Conduit routing along beam advice

P

philly

Senior Member
Looking for some ideas and best practices for routing conduits along the side of a W36 beam.

I’ve got an application where I need to route (3) 4”, (1) 5”, and (2) 2” conduits along the side of a 36” steel beam. Because of application and interferences on top and bottom of beam I’m forced to route all conduits along side of beam.

Conduits are not permitted to be bundled or stacked so I don’t think ill have enough room to have a single row of conduits mounted to side of beam using unistrut and conduit clamps.

Looking for other ideas how to route conduit. One idea that comes to mind is putting unistrut along bottom of beam using beam clamps to build conduit rack off side of beam mounting all 6 conduits in a single row along side of beam.

I’m not sure how much room I’ll have to extend conduit rack along side of beam so looking for other ideas where I can possibly build a vertical pipe rack extending out from beam allowing me to mount conduits on each side of vertical rack. Not sure how a vertical rack would be supported off side of beam.

Thanks for any ideas.
 
LarryFine

LarryFine

Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
Location
Henrico County, VA
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
Slotted strut or two shallow struts back-to-back would allow for two vertical rows, one within the beam and one outside it. Attach strut to top and bottom flanges with beam clamps using screws and washers.
 
P

philly

Senior Member
LarryFine said:
Those will not work for strut perpendicular to the edge of the flange.
Click to expand...
Larry I wasn't sure in your original post how you were suggesting to build a vertical rack with strut to mount vertical row of conduits on outside of beam. I had took your recommendation as attaching strut to top and bottom of beam flanges with beam clamp and then put a vertical piece of conduit between the (2) horizonal pieces to make vertical rack? See my attached sketch detail #1 for how I interpreted. Or is there another type of clamp that allows for attaching Unistrut vertically to beam flange?

@masterinbama - I interpreted the solution that you suggested as detail #2 in attached sketch using beam clamps to extent horizontal unistrut to outside of beam to install horizonal row of conduit?
 

Attachments

  • Beam Sketch.pdf
    1.2 MB · Views: 28
P

philly

Senior Member
masterinbama said:
These are called end clamps
Click to expand...
Are those end clamps able to support Unistrut vertically on side of beam mounted between flanges to allow conduit to be mounted on out of unistut? Wound conduit mounted on inside of beam be considered "accesible" should someone need to remove/replace section of conduit? Customer didn't want conduits stacked thus was looking for solution for (2) vertical rows.
 
LarryFine

LarryFine

Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
Location
Henrico County, VA
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
philly said:
Larry I wasn't sure in your original post how you were suggesting to build a vertical rack with strut to mount vertical row of conduits on outside of beam. I had took your recommendation as attaching strut to top and bottom of beam flanges with beam clamp and then put a vertical piece of conduit between the (2) horizonal pieces to make vertical rack? See my attached sketch detail #1 for how I interpreted. Or is there another type of clamp that allows for attaching Unistrut vertically to beam flange?

@masterinbama - I interpreted the solution that you suggested as detail #2 in attached sketch using beam clamps to extent horizontal unistrut to outside of beam to install horizonal row of conduit?
Click to expand...
Neither are what I pictured. My idea is simpler. Each piece of strut would be attached to two beam clamps vertically. One assembly every ten feet or closer if necessary.

I'm thinking attach beam clamps to the top and bottom flange edges, like this, but without the all-thread, and screw a piece of strut to the threaded holes on back of the clamp.

All there would be is two beam clamps, the length of strut, and two screws with washers, nothing else. The length of the piece of strut would roughly equal the height of the beam.

Added: Actually, the strut and conduits mounted like in your upper drawing, but with the beam clamps on the same side of the beam as the conduits, with the one vertical strut bolted directly to the clamps, and no horizontal parts at all.

1691513548391.png 1691513564507.png
 
Last edited:
P

philly

Senior Member
LarryFine said:
Neither are what I pictured. My idea is simpler. Each piece of strut would be attached to two beam clamps vertically. One assembly every ten feet or closer if necessary.

I'm thinking attach beam clamps to the top and bottom flange edges, like this, but without the all-thread, and screw a piece of strut to the threaded holes on back of the clamp.

All there would be is two beam clamps, the length of strut, and two screws with washers, nothing else. The length of the piece of strut would roughly equal the height of the beam.

Added: Actually, the strut and conduits mounted like in your upper drawing, but with the beam clamps on the same side of the beam as the conduits, with the one vertical strut bolted directly to the clamps, and no horizontal parts at all.

View attachment 2566782 View attachment 2566783
Click to expand...
Thanks Larry that makes it clear now and I can see the intent. Do you think this would be a durable solution for an outdoor application?

The other option I looked at was mounting all of the conduits in a single row an the face of the beam using unistruct and conduit straps. With the (3) 4" (1) 5" and (2) 2" conduits I come up with a total conduit OD of 23.8". If I add in 1-5/8" for conduit strap insert room x 5 and 1/8" for width of adjacnet strap x 5 I come up with a total length of aprox 32.55". This seems feasible to mount via strut on side of 36" flanged beam but perhaps I'm overlooking something?
 
LarryFine

LarryFine

Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
Location
Henrico County, VA
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
philly said:
Thanks Larry that makes it clear now and I can see the intent. Do you think this would be a durable solution for an outdoor application?
Click to expand...
I do.

The other option I looked at was mounting all of the conduits in a single row an the face of the beam using unistruct and conduit straps. With the (3) 4" (1) 5" and (2) 2" conduits I come up with a total conduit OD of 23.8". If I add in 1-5/8" for conduit strap insert room x 5 and 1/8" for width of adjacnet strap x 5 I come up with a total length of aprox 32.55". This seems feasible to mount via strut on side of 36" flanged beam but perhaps I'm overlooking something?
Click to expand...
So, your idea is like mine, but mounted inside the beam on the surface of the web like in both of your drawings, while my idea has the strut mounted outside the beam. Am I correct?

How would you attach the strut to the beam? Drill holes and use nuts and bolts? You would need a second person on the other side, while my suggestion is all done on one side of the beam.
 
don_resqcapt19

don_resqcapt19

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Illinois
Occupation
retired electrician
philly said:
Are those end clamps able to support Unistrut vertically on side of beam mounted between flanges to allow conduit to be mounted on out of unistut? Wound conduit mounted on inside of beam be considered "accesible" should someone need to remove/replace section of conduit? Customer didn't want conduits stacked thus was looking for solution for (2) vertical rows.
Click to expand...
There is no requirement that conduit be accessible after it has been installed.
 
P

philly

Senior Member
LarryFine said:
I do.


So, your idea is like mine, but mounted inside the beam on the surface of the web like in both of your drawings, while my idea has the strut mounted outside the beam. Am I correct?

How would you attach the strut to the beam? Drill holes and use nuts and bolts? You would need a second person on the other side, while my suggestion is all done on one side of the beam.
Click to expand...
Yes you are correct. And I see your point about ease of attachment with your approach. I believe the approach suggested with mounting inside of beam either involved welding to beam or drilling and tapping as you mentioned.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top