Conduit confusion

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kevinware

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Louisville, KY
I was in my training class the other night and we are covering conduit bending. The subject came up as to how many bends the NEC allows in one run of conduit. My instructor was talking about a "100 foot rule" in the NEC that limits the amount of bends to 360 degrees in a 100ft run of conduit, he didn't tell us where in the NEC to find the rule, he just told us to look it up. So I did. I like to think I am a damn good apprentice and will make a damn good electrician one day but I couldn't find the "100ft rule". This is what I found:

342.26
344.26
358.26

All these articles state the same thing:

"There shall not be more than the equivalent of four quarter bends ( 360 degrees total ) between pull points, for example, conduit bodies and boxes."

This statement is even true for the Nonmetallic and flexible conduit. So conforming this 100ft rule to real life is that if I have 100ft of conduit between two J-boxes then I can't have more then 360 degrees of bends between the two J-boxes. That seems like an awfully long length of conduit between the J-boxes. I was expecting a shorter run I guess. The NEC doesn't limit the number of J-boxes but I don't want an ugly installation either. I still have allot to learn. Is this 100ft rule a personal preference or is it really in the NEC somewhere?

Thanks for your help,
Kevin
 
Re: Conduit confusion

Kevin
I'm not sure the 100' part of that rule is NEC. The 360 degrees is a rule, but for example, you can't put 450 degrees of bends in a 120' run if there are no pull points in between.
Jim T
 
Re: Conduit confusion

Kevin, there are many times conduit runs exceed 100' between pull points. I had a job recently with runs of 500 MCM in 3.5" conduit at 750' between points, and have had longer runs in the past.


Roger
 
Re: Conduit confusion

The 100 ft. rule is not Code, and he should not teach it as such.

There could, however be a local ammendment that we don't know about.
 
Re: Conduit confusion

_______________________________________________
The 100 ft. rule is not Code, and he should not teach it as such
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True! very-very-very true!!!

Most of the time the 100' rule is something in the spec's, not for 360deg but for spacing of JB's mostly for tele/data. But there has always been the illusion that the 100' rule exists, I have herd it many times!


Hay how do you guys get these graemlins into your posts?
 
Re: Conduit confusion

Originally posted by guesseral:
Hay how do you guys get these graemlins into your posts?
Click to expand...
When you post on the web site there is a set of them down below and to the left of the box you type in. just clikc on the symbol you want and it appears in your post.

:) :( :eek: :D ;) :p :cool: :roll:
 
Re: Conduit confusion

I'm reading what you said as he would expect you can have 720? in 200' and you've already found that to be not true.

Ya see the smirky face Guesseral?
 
Re: Conduit confusion

I found it to be good to install a box within 250 feet of each other, but that's only because I don't have a longer fish tape.
 
Re: Conduit confusion

Originally posted by georgestolz:
You can go longer than 250' with a shop-vac, jet line and a plastic grocery sack. :)
Click to expand...
How true! I only said this because a lot of time that's not that practical (working in a high ceiling with small conduit with set screw connectors). Many a sandwich had to go unprotected in my cooler to get a string in the conduit!
 
Re: Conduit confusion

A couple of weeks ago, a journeyman electrician mentioned the fictional "100 foot rule" to me.
I could not believe He was serious. It took me a few minutes and the code book for me to convince him that what he believed to be true for years didn't exist.
 
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