I discovered -- at the end of the project -- that the foreman for the infamous contractor who installed our 1MW solar system had a "trick" that he was using for making improvised bends in the large diameter PVC: he would slather PVC cement all over the outside of the conduit and set it on fire. After the PVC started to blister and char, he would put out the fire and bend the conduit.
Yes, he did this with conduit protruding from the ground against the side of our buildings. Yes, he did this even with large areas of dried combustible weeds in and around our buildings. We're damn lucky he didn't start a wildfire that could have destroyed our facilities. :rant: