I agree 100%, That is why I hate large wire pulls. Just get the pull done and shut your f**king mouth. When your done with the pull, go back to what you were doing, and stop stewing about it! "You didn't pull hard enough. You didn't push hard enough". I get so sick of it! Thanks, Russ, 29 years in Electrical Trade.
“Why are you watching the video?” The answer to that question is simple, you’re always hoping that someone knows something that you don’t that’s going to make your job easier!😜
As an electrician, I use this repeatedly and daily. The head you made is pretty good except that we don’t strip the line at the front we let the insulation take the beating at the front so the copper pulls strong the whole way, we also use THHN insulation so it slides easier instead of XHWN insulation (I did see the part you said you used thhn but just saying for people to have in mind). Another thing we do is use wire pulling lube liberally applied if it keeps getting caught but always use it if there are already wires in the conduit. And the plastic line you tie on the end, we call it p line or pull line not that that bit matters 🤷🏻♂️. The other thing is that when you did the Home Depot bag trick, that’s called a mouse (kind of because you find rodents in large conduits on jobs a lot) and the reason you had a hard time sucking it through the line is because of the way you tied the mouse. You want to make like a limp balloon in it with your finger, then tie a knott around the finger area, take your finger out, and tighten it up. It makes a parachute in the conduit that forces it through a lot better.👍🏻
Commercial, not residential or solar btw, if you have a minute to chat about solar, I’m gonna install some on my house and I need some help with knowledge on products👌🏻
Great advice. I also always "tape toward the hauler", so each edge of tape doesn't snag because it's hidden by the next loop around. I pull cable mostly through dirty old underground ducts, so plenty for the tape to snag on.
After 30 years on commercial projects I watch to see if someone knows a trick I don't know. I'm retired as an electrical contractor and after ten years of watching RU-vid videos I haven't seen anything new. 1. The code says no more than 120° of bends between access points. If you could get a string through 360° you wouldn't even be able to pull even the string much less a wire. 2. What makes the wire drag is friction. The flat string doesn't really matter. It could be round as long as you don't exceed it's breaking strength. The smoother it is the better. Those little string containers from Home Depot or Lowes are just a mess of kinks. Buy the large bucket of pull string. It's handy to have for lots of reasons even it you are just a homeowner and don't need that much. 3. You are correct about staggering the wire end for a smooth entry and taping the ends. However, (here comes the pulling argument) tape the loose ends of your string back past the farthest piece of wire in your pigtail. Hold that point with one hand (use your left if you are right handed). Use your right hand to make a simple loop in the middle of the string and flip the string loop over and slide the string loop up the wire end to the end of the farthest wire. When you pull the string tight it will form a small knot. If you did it correctly that small knot will clamp down on the wire like a Chinese Grip. The harder you pull, the tighter it gets. It will take several attempts to figure out the right way to flip the loop over. Tape the loop in place so it doesn't move. With practice you will learn to put the slip knot at the very end of each wire (or cable) you add to your pull. The knot helps smooth out the pigtail so there are fewer/smaller high spots to get hung up. Move your left hand to the knot you just made and repeat this process with making the loop with you right hand about every 6"/8" to a foot until you have worked your way back to the leading end of your pigtail. Put one last knot as close the the end of the pigtail as possible. Always hold the string tight while making the knots. This will never pull off. It eliminates that whole shepherds hook you made which sometimes gets caught at joints and entry points. The harder you pull the tighter it gets. Those multiple knots spread out the tension on the pull. Practice until you get this right and teach it to others. There will be no more arguments! 4. The string alone won't "cut" the conduit on the inside of a bend. Heat generated by friction does that. The heat softens the pvc and the string abrasion does the rest. If you are having that much trouble use wax based wire lube, sparingly. Try not to get it on your hands. 5. Start your pull at the end of your conduit run with the most bends or with the closest bend. It's easier to pull past the worst part at the beginning. 6. If possible (outside on long runs) pull down hill. Gravity matters! 7. Try not to pull more than 200'/250' between pull boxes. If you break a string/rope it's easier to fix your problem. Also, if a conductor comes up short it gives you options. 8. Lay out your conduit run so that you have room to pull the string. Trying to pull something hard when you are tight against a wall/floor/etc is no fun. 9. You are correct about laying out your wire. Be careful outside. If it gets dirty that will add a lot of friction to the pull. Use wire on spools whenever possible and wire in boxes only when necessary. I have built thousands of miles of aerial and underground utilities and pulled hundreds of thousands of miles of THHN, fiber, data, comm cable. The trick with the string loop never fails but it takes some practice. There have been only a few guys that have worked for me over the decades that just couldn't figure it out. I'm probably forgetting something but if you got this far in life you can figure it out.
@Jim Remmell, sure would like to see a vid of you rigging up a pull. What you're saying sounds good but I can't envision it. And that tip about the closest or mostest bend being the starting point is great!
@@seanflanagan5674 I don't have a RU-vid channel and don't really have an interest in starting one. However, a friend of mine does. I'll ask him if he is interested in helping me demonstrate the pigtail setup. I taught him. If he's interested we'll shoot the video and I'll respond to this video with his channel so you can see it. I knew it was going to hard to figure out without actually seeing it. Even after seeing it practice is required. Once you get it you'll be amazed how easy it actually is.
NEC code: There shall not be more than the equivalent of four quarter bends (360 degrees total) between pull points, for example, conduit bodies and boxes
I always pull a string after running long lengths of pipe and when i tie on the conductore i usually cut off most of the strands on each conductor leaving about 4 or 5 and tie all conductors to the string/snake staggering. The "head" is smaller and there is little chance of a conductor coming off. Some underground installs DO get mud in them unfortunately for a multitude of reasons and this method increases your chances of pulling them all through the first time.
I an a audio visual system integrater installer, use that trick all the time. Cant say I came up with it. It was an electrician who showed me that and I thank him everytime I use that method
I always separate the strands on the head and bend them over the loop of the pull string then reverse twist around the head. Will never come apart. No matter how far your pulling. Nothing more embarrassing than your head pulling apart and you need to start over.
If you tie the bag on one end instead of the center it flies thru the pipe. I have done many pulls over 700’ this way. I use 50 lb monofilament fishing line then pull a rope thru for the really long pulls. The monofilament is ridiculously fast thru the pipe.
Here's an old electrician's trick (and I qualify on both counts): If you're going to be an idiot and step on your wires while you are rolling them out, at least roll out your HOT wire last. If you want to get yelled at on a jobsite, walk, or better yet, drive, across the electrician's wires. And I rolled out everything including Romex (which I completely agree that you should do), but I managed to do it while walking forwards and even occasionally chewing gum.
MrWaalkman I backed into the electrical trades from solar so Aside from a week here and there, I’ve had never had the privilege of working under a single “.master”
The vacuum is a clever trick. You don’t actually have to walk backwards when walking out a custom length roll. I haven’t walked backward like that in 25+ years. When you have enough practice, and if your rolls were well done, you can walk out two or three rolls simultaneously. Two is easy, three is about the limit. It's a lot easier just to get full spools, put a piece of conduit through them, put that across an open ladder, grab the ends and go. If you brace the ladder so it doesn’t tip, you can walk out 6 conductors at a time. Alternatively, a couple nails in wall studs on open frame houses, or conduit straps in steel studs instead of a ladder on commercial sites. A handy trick when you have to run 0.9 miles worth of conductors in total, such as wiring a factory or distribution center.
Can you preload it on a spool reel with a fixture holding it with a pipe in the center? If it's something you do frequently it might be handy to make one for that purpose.
I use a similar method to pull new circuits though the frames of RV's. Then once it's through I push convoluted split conduit over the wire and follow the pvc conduit as I pull the conduit off the wire. Being a retired Power Company LIneman I've pulled hundreds of miles of wire through conduits. All the way from 120 Volt to 345 KV Million gauge high voltage urd wire. Good Video for the DIY'er who are just learning.
