overbent 90 degree bends

[izak]

I recently worked on a project where i needed to over-bend a ninety degree bend to follow building lines.
specifically, the building had a sloped roof, and i wanted my pipe to match it as it ran up the wall and was to follow the ceiling.

the bend that was called for was approx 95 to 100 degrees, and would have made the installation look very nice.

however, my working partner, who is about 30, said NO WAY, thats a CODE Violation!

Well, I know better than that, and I told him so. (what I told him is, "someone may have told you that is against code, but it definitely is NOT"

I have only heard this fallacy about overbent 90s being a violation a couple times, and that has always come from people who are close to 60 years old. (my father being one of these)

So MY QUESTION IS:

Where did this concept come from?
is/was it considered best practice?
is there a specification somewhere that prohibits it?
how long has it been an issue?

 

[infinity]

There is no 90 degree limit for a bend in a piece of conduit.

 

[Jim W in Tampa]

Limit is 360 total between boxes. Glad to see your smart enough to call them down. You can have 360 all in 1 stick and often it's needed

 

[480sparky]

Tell him it's two adjacent 50s.

 

[macmikeman]

In the old days the inspector was king kong and so was the foreman on the job, and if he (they) said it was a code violation, it was a code violation no matter what the printed version of the code book says. So your old guy was probably one of the victims of that sort of learning. Sad fact is that stuff continues to this day in way too many places.

 

[roger]

I don't know where the myth came from but here is sustantiation that it is a myth.

From the 2001 ROP's

8- 219 - (345-11, 346-11): Reject​

SUBMITTER:

​

Bruce Mitchell, Thornton, CO

RECOMMENDATION​

​

:​

Revise text to read as follows:

The cumulative total of all angles formed by bending of the
conduit between pull points (e.g. conduit bodies and boxes) shall
not exceed 360?.​

​

SUBSTANTIATION: ​

​

Current language is imprecise and could be​

interpreted as implying that any bend greater than a quarter (90?) is

not allowed.​

​

PANEL ACTION: ​

​

Reject.

PANEL STATEMENT: ​

​

The existing text adequately explains the​

requirements for conduit bends. Four quarter bends is used as an

example and does not limit the angle of any bend to 90 degrees or
less.​

​

NUMBER OF PANEL MEMBERS ELIGIBLE TO VOTE: ​

​

14

VOTE ON PANEL ACTION:

AFFIRMATIVE: 13​

NOT RETURNED: 1 Corry

​

Roger​

 

[jeremysterling]

You call it an overbent 90?. I call it a gooseneck. Very legal and sometimes specified.

I saw it once on an employment exam. The question is:

How many degrees of bend are in an lighting gooseneck?

 

[realolman]

You call it an overbent 90?. I call it a gooseneck. Very legal and sometimes specified.

I saw it once on an employment exam. The question is:

How many degrees of bend are in an lighting gooseneck?

Depends on where the lighting goose has his head? .

That's one of the reasons I don't like tests. I think the questions are often bad.

What would be the answer to a question like this? ... If they're bent 180 it'd be 180 if they're bent 100, it'd be 100.

What would even be the purpose of a question like this? What useful knowledge would the applicant be demonstrating?

There is much of which I am not aware, but I am not aware of any standardized "gooseneck".