Cable Pull Question

A

Alwayslearningelec

Senior Member
Location
NJ
Occupation
Estimator
Have 3- 1/C 13.2kv #500 w/ #250 600v ground getting pulled through 4". There are 4 sets/runs. The point to point distance is 400' with 3 bends and one pull box.

How many men would be needed JUST for the WIRE PULL? Roughly. I'm thinking feeder, tugger etc. it would need 4 men.
 
I would say it depends on the equipment you are using to pull. If using a tugger, Id say at least 6 men for a pull that long. 2 on tugger end, 4 men feeding. Reels of bigger wire can be a pain to get going smoothly, and can take some adjusting to avoid running off the jackstands etc. Loading the wire onto the jacks may warrant a forklift or similar, 500 mcm is roughly 1.5 pounds per foot depending on insulation. Unless you have machine adjusted reels.

You will want atleast 1 person standing right at the pipe feeding the wire in at the proper angle, preferably another man to gracefully feed the wire to the man at the pipe. Then at least 2 people working the reels. I like to use electric feeders on long pulls, and you may be able to get away with 4 or 5 men. But with a pull of that length and size wire its better to heir on the side of caution, it cant hurt to have an extra man. Sometimes on longer pulls I have one man on each end solely to work radios in the event of any issues. Again this can depend on the pulling equipment on hand, pulleys etc, and the layout of the equipment your pulling into and what kind of tail off you might need (eg. You need extra 15ft pulled out at the equipment for terminations).
 
Alwayslearningelec said:
Wow 4 men to feed? Thanks
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as muddyboots said, it depends on the equipment. NECA labor rate is around 50 hours per 1,000 feet. Most of us reduce from that, but even 75% is 400*3=1200*37.5/1000=45 hours. Figure the pull is a 6 hour pull, that is 7.5 men. From an estimating perspective, that is all you should be concerned with, (I would use 40 hours per 1000 myself for estimating purposes) As a project manager, I would consider, a feeding machine if we had one, setting the reels up on a flat bed if I could pull up next to the location. Sheeves and a telescoping forklift at the pull box, factory installed pulling eyes, etc. and weigh those off against my labor cost to make money.
 
I can't stress enough the importance of having communication guys at each end of the pull. If your tugger operator can't see the guys feeding, he will never know there's a problem before it's too late. I would hate to have to be the guy that had to pull out somebody's hand or arm out of the pipe because it got caught up between two conductors and he couldn't get it out in time.
 
Rick 0920 said:
I can't stress enough the importance of having communication guys at each end of the pull. If your tugger operator can't see the guys feeding, he will never know there's a problem before it's too late. I would hate to have to be the guy that had to pull out somebody's hand or arm out of the pipe because it got caught up between two conductors and he couldn't get it out in time.
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Any company that cares about safety will use a set of these or similar. https://www.southwire.com/tools-equ...shing/tss-01-trigger-safety-system/p/59713201
 
Alwayslearningelec said:
13.2kv #500 w/ #250 600v ground getting pulled through 4".
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Don't forget that if you are using any pulling sheaves for pulling around the bends the sheave will have to have a minimum diameter of ~38.5" based on the 12X bending radius and an OD 0f 1.6" for 15kV, 500 kcmil shielded cable. I think the standard diameters are 36" and the next would be 42".
 
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