Use ping pong balls for the line vac. Drill holes through, string through, tie double knot, and vac away. They fly through the conduit with no chance of snag or bind. Clip the string. Put the balls back in truck. Always on hand if needed.
Something I learned when I was an apprentice electrician, I live in Australia, was the use of a vacuum to suck a string through a conduit. You can then use it to pull the cables through. To help the cables, we used to use talcum powder. The J&J worked the best plus it smells good. It worked great and doesn't leave the cable sticky.
@@GainSolarPower It works wonders. You don't get dirt sticking to the cable like you do if you use slippery lube. It reduces the friction a lot when pulling cables through conduit. You don't need a lot. What I do it have the Talc container and drill a 1/4 inch hole in the top. I give each length of conduit a quick puff of talc. Make sure the ends are CLEAN of talc if you are going to glue them. Ants hate talc too.
Nice video,explained well.just one other tip is when you are taping the end where you are attaching the string, start taping from where you have all the cables and tape towards the loop where you attach the string,and the tape will lay without any edges that might catch on any of the joins in the conduit.
*Perfect and I’ve used it for ballon arches as **enjoyable.fishing** recommend well as other decor with parties. It is strong and will hold up well. It works so good that another decorator stole my roll at an event!*
Sure enough, I just remembered something else. 1. If you need to pull your wire multiple times from point to point use a long piece of string to make up your pulling pigtail. Leave the long end hanging at the beginning end. As you get to each new pull point you can cut off your string knot and have plenty of slack to tie on a new piece without retaping the whole thing. 2. Once you get good at reversing the string loop you can begin to think about what happens someday when it becomes necessary to add wire to your conduit. Remember the first loose end of string that you held in place with your left hand? That is the "following end". Leave it several inches long and use it as a tie point for a pull string. It will drag a string along with your wire and make life much easier for you or the next guy. 3. You don't need a fancy knot or tape to connect/reconnect pull string to your pigtail. Simply overlap two parallel ends of your string (this works best with two pieces of the same material) and tie a simple over and through knot. It's not necessary even to double knot the string. Once again, the harder you pull, the tighter it gets. A double knot just makes something else to get hung up. 4. If you find yourself doing this a lot buy a pvc oven. Buy 21' lengths of pipe from a pipe supply and make your own bends when where you need them. The fewer joints the easier the pull. Ok, I think I covered it all this time.
@@GainSolarPower The first one I bought was a Greenlee. It worked great and was designed for use on pvc up to 2". It had skate wheels on each end to help with rolling it in the oven. One of my employees loaned it to a contractor the day we finished a project and then he went on vacation for a week. I didn't find out he had loaned it until after he returned from vacation and remembered to tell me. I never saw it again. It was about $400 in the mid 1990's. I bought a replacement a couple of years later. It wasn't as well made and cost about $275. It was red. I still have it somewhere. I don't remember the manufacturer. It did the job but wasn't as well designed. They are both about 30" long. You have to learn by doing. I've burned more than a few pieces of pipe. On cold days the pipe sets it's shape pretty fast. Carry a full water cooler with ice on hot days. Hot PVC is like carrying a wet noodle. Put it into position and pour (or squirt) cold water on it. It will freeze into position. Once you get good with the oven you make lawn furniture. I never tried it on 2 1/2" or white pvc. For conduit larger than 2" use a heat blanket. If I was to do it all over again I would buy another Greenlee. As a bonus keep a roll of heavy aluminum foil handy. The ovens are great for grilling hot dogs and sausages! I also have owned a Greenlee vacuum pulling system (I still have it too). It comes with foam "mice" for each size of conduit and lots of attachments, including a string gun. It is all very well designed and very fast. I recommend it too. No I don't have any association with Greenlee. I just buy good tools the take care of them.
