Solid conductors in conduit

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matt902

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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? :?
 
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.
 
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.
 
matt902 said:
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.
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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.
 
Jraef said:
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.
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The only reason you need is that I said so!

:)

People put crazy things in contracts for no obvious reason.
 
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
 
I have had engineers spec solid on #10 and smaller as they prefer solid terminations on devices.
 
matt902 said:
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.
Click to expand...

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.
 
Fulthrotl said:
"this is the way the entire plant is" becomes
the reason in and of itself.
Click to expand...

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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
just the cowboy said:
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.
Click to expand...

not in the NEC.

NFPA79 requires it but that is not normally an enforceable code.
 
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