thru the attic. The wire was run when house was built and ends at an exterior junction box on the opposite side of the house as the service entrance. I spliced in a short length of #8 from this box to the (reused) subpanel above it. For splices I used AL blocks with set screws from HD. Covered them in 3M adhesive lined heat shrink, but not sure shrink is UL rated or to code so then wrapped in ele tape as well.