Greetings, I'm new (first post). Can any of you engineer types or field people tell me 1) if it is a violation and 2) if conductors are inherently changed or damaged by pulling them through more than 360 degrees of bends. I have 4 - 4/0 conductors and 1 - #2 ground in a 2" EMT conduit, approximately 100' long with 7 ninety degree bends. There is a C-condulet after the 4th ninety degree bend, for lubrication and to satisfy code requirements. Is there any prohibition against pulling these conductors from point-to-point without stopping? I believe that there is not, however I have nothing with which to back up my opinion. Any coherent thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
Pulling Wire in a Circle
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Cow
Senior Member
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- Eastern Oregon
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- Electrician
Seven nineties without a decent pullbox in the middle? Plus if you're using THHN you're over the fill requirements also.
Who designed this?
Who designed this?
Unless my math is incorrect, you are legal, fill wise... barely 
It's going to be tough pull.
Code wise, the "C" is more than likely not listed for that fill and you are therefore in
violation of 314.28
I'll leave it to the more learned as to possible damage.
Field-wise I have seen it done and listened to the cussin'.
Unless you are compensating for voltage drop, if that #2 is groundING, you could drop it to a #4 or eliminate it if allowed.
It's going to be tough pull.
Code wise, the "C" is more than likely not listed for that fill and you are therefore in
violation of 314.28
I'll leave it to the more learned as to possible damage.
Field-wise I have seen it done and listened to the cussin'.
Unless you are compensating for voltage drop, if that #2 is groundING, you could drop it to a #4 or eliminate it if allowed.
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chris kennedy
Senior Member
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I'll stay out of this one.
ZinskI/E
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- New Orleans, LA
Tough pull
Tough pull
You can get around the condulet fill with a couple of RE's and a larger diameter C. That won't make the pull any easier, though. With seven 90's in a 100' run, I think I can safely assume these are factory bends, i.e. couplings at both ends of the elbows. In a difficult pull, fittings (die cast, especially) and straps may fail, ruining your conduit run, and most likely your conductors. Better to have too many pull points than not enough.
Tough pull
You can get around the condulet fill with a couple of RE's and a larger diameter C. That won't make the pull any easier, though. With seven 90's in a 100' run, I think I can safely assume these are factory bends, i.e. couplings at both ends of the elbows. In a difficult pull, fittings (die cast, especially) and straps may fail, ruining your conduit run, and most likely your conductors. Better to have too many pull points than not enough.
kwired
Electron manager
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Sounds like a cable instead of a raceway may have been worth consideration - especially if for some reason there is no place to install pull boxes.
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As Augie said the C conduit body doesn't satisfy the NEC as a pulling point. To do so it would need an opening 8X the trade size of the conduit or 16". Not likely unless you used an over sized condulet.
With the proper setup, and a pulling machine you could likely pull this in one shot. The code is a different story.
With the proper setup, and a pulling machine you could likely pull this in one shot. The code is a different story.
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kwired
Electron manager
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Just use 250's so that after they get stretched you still have 4/0:grin::grin:
How much shorter than the raceway should you have them cut to allow for stretching? Hate to have to throw away too much scrap.
dmagyar
Senior Member
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"He who runs the pipe, then gets to pull the wire"
"He who runs the pipe, then gets to pull the wire"
First it sounds like insufficient planning on the routing of this run, but without knowing the whole story who knows.
Second sounds like you've already expected some type of stretching to occur with the wire, you may also defeat the insulation completely, then what? You'll have to get the faulted wires out, that will dwarf the effort it will take to get them stuck in the first place.
This may not turn out good without some changes to the run as stated.
"He who runs the pipe, then gets to pull the wire"
First it sounds like insufficient planning on the routing of this run, but without knowing the whole story who knows.
Second sounds like you've already expected some type of stretching to occur with the wire, you may also defeat the insulation completely, then what? You'll have to get the faulted wires out, that will dwarf the effort it will take to get them stuck in the first place.
This may not turn out good without some changes to the run as stated.
LarryFine
Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
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"He who hangs the drywall then gets to do the finishing."
If you've ever had to mud after someone else's hanging, you understand.
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