@@crack1270 Is that right? You can turn your head you know. You ever think there might be a reason he suggests walking backwards? Same reason I do. Not stepping on or over the wire.
I learned this trick a couple of decades ago watching the network techs pulling fiber optic cable down seven floors through a partially filled conduit. They told me it was a lot less likely to fracture the fiber than yanking it through with a fish tape or the like. i used it to pull a fish line through a long, multiply curved buried conduit, which then pulled a coax through. I've also used a shop vac to suck a fungal mat that had clogged the drain for my air conditioner's drip pan. Vacuum is just a wonderful tool.
@@GainSolarPower l love the way the 'Vac can just suck those old studs right out, after the termites have been at them, although snaking the new ones in can be a bit tricky. :)
Nice job, ya. Like u said. Many ways to make a head. The only thing I do different is use EMT instead of PVC on the interior, I use PVC underground only. Just my preference. Nice job tho
I like to use 2 or more half hitches depending on amount of conductors and a full hitch and then you can leave a tail to add a back string if needed, and tape the knots
Lol when i had to string wire up above false ceiling at work i would tie fishing line or twine to a nut or bolt then use my slingshot and shoot it to ware i was going to pull wire. Then tie wire on fishing line and go to where bolt landed and pull it accross. It beat moving ladder every 5 feet to reach my 100 foot mark.
If there isn't room to lay it out then pull from a spool. If the conduit already has some wiring in it use pulling gel to make wires slick. Rub the gel on as wires enter the conduit. Make sure there are no sharp edges to get stuck cover with tape.
About 30 years ago, I was doing a pull, and didn’t have any Electrical Poly String on the truck. Walked to a downtown hardware in DC, and bought Masons Twine. It works a lot better in my opinion, been using in since.
I tried this with a paper napkin and poly string for about a 150 ft run but it won’t pull the napkin. I’m using a 6.5 amp shop vac taped and on the other end very little suction. What does this mean? Conduit is new and buried now.
Another trick is to always include an extra pull string when pulling things in pipes. Next time, there is already a pull string waiting for the person that needs to pull something through,
I have a project coming up that will end up with 4 90s and about 100' long. Your video answered so many questions. In particular getting individual wires. Thanks again. And why are there (at this time) 103 thumbs down?
That’s all the electricians that watched and want to argue with me about it. Armchair electricians. The video was made for people like you. Thanks for watching.
I pulled 3 #6 through 3/4" emt, not more than 20' at a time. Not easy going through elbows. Didn't have a bender for 3/4", so I went to the store and used one there in the aisle. Got to the register and asked the teenage girl if I can get a discount on the emt because it was all bent up. She was about to ask someone, then I told her no, that's ok. She didn't know what to say at that point.
It's their fault for putting the pipe bender right in the middle of the aisle. Heck, if they had a hacksaw in the aisle I'd bend the pipe, cut it to length and ask for a discount for only needing half the pipe.
A couple of years ago I was going to pull a wire through 10 meters (32 feet?) Of PVC pipes but had no correct tools for this. . Then there was only one thing to try, I took the vacuum cleaner at one end and sealed it against the pvc pipe and at the other end I fed in sewing thread. This sewing thread had to pull through a string which then pulled through the power cable!
If you wrap the tape from the back towards the head then the overlapping tape groves don’t get caught inside pipe/ fittings. Every little bit helps on tough pulls....good video
Was at a job site one day and the guys were pissing and moaning about no rope in what was probably near a 200 ft run of buried conduit with several bends going around the house. (got caught on a machine and pulled it all out) One guy comes up with a small plastic grocery bag and a ball of string. Another guy scrounges up a shop vac and a power cord. Ten guys gather around and say it wont work. Two minutes later the string had made it's journey and they were pulling a new rope through.
counterpoint: if you pull a lot of the same size wire, get the rolls, in all your colors, and then you don't have to measure your conduit and order cuts (or walk them out and have them tangle, anyway)
Thanks for the tips bro! I’ve been doing this for many years but it’s always enjoyable to see how others do things. You should think about doing more tip videos on the basics. People eat that stuff up.
