Chinese Conduit?

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hillbilly1

Senior Member
Location
North Georgia mountains
Occupation
Owner/electrical contractor
I thought the supply house sold me some Chinese EMT today, I ran out of pipe yesterday, and picked up a new bundle today, pulled out the first stick, noticed it felt lighter than what I had been using, bent a 90, and it kinked the bend. Cut it off, bent another one, and it kinked again.:rant: Thought, this must be some Chinese @#$#, read the label, "Union made in the USA".
 

petersonra

Senior Member
Location
Northern illinois
Occupation
engineer
I thought the supply house sold me some Chinese EMT today, I ran out of pipe yesterday, and picked up a new bundle today, pulled out the first stick, noticed it felt lighter than what I had been using, bent a 90, and it kinked the bend. Cut it off, bent another one, and it kinked again.:rant: Thought, this must be some Chinese @#$#, read the label, "Union made in the USA".

Sounds like operator error to me. :)
 

augie47

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Tennessee
Occupation
State Electrical Inspector (Retired)
happens every time I use my 1" bender on 1/2" EMT :D
seriously, over the years I have found random bundles that "crimp" easily or where one needs a hydarluic bender to bend an offset.
Qulaity control may not be as good as it once was.
 

K8MHZ

Senior Member
Location
Michigan. It's a beautiful peninsula, I've looked
Occupation
Electrician
I thought the supply house sold me some Chinese EMT today, I ran out of pipe yesterday, and picked up a new bundle today, pulled out the first stick, noticed it felt lighter than what I had been using, bent a 90, and it kinked the bend. Cut it off, bent another one, and it kinked again.:rant: Thought, this must be some Chinese @#$#, read the label, "Union made in the USA".

Well, the union may have been made in the USA, but where was the pipe made?

:roll:
 

Besoeker

Senior Member
Location
UK
For the benefit of this ignorant Brit, what is EMT?
I'm pretty sure it isn't any of the following:
Emergency Medical Technician
East Midlands Trains
European Money Transfer
Energy Management Technology.....

Slightly more seriously, in the context used, it is obviously conduit and the "T" is probably tube or tubing.
But the EM?
 

rbalex

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Mission Viejo, CA
Occupation
Professional Electrical Engineer
Electrical Metallic Tubing - it's a thin walled conduit.

I enjoyed the East Midlands Trains while I was visiting Brush Transformers in Loughborough.
 

Cow

Senior Member
Location
Eastern Oregon
Occupation
Electrician
Have you bent any 3/4 rigid lately? We've got one supplier with 3/4" you can barely bend by hand, all the other suppliers carry the typical much easier to bend 3/4" rigid.

EMT is not conduit.

That's really beside the point isn't it?
 
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dkidd

Senior Member
Location
here
Occupation
PE
EMT is not conduit. References in the NEC to conduit do not specifically apply to EMT. This is not a matter of choice of terms. They are not equivalent.
 

rbalex

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Location
Mission Viejo, CA
Occupation
Professional Electrical Engineer
EMT is not conduit. References in the NEC to conduit do not specifically apply to EMT. This is not a matter of choice of terms. They are not equivalent.
While Art 100 defines raceway, it doesn't define conduit. In absence of a formal definition the NFPA Manual of Style refers us to the Merriam-Webster, 11th Collegiate Dictionary, which defines conduit as

3: a pipe, tube, or tile for protecting electric wires or cables
 

K8MHZ

Senior Member
Location
Michigan. It's a beautiful peninsula, I've looked
Occupation
Electrician
EMT is not conduit. References in the NEC to conduit do not specifically apply to EMT. This is not a matter of choice of terms. They are not equivalent.

I dunno....

EMT is listed under the heading of conduit in the back of the NEC.

There is no definition of conduit in the front of the NEC.

EMT is also listed as a type of conduit on Wiki. (I know, I know)

So where, officially, is the distinction? Why is EMT not conduit and Greenfield is? What is the difference between tubing and conduit as far as the NEC goes, or as far as anything goes, for that matter.

Show me a reference to conduit in the NEC that does not apply to EMT. That may help me understand this better.
 

rbalex

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Mission Viejo, CA
Occupation
Professional Electrical Engineer
...
Show me a reference to conduit in the NEC that does not apply to EMT. That may help me understand this better.
I can do that; see Section 501.15(B)(2)Ex 1. Of course, EMT is specifically excluded from this unless it is part of a nonincentive or intrinsically safe installation, in which case, it still wouldn't bother me to use EMT.
 

Besoeker

Senior Member
Location
UK
Electrical Metallic Tubing - it's a thin walled conduit.

I enjoyed the East Midlands Trains while I was visiting Brush Transformers in Loughborough.
Thank you for the EMT explanation.

The Brush site is a place I know quite well.
Sadly, not the bustling facility it used to be.
I think the last time we were there was for the string tests on a 1.1MW variable speed drive. At the time they had some wind turbine projects going through the works.
 

socalelect

Member
Location
so. cal
i put in a order thru my office to 3/4 and 1 inch ridgid well apparently they were ordering some galvo pipe for a air system and someone had told them oh its all the same . so instead of getting my RMC they got me fricken water pipe and the response was oh its the same . i guess they didnt look for the UL listing much less tried to bend it :thumbsdown:
 

hillbilly1

Senior Member
Location
North Georgia mountains
Occupation
Owner/electrical contractor
i put in a order thru my office to 3/4 and 1 inch ridgid well apparently they were ordering some galvo pipe for a air system and someone had told them oh its all the same . so instead of getting my RMC they got me fricken water pipe and the response was oh its the same . i guess they didnt look for the UL listing much less tried to bend it :thumbsdown:

I know of a plant where they used IMC for airlines just because they had a lot of it laying around, it started spliting at 120 psi.
 
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