Raintight fittings

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arnettda

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I called three supliers today looking for 3inch compression raintight couplings only one had them and only a few in stock why is this? All three had smaller sizes under 1inch. Are they made for larger sizes of conduit? Or is my location a little behind the times? Thanks.
 
Your location is a mystery.
Here in my location, which is rather remote and buried in approx. five feet of snow, 3" fittings only come in on the special delivery sled. On a sunny day, when the passes are clear, 3" fittings still only come special delivery.
 
I have had the same problem. I once ordered 3" RT fittings but they delivered standard compression fittings, no "o-ring". I refused them, and drove to another supply house across town, because they told me over the phone that they had them. Same thing - no "o-ring".
I don't know why it's like this, but it sure is frustrating.
 
For years we used compression fittings with no O-ring for raintite installations. Why? Because we didn't know any better. The suppliers didn't know nor did the EC's know that there was a difference. I couldn't begin to guess the number of fittings that are used for emt RT and are the standard compression fitting.

Most of the time the suppliers rely on us for the pertinent info about what to stock.
 
Dennis Alwon said:
For years we used compression fittings with no O-ring for raintite installations. Why? Because we didn't know any better. The suppliers didn't know nor did the EC's know that there was a difference. I couldn't begin to guess the number of fittings that are used for emt RT and are the standard compression fitting.

Most of the time the suppliers rely on us for the pertinent info about what to stock.
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They are in the business of selling things. If you are the supply house your view would be if nobody is buying something why should we stock it, but if you need something we don't stock we can get it for you. Things that move off the shelf faster get higher priority as far as what to stock.
 
Dennis Alwon said:
For years we used compression fittings with no O-ring for raintite installations. Why? Because we didn't know any better.
Click to expand...

I'm not so sure. I never had problems with water penetrating the standard compression fittings we used to use. Seems to be another manufacturer induced requirement to sell fittings with a higher profit margin.

B_EMT_Compression_Connectors.jpg


Is the water thicker in Canada?:D
 
fishin' electrician said:
I'm not so sure. I never had problems with water penetrating the standard compression fittings we used to use. Seems to be another manufacturer induced requirement to sell fittings with a higher profit margin.

B_EMT_Compression_Connectors.jpg


Is the water thicker in Canada?:D
Click to expand...


I agree and that's why I didn't have a real problem with them still when UL changed their standards. I figured that there were probably millions of the old ones already installed.
 
There was evidence that when installed in wet locations the old style could allow some water to intrude into the conduit and get the thhn/ thwn conductors slightly wet. The new products are supposed to fix that. My observations in the field is that they perform poorly for the intended usage. I use standard compression fittings with additional o-rings purchased separately from a hardware that I use to seal around the joint of the fittings. It works better in wet locations. I bet silicon caulk works better as well. To do it the way I described would be a willful and wanton code violation so do not try this at home on your own. We here at planet macmikeman are trained professionals, and know how to do this without injury to ourselves....
 
But they didn't pull the listing for threaded couplings used with rigid conduit that leak far more than the EMT compression couplings that are no longer listed as raintight:-?
 
An outdoor metal raceway intalled where there is fair humidity and temerature changes gets much more water within the raceway from condensation than it will from high pressure water being sprayed directly at the fittings. New fittings are a joke.
 
The fittings with the O rings just keep the water in the pipe now. All the threaded fittings are not raintight, and what about condensation.. etc..

Also, the fittings with the O rings arent that bad, but now they have a plastic sleeve instead of the o ring... they have somewhat been a pain to install, always getting jamed up and such.

~Matt
 
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