I had a 15 ft stretch of conduit under my patio and was going to “push” the wire and it wouldn’t make the turn on 90s. Used a small ball of tin foil on a string and the shop van. Wife’s neighbor ladies were over and they laughed at me and said it would never work! That ball went through in a split second!!! LOL!!! Now I have new respect in the neighborhood. 😉
You applied the tape in the wrong direction. It should be wrapped towards the conduit, think of fish scales or roof shingles. Those wraps done the wrong way will get caught up. Also, the tape should be stretched tight as you wrap so as to eliminate stretch which causes wires to come loose. There's really no need to tape each stagger, that just adds to bulkiness.
He wanted us to stop watching so we wouldn't beat him up in the comments. I've seen worse. Thanks for not using soap, every homeowner that watch this would have insisted on soap for something as short as 10 feet. Only have one problem with the vid: You do all the prep work and lay everything out so nicely and you keep teasing a pull, but no pull? I wanted to watch you pull wire with a camera in your hand. ;)
always unroll wire that way, regardless if single, multiple and type :) the best trick with larger gauge or odd runs is pull/push it in while running the conduit and not after.
@@DonkeyLipsDA3rd just be careful you don't backup and walk off the open stair hole to basement or out a door into non-backfilled walls. they always left that stuff out to the last and no safety rails when I was in the field (mid 90's). lol, we've all disappeared down a rabbit hole before! none of the concrete was in yet, so it was a soft gravel/wet landing since the sump pumps were often not active yet, no doors windows and hardly a roof. we were the sparkies ;)
Could just use a fish tape that’s quite a small pull could even use a fiberglass fish tape to make it easier and if you buy the spool of wire you don’t have to walk it off before you pull it just pull straight off the spool which saves time money, and makes it easer
Good helpful video. I like yto take my die grinder to soften the inside radius of the LB. On difficult pulls this sharp edge of the LB conduit stop chafes the wire if you don't ease the edge, even then you need to be careful.
@@GainSolarPower ... Not sure if he worded that clearly, but I think he means any conduit with a square edge gets a slight rounding on the inside to avoid snags. That might include straight sections too if there's a coupling involved. Kinda like deburring EMT but doing it on plastic to remove the sharp edge.
When you drop a wire out of a head like that, you'll understand why its wrong. All the wires get attached, strip em back and cut off most of the strands.
Right all wires need put on fish tape going oppisite directions. The way he did it is when you could push the wire an just dont want to waste that time.
Don’t say something is wrong just because you don’t do it like that. Why waste time stripping the wire back if you don’t have to? It is not always necessary. Especially for smaller wire and shorter runs. Besides that half hitches would be much better.
@@pradaxaboudraux368first of all all the wires can’t go opposite directions because at least 2 out of four would be in the same direction. Second you should split the strands and take THEM through the fishtape/rope loop in opposite directions which is what I think you meant.
You don’t have to walk backwards I can do it faster walking forward. Also it’s a better idea to fold copper back on itself and not over the other insulation and trim some of the wire strands off makes for a cleaner streamline head
I look to learn, you can always pick up tips here and there no one’s born with all knowledge ya gotta learn from someone besides if you stop learning you become extinct good video.
I don’t believe the bundling of NM-B is any different from putting THHN in a conduit. You are right that it may not be used, that is because outside would be considered a wet location. “THHN” that is sold today seems to always be dual rated as THHN/THWN-2 which is good for 90 degree Celsius in wet locations.
It’s considered different in the code. The individual wires are factored differently in wire fill calculations than a bundled cable such as NM-B. Think about this. Thhn/thwn is rated for more amps than the same size wire in NM-B.
I sucked a ball of paper tied to a string through 200 feet of conduit about 20 years ago when I ran power to my shed. Came up with the idea on my own ha ha. Must have been ahead of the times. It worked like a charm.
