Vacuuming a Rat

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ptonsparky said:
We use an old Craftsman w/d vac on buried pvc lines. New install so it was dry. I think 600 feet was the longest but that is because our pull line isn't strong enough to pull in the larger rope and cable. Never tried long distances with emt. Wally World bags seem to work the best.

Used CO2 back when. It wasn't a mouse that came out. It was a rocket.
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Yeah but it sure made it more fun. I had one mouse end up on top of a gas station canopy.

Ever try the old B2 wire nuts in a piece of 1/2 emt and CO2?:)
Of course this tends to be frown upon now with all the safety.
 
Cow said:
Duct tape is terrible IMO. We used duct tape in a pinch on a 700' run of 1 1/4, every wrinkle in the duct tape on every coupling allowed some of the suction to escape. At the feed end, there was no suction after 70 couplings. Gray phase tape is the way to go IMO. It stretches and doesn't leave wrinkles allowing air to escape.



I tried some Appletons on 3" once. NEVER AGAIN! T & B FOR LIFE!!
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I think Appleton made a lot of junky stuff over the years, i guess some good stuff too. But I remember their metal cut in switchboxes from the 70's. Had several protrusions on the sides, sort of "pimples". Meant having to cut extra wide to get the box in & made it look sloppy. Had to patch around it to look good.
 
Just put some food by the hole rats like food.
If it isn't wet any shop vac, I used a stand up vac with hose a baggie and 8lbs fishing line at a buddys' house; all we had. I made him run the vac told him when you feel the bag hit the hose or if rpms jump then stop. I left before his wife got home and he was last seen trying to get the fishing line out of her vac. We did get the wire pulled in to the 2" pvc pipe.
 
Rat

Rat

The best things I have found to use as rats are a ping-pong ball or a plastic bag. A ping pong ball makes allot of noise so you know exactly where its at. If you have access to compressed air, you can use a badmitten birdie.
 
ptonsparky said:
It wasn't a mouse that came out. It was a rocket.
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mivey said:
Duck!
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Okay, I'll make both of you happy. ;)

4th_July_Mickey_Mouse_Donald_Duck_Rocket.jpg
 
Instead of duct tape on set screw emt couplings, try 1 wrap of the clear saran wrap. The $30 craftman wet/dry vac will suck a plastic bag with 500' of jet line through 3/4 emt perfectly. Plus you don't see it.
 
jmellc said:
I think Appleton made a lot of junky stuff over the years, i guess some good stuff too. But I remember their metal cut in switchboxes from the 70's. Had several protrusions on the sides, sort of "pimples". Meant having to cut extra wide to get the box in & made it look sloppy. Had to patch around it to look good.
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My bad, it was Steel City that made those aggravating cut in boxes. I came across one in my trash buckets today. It will go where it belongs, the scrapyard.
 
Thanks for all the feedback. I was pretty sure a shop vac would work. If it doesn't, I will see if I can rent a Greenlee.

A joker foreman a few years ago had a tale of how "rats" got their name. Said electricians in the early days had no vacs & fishtapes had not been invented yet. Electrician would tie a string to a rat's leg, put him at one end of the conduit & hold a match under his tale. He would run to the other end to escape, getting the string all the way through. Crazy, but worth a laugh.
 
I have no idea how the thread went from PVC to EMT, but anyways, I have gotten used to just blowing a line through with compressed air, I have a portable 30 gallon tank compressor that will do about 150 psi, and I made a blow gun with 1/2" pipe a ball valve and a 12" long 1/2" soft copper tube out of the valve so I can bend it, when I stick it into the end of a larger pipe it creates a venturi effect, if the pipe has water in it I just wrap a rag around it to seal it and it will empty the pipe in no time, (good way to give a helper who don't like to take a bath a good spray) but anyway, just about any kind of thin plastic bag works, as long as you use a good bucket of jet line (a must to not slow down the payout of the line or you will run out of air before it gets through), communication with a helper will help keep you from running the whole bucket out through the pipe, because it will keep that line going (been there done that, the whole bucket:mad:) but I have yet found a vac that works as good or as far (done a couple 300' runs with no problem) it also blows out any sand that might have got into the pipe which will put a damper on any pull, I keep a box of glad sandwich bags on the truck which work great for blowing line in.
But if you want to use a vac, make sure it has a 2" hose not the 1 1/4" smaller one, as you need the volume.
 
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