Difficulty Pulling Cable Through Conduit

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eeee

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I am cost estimating a job for a sleeping facility for a large group of people. The facility is made of brick and much of the inside walls are concrete also. There is only 8 inches of crawl space above the ceiling between floors as you will again hit concrete.

I need to add another breaker to be distributed to the receptacles in each room since the receptacles are overloaded now with hair dryers, hot pans, microfridges, computers, microwaves, TVs, Boom Boxes, etc. The panelboards are too full to add a new breaker for each room.

I need to add some new 400 amp and 225 amp 3 phase, 208/120 volt panelboards.

The only way to do this is pull all the cable out between the existing receptacles and the existing panel boards, then rewire all the panelboards and wire tne new panelboard as I see it to include a new feeder for the new panelboard.

I would think the electricians may have a hard time pulling all that cable out of the existing conduit and putting new #12 cable in the conduits to feed the receptacles when dealing with concrete wallw and no crawl spaces to fish cable. Am I right??? If so, I will estimate tearing out a lot of wall and ceiling to do this job??
 
Re: Difficulty Pulling Cable Through Conduit

where are the panelboards?
is everything in conduit?
 
Re: Difficulty Pulling Cable Through Conduit

There are panelboards on each floor. There are two sets of three floors. Total facility size is three floors high.

Everything is now in conduit.
 
Re: Difficulty Pulling Cable Through Conduit

sounds like you will need to tear up walls whereever conduit needs re worked or repaired.
 
Re: Difficulty Pulling Cable Through Conduit

Will I need to pull all the cable out of the existing conduit and put all new cable in the existing conduit again?? fo include putting in new conduit for the new panelboards so that I will have one new breaker per room??
 
Re: Difficulty Pulling Cable Through Conduit

are you adding outlets in the rooms, or just re arranging the circuits.

no way to tell from here. but i have, often just pulled one wire out, and added extra wires. using the first as a pull string. depends on conduit fill, age, weather or not the original electrician used yellow pull lube.
 
Re: Difficulty Pulling Cable Through Conduit

Originally posted by jbwhite:

depends on conduit fill, age, weather or not the original electrician used yellow pull lube. [/QB]
Click to expand...
The yellow pull lube drys and becomes sticky, correct. We used to use the blue gel in my cable pulling days to avoid this. Is that correct?

Thanks.
 
Re: Difficulty Pulling Cable Through Conduit

Sounds like you need to know the size of the emt and see if there is any room left without over filling it.Very hard to estimate without knowing that.Repulling might be faster.
 
Re: Difficulty Pulling Cable Through Conduit

I am just rearranging circuits to the existing receptacles (outlets), but adding a new breaker in the panelboard for each room.

Yeah, I see how you can add a new wire by using the first wire as a pull string, provided the wires are lubed and there is room in the conduit.

I used to fish cable TV cable from attics, but did not think of the pull string idea.

I take a receptacle cover off and see if I can pull some cable in the existing conduit.
 
Re: Difficulty Pulling Cable Through Conduit

My big problem remains. I don't see how I am going to run all that new branch conduit from my new subpanels to feed the existing receptacles in the rooms considering that the facility is brick and many of the walls are concrete and that there is no crawl space between the ceiling and the next floor. I also must hope my feeder conduit has space to run my feeder cable to my new subpanels on the various floors or I will have the same problem there too.

I wonder if I can tap in to the existing conduit for my new branch conduits comming off of my new subpanel maybe using T-Taps or another technique. That way I can reuse the existing conduits?? This seems to me to be the only solution short of tearing up all the ceilings and walls$$$$$ (much money)
 
Re: Difficulty Pulling Cable Through Conduit

think troff, not t tap

without seeing the job, it is almost impossible to lay it out.

why not call and get someone, or a couple people to come look.

make sure they hire thinn helpers.

[ December 02, 2005, 07:07 PM: Message edited by: jbwhite ]
 
Re: Difficulty Pulling Cable Through Conduit

This may be wordy, but I do have a point to make.
In 1982 I met an engineer (PE) who specialized in MV transmission and substation design/build. We met on a volunteer job kinda like a Habitat project.
He was the 'engineer', I was just a working contractor who was supposed to do what he was told. His field of EE did not afford him the skills needed to effectively design an electrical system for a small office-type structure. His design was well-intended and functional, but clumsy and inefficient.
After working with him for some time, I tactfully and carefully made a few suggestions to improve his design and facilitate installation. He was receptive and incorporated them in his designs. A high degree of respect for each other was achieved in this process.
I appreciate his education and theoretical skills and he appreciates my practical experience and value oriented installation methods.
In short, he developed an appreciation for the role of an experienced contractor in areas where he was lacking.
My Point: Find a reputable contractor (or two) in your area and get their input on your situations.
It is a fine thing to post your questions to this forum, tho the answers you get will be rather general and may not truly be 'on point' or they will be specific to a particular geographic area of the US, thereby not applicable to your area.
Or, bluntly, why do you find it easy to post a question here, and not in a face to face situation?
Asking questions of experienced contractors will engender respect for you as you progress towards your PE. (and the converse is true)
 
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