Polices that are "above code"?

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don_resqcapt19

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Staff member
Location
Illinois
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retired electrician
Bob,
Price some 3 piece couplings and you will see the issue.
They are still often a lot cheaper than the labor required to avoid them. Especially when looking at labor rates of $1.50+ per minute. However you are correct with good planing and layout you can avoid excessive use of them. Many times I see guys trying to install a 10' section of conduit with 3 or 4 bends in it and find that they can't spin it in. If he would have made it in 2 or 3 pieces he could have threaded the pieces in without an union.
Don
 

iwire

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Location
Massachusetts
don_resqcapt19 said:
Many times I see guys trying to install a 10' section of conduit with 3 or 4 bends in it and find that they can't spin it in. If he would have made it in 2 or 3 pieces he could have threaded the pieces in without an union.
Don

That was all I was trying to point out. :smile:

To often the guys will grab another 3 piece when some forethought could have avoided it.
 

Jljohnson

Senior Member
Location
Colorado
I did alot of electrical work in slaughterhouses back in the day(seems like decades ago....lol it WAS). The PM for the company I worked for kept all "ericsons" in the office trailer. If you needed one, you had to go ask him for one and justify it's need. I agree that they sometimes cannot be avoided but when you had to go the PM (he was not known for his charming personality) in order to get one, you put alot of thought in how to avoid them.
 

peter d

Senior Member
Location
New England
Jljohnson said:
I did alot of electrical work in slaughterhouses back in the day(seems like decades ago....lol it WAS).

Is ridgid the primary wiring method used inside of a slaughterhouse? I'm curious because we don't really have them around here, at least not the massive ones found out west and in the south.

I imagine the wiring has to be able to take the highest abuse possible while constantly being subject to cold and moisture. It seems like the wiring systems would need frequent replacement. Ridgid is the logical choice but does it hold up to the moisture?
 

Jljohnson

Senior Member
Location
Colorado
Peter, GRC and Aluminum Rigid Conduit were the most common wiring methods I saw. GRC in the room temp. environments, Aluminum Rigid in the cold rooms. Seemed to hold up pretty well, based on what I saw during remodel portions of some of the jobs. I remember one project where they spec'd pipe dope (like the plumber uses) in all cold areas. Seemed kinda silly to me.
 

Tori

Senior Member
Location
Maryland
Running rigid is an art and unions do have their place,
I've even run pvc coated rigid with the fittings - check out those prices
 

Tori

Senior Member
Location
Maryland
mdshunk said:
Doesn't anyone wind on some extra thread on one section or the other to use a regular coupling like a union?

sometimes, you do ,they make that sleeve awfully short
 

mdshunk

Senior Member
Location
Right here.
don_resqcapt19 said:
That is a code violation.

Don
Sorry. My post was trawl bait, and I caught one. Not much RMC being run today as compared with 50 years ago. That was a way the old-timers cut corners. It's a no-no now.
 

Dave58er

Senior Member
Location
Dearborn, MI
Didn't get back to this thread very quickly but I think Bob spoke pretty well about my intent with the Erickson comment. :wink:
I would just like to add that it's almost a religious thing around here. Especially with the "old timers".

Some of the thinking is if you can't plan a pipe run what else can't you plan? Also, if you've got to think that hard to stay away from them maybe someone else should be running the pipe. As Don said, it is expensive to have to run rigid, and if the slow old guy can do it with his eyes closed he just might be cheaper than the rocket who ends up backtracking because he didn't look or think ahead, and/or with a "bone pile" because they had to redo half their bends.

On this point I'm not talking about the job's I've been on that have one quick rigid pipe run to do. I'm speaking more about Industrial work were everything is rigid and there's a lot of it.


mdshunk said:
Doesn't anyone wind on some extra thread on one section or the other to use a regular coupling like a union?
Do you mean "running threads" for backing the coupling back onto the pipe? I thought that was a violation of the .42's.
 
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