Solid conductors in conduit

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matt902

Member
Location
Canada
Most of my work is in industrial construction and maintenance.I was on a commercial project last year and they only used solid #12 conductors instead of stranded.Is this normal and if so,what is the reasoning behind it? :?
 

petersonra

Senior Member
Location
Northern illinois
Occupation
engineer
maybe a cost saving measure. solid is typically a penny or 2 cheaper per foot.

maybe they accidentally ordered the wrong thing and had to use it.

maybe it was laying around in their warehouse and they wanted it off the books.

maybe someone put it in the spec that way.
 

matt902

Member
Location
Canada
I was on the job for two weeks and we were using stranded.Then we were told by the engineering department to pull everything out and take all stranded off site.
Pulling many solid conductors through 90's is hard and time consuming.
 

Jraef

Moderator, OTD
Staff member
Location
San Francisco Bay Area, CA, USA
Occupation
Electrical Engineer
I was on the job for two weeks and we were using stranded.Then we were told by the engineering department to pull everything out and take all stranded off site.
Pulling many solid conductors through 90's is hard and time consuming.
That's just dumb... there is NO VALID ARGUMENT I can think of for ripping out and replacing perfectly good stranded wire in conduit with solid wire. None.

Probably some new Engineer still wet behind the ears who read some sort of garbage on the internet saying that solid wire carries current better, or because stranded is larger, you can't put as many in a conduit, blah blah blah. You can find just about any crackpot position being promoted by some nutcase on the internet, and newbies often don't know how to tell the BS from the science yet.
 

roger

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Fl
Occupation
Retired Electrician
Typically the specs on most of our jobs (from small to large) call for solid for conductors #10 and smaller. We do not have problems pulling them in conduits.

Roger
 

augie47

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Tennessee
Occupation
State Electrical Inspector (Retired)
I have had engineers spec solid on #10 and smaller as they prefer solid terminations on devices.
 

Fulthrotl

~Autocorrect is My Worst Enema.~
I was on the job for two weeks and we were using stranded.Then we were told by the engineering department to pull everything out and take all stranded off site.
Pulling many solid conductors through 90's is hard and time consuming.

well, you can't fix stupid.

the decision was made by someone with only theoretical experience in
electrical work. and 'cause "this is the way the entire plant is" becomes
the reason in and of itself.

about the only thing you can do with an "engineer" like that, is give him
a bright shiny whistle, and suggest he go get blown.

i've done an awful lot of motor controls over the years, and solid wire sucks.
 

petersonra

Senior Member
Location
Northern illinois
Occupation
engineer
"this is the way the entire plant is" becomes
the reason in and of itself.

On an individual case basis you are right that it makes no sense, but if it was decided to do things in a specific way by those tasked to make such decisions, it makes sense to be consistent. Otherwise people start to decide on their own to deviate from company practices based on personal convenience or other non-relevant reasons.

I have been in places that insist conduit be painted specific colors. That usually serves no real purpose either, but it is what they want, and as long as they are footing the bill, who am I to tell them they can't have what they want.
 

cowboyjwc

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Simi Valley, CA
Some people love stranded and use it only, I on the other hand have never liked it and always pulled solid. Sometimes it's just personal preference and sometimes it is in the specs.
 

Strathead

Senior Member
Location
Ocala, Florida, USA
Occupation
Electrician/Estimator/Project Manager/Superintendent
I prefer stranded, but have had discussions with others who prefer solid. Their reasoning is often that it is easier to push in a conduit. Which also extends to being easier to pull when done as a two man pull.

And as others have stated here. I have seen many boilerplate specs that state, solid wire for #12. Rules are rules. It is really a simple matter to request the use of stranded if that is what you prefer.
 

just the cowboy

Inactive, Email Never Verified
Location
newburgh,ny
Had it the other way one time

Had it the other way one time

I was asked to inspect a automatic sandblaster one time and found they used all black solid wire. Made them pull it all out not to code (200 or so control wires) . Somewhere in says machine tools shall use stranded wire.
 
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