solid vs stranded THHN

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roger said:
We would plan our conduits accordingly and not "load them up", IOW's we would not have to derate the conductors to a lower ampacity than they are allowed at face value.

That translates to easy pulls even with solid conductors.

Roger
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Too many variables to generalize IMO. I just dont like the "if you think pulling solid is too hard you are a wuss or dont know what you are doing" attitude. Sometimes it is far more economical to load them up. Sometimes you have 2 90's right above the panelboards to get around a beam and need two more to get anywhere practical. It always seem like I am the only electrician that doesnt live in perfectland:slaphead: Maybe I am just a wuss compared to y'all, but I have had runs where pulling stranded was super hard. Sure sometimes its no problem, but sometimes you want to take the spool of stranded and give it a :hug:
 
I worked in a POCO building that had been sold. Found some 3/4" conduit with 8 solid. Had to cut out the conduit. Maybe the POCO linemen did the install and all they had was 8 solid.
I agree with the comments on devices, use the side wire type.
And often electrical specs require 3/4" minimum conduit for future use.
 
jaggedben said:
Ya got me, I missed it. :ashamed1:
At least ya'll know where to find it in 2020 now. :D
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You must have me on your ignore list.....LOL

Btw, in 2008 that section was in 310.3 then in 2011 they moved it to 310.106(C) and now in 2020 they moved it back to 310.3
 
infinity said:
We haven't pulled solid copper conductors in decades except for when someone requires it in the spec. No one has ever given me a reason why it's better and IMO they cannot because it isn't. Especially today where everyone wants to value engineer down to the smallest possible size conduit packed to the max. We had a job several years ago where they specified #10 solid conductors, the wiring pulling crew had to fill some 1" EMT runs and needed a tugger to get the wire in. It pulled with so much force that it started to straighten out the offsets in the EMT. :slaphead:
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Wow we last used all solid in 2005 or so. The price difference now is negligible. In MC is when it varies, sometimes we use solid MC. The one exception is we frequently pull a solid green.
For me the insulation type makes a big difference, XHHW stranded copper is more difficult to strip than THHN, however often XHHW is specified for underground installations like street lighting.
Cheers
 
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