30 years ago Greene Lee made a conduit machine for this application. First time we tried it, we wasted the whole roll of string. It pulled it through so fast and we didn’t know when to stop it. Was a whole pile of string left on the ground 😂😂😆😩
Remember, The more tape you use the harder it is to pull. - Learn to cut the he wire back and use no tape at all over a bowline in the end of the jet line, No tape. .....There is also something called a "fishing lure" - A piece cut from a metal stud smaller then the pipe and 6" or so long. Drill a bunch of holes (Or better yet use a Whitney punch) in it just over the diameter of the insulation of whatever you are pulling and just stick the wire through - do not bend the wire back just let it offset through the steel. the edges of the metal will cut into the insulation with a death grip - Been pulling 9 and-#12THHNs through 360 degrees of bends in 1/2" EMT at 100 ft for over 30 years that way, 10 if you are pulling a green. ,,, jet line, a lure and NO TAPE. - Good for anything up to #6 or so Anything bigger, unless you are some kind of a masochist you are looking at finger puzzles and a tugger, or pull it with a towmotor and no matter what don't be afraid of using plenty of soap! (Industrial electrical/millwright contractor since 1980 - Retired in 2019)
Good video for new guys, but one code problem in a way, you can't phase #6 or smaller by code. But your #8 Orange is to code even not being red, unless your local municipality has its own set of local codes. As for NFPA70, also known as the NEC. The only required colors are Green and white or gray. To identify bonding and grounding conductors. As for the current carrying conductors like A phase B phase and C phase no matter what voltage, are only required to be different colors to identify one conductor from the other, but for number 6 and smaller must be continuously the same color from one end to the other and not only marked at the termination Point. anything larger then #6 can be marked with phase tape at the termination point. Just a little tip many electricians do not know.
You are incorrect. Although the code does not explicitly say what colors to use for ungrounded conductors the authority under jurisdiction may have their own color code for phasing. Nonetheless, the code does state the phasing colors must be identified at the branch circuit panel as the what color is what phase. If he is using an orange as B phase and everything else in the panel is using a red for B phase this is a code violation. I’ve never had an issue during over hundreds of inspections not identifying probably because I always use the common phase colors for that system.
p.s.. Always - always - add at least ONE extra cable - to the one's you need. As that way - if you ever need another circuit "pulled" through - you don't have to remove them all - just to "suck" another draw string through - you have a SPARE there already. Plus - if one wire has a short or "burns out" somewhere in it's length - you have a spare that is easily used ..
Why not just leave a string in the tube for the next pull? I always leave a string in my conduits that is double the length of the conduit (plus a little more). For example, of you have a 10meter conduit, I leave a 21meter string in there. This gives you enough string to pull a wire through either way, and not "lose" the string in the conduit.
Poly line will still destroy the conduit if there is enough tension. Rope has less resistance in than mule tape.. If you completely lube the entire mule tape it's probably the same.
I’m looking for this EXACT conduit setup but can’t seem to search properly for it. Is it electrical conduit? And that opening at the end what is that called? Please help 😔
That's thwn it's dual rated for 75c thwn-2 is dual rated for 90c most terminations are 75c rated and code says that u have to follow the lowest rating for amp calculations. That's why thwn is widely used for underground feed applications.
NM dash B. The hell. NMB non-metallic building wire. No dash. I came here because I like watching other guys work and I don't get to do that during the day.
All of that teasing and we didn't get to see it pulled!! I like to half hitch up the head with the mule tape covering the staggered ends. It just makes me feel like if some tape slipped somewhere that i have better chances of not losing a wire. On big stuff i like weaving a basket with steel wire and taping with duck tape. On a run as short as this i would just shove them through.
What would ypu do for 4 strands of 4 awg and about 130 foot of underground pvc conduit? Not a test i really dont know im trying to save cash on my 50 amp rv setup
