Will supply take back bad conduit?

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ramsy

NoFixNoPay Electric
Location
LA basin, CA
Occupation
Service Electrician 2020 NEC
We have a 200 foot boneyard of kinked 1-1/4 EMT. The only way to get a reliable stub 90 without kinks is by segmenting the bends. We only need another 100ft of bends and the job is done, so we're making it work.

Resetting the bender (arrow mark) about 1-2 inches apart and segmenting small bends completely blows all calculated stub lengths with normal hand benders.

The extra labor to segment then cut every stub to proper length is killing me. The conduit is not consistent, so the one time the superintendent asks for a demonstration the conduit bends perfect without kinking, so he believes its operator error, or bending on uneven surfaces.

Any suggestions on how to deal with this issue? Will the supplier take back this kinked boneyard?
 
Hmmmm.... For risk of sounding insulting - How much do you wiegh? I say this because the downward pressure required with a hand bender - is often well above my wieght.... And if it slips one iota - kink..... Granted there is conduit slightly thicker than others but should not be an issue IMO.
 
ramsy said:
We have a 200 foot boneyard of kinked 1-1/4 EMT. The only way to get a reliable stub 90 without kinks is by segmenting the bends. We only need another 100ft of bends and the job is done, so we're making it work.

Resetting the bender (arrow mark) about 1-2 inches apart and segmenting small bends completely blows all calculated stub lengths with normal hand benders.
Click to expand...


Are you sure this has anything to do with the conduit and not just a messed up shoe on the bender?

I'm not saying it can't happen but I have never seen any conduit that wouldn't bend correctly. I have seen a couple of messed up benders and also operator error.

I'm not sure you could ever get those guys to stop laughing if you try to return the conduit to the supply house. :grin: :grin:

I would like to be there when some one shows up with a couple bundles of kinked conduit and tries to explain how it's defective. That's a story you could tell for years.
 
oops.

oops.

I worked at a shop where they had a brand new hydraulic bender that kinked all the conduit. The shoe's and bender were for RIGID pipe only. It took a few days for somebody that could read the lettering on the side of it to figure out why all the pipe was kinked.
You might try using a different tree?
 
I have had 3/4 EMT that could not be bent without kinking it. There was a problem with the steel. The supply house picked it up and replaced it before. Have also had problems with larger EMT using a powered bender. had both a conduit rep and bender rep on the job site and again the conduit was replaced.
 
I have bent 1-1/4 all day and not kink had a job where we could not bend any without kinking..TAKE IT BACK..

Last year we had a job and the conduit from the supplier came bundled with Scotch 33, weird thing there was soap in the conduit, that old nasty dirty yellow soap......Could not return the pipe.
 
don_resqcapt19 said:
I have had 3/4 EMT that could not be bent without kinking it. There was a problem with the steel. The supply house picked it up and replaced it before. Have also had problems with larger EMT using a powered bender. had both a conduit rep and bender rep on the job site and again the conduit was replaced.
Click to expand...
We have had a lot of 1/2 & 3/4 bundles of EMT that split open at the seam
when you tried to bend a 90 in it. Not real often but I have seen it.
But for the OP The only time I've tried to bend 1 1/4 by hand was for offsets
and kicks, 90's were bought at the supply house, ain't got that much foot pressure or time.
 
qcroanoke said:
We have had a lot of 1/2 & 3/4 bundles of EMT that split open at the seam
when you tried to bend a 90 in it. Not real often but I have seen it.
But for the OP The only time I've tried to bend 1 1/4 by hand was for offsets
and kicks, 90's were bought at the supply house, ain't got that much foot pressure or time.
Click to expand...


Have you ever tried using a Benfield Powr-Jack bender? That extra leverage makes one hell of a difference!!!!!!
 
I have seen a ratcheting 1-1/4" bender on a job once. It looked quite similar to a standard hand bender, but I can't seem to find out who makes them.
 
e57 said:
Hmmmm.... For risk of sounding insulting - How much do you wiegh? I say this because the downward pressure required with a hand bender - is often well above my wieght.... And if it slips one iota - kink..... Granted there is conduit slightly thicker than others but should not be an issue IMO.
Click to expand...

I agree, any time I tried to bend anything larger than 1" I had problems.
 
They will take it back if you can demonstrate the fault.


If it helps, I was told to keep the seam to the side while bending large EMT.
 
frenchelectrican said:
you mean like this? http://www.mygreenlee.com/Products/main.shtml?greenlee_category_id=1&product_category=102&adodb_next_page=1&adodb_next_page=2&adodb_next_page=3&portalProcess_2=showGreenleeProductTemplate&upc_number=22192

Merci,Marc
Click to expand...

No. This looked like a standard 1-1/4" hand bender, but had a ratchet mechanism on it so you didn't have to use your weight to bend the conduit. You moved the handle back and forth to ratchet it. I wish I had taken a photo of it, or looked closer for a manufacturer. I have a 1-1/4" bender, and I don't have a problem using it (it's an Ideal), but a ratchet mechanism would be a lot easier to work with.
 
cowboyjwc said:
I agree, any time I tried to bend anything larger than 1" I had problems.
Click to expand...
Reason I brought up wieght - I alone am not quite heavy enough for a 'bendfeild style' bender on 1 1/4" I get another guy to stand on the shoe - or another technique that I really cant divulge for training/safety purposes - using a 10k Lbs cargo strap. The thing is - unless you wiegh over 300# IMO handbending that size isn't gonna work well... And if doing a lot of it - hydraulic or electric - rent one....
 
The 1 1/4 is like a vacation over 1" RMC by hand.
Put your tool belt on when you bend if you need a few pounds.
There is no reason a normal size healthy man can't bend a good 1 1/4 EMT 90 on a full stick.

I have seen bad pipe split on the weld. A bad batch of pipe does not bend real well. I got maybe 4,000' one time of this stuff from China for less money. I would not say it always kinked, more that it was easier to kink. The real problem with that pipe was nothing would push or pull thru it well. It was so bad you would need a fish tape for a few 14's a few feet with 2 90s. We even tried prelubing the pipe before installing. Didn't help.
 
480sparky said:
No. This looked like a standard 1-1/4" hand bender, but had a ratchet mechanism on it so you didn't have to use your weight to bend the conduit. You moved the handle back and forth to ratchet it. I wish I had taken a photo of it, or looked closer for a manufacturer. I have a 1-1/4" bender, and I don't have a problem using it (it's an Ideal), but a ratchet mechanism would be a lot easier to work with.
Click to expand...
At the risk of sounding like some fat head, I'll just tell you what you figured anyhow. I have one of those in a Gangbox outside. It's been out there for years. I'll just dig it up and see what name brand is on it. Stay tuned...
 
brian john said:
I have bent 1-1/4 all day and not kink had a job where we could not bend any without kinking..TAKE IT BACK..

Last year we had a job and the conduit from the supplier came bundled with Scotch 33, weird thing there was soap in the conduit, that old nasty dirty yellow soap......Could not return the pipe.
Click to expand...
whats wrong with pre lubed conduit?:grin:
 
ramsy said:
We have a 200 foot boneyard of kinked 1-1/4 EMT. The only way to get a reliable stub 90 without kinks is by segmenting the bends. We only need another 100ft of bends and the job is done, so we're making it work.

Resetting the bender (arrow mark) about 1-2 inches apart and segmenting small bends completely blows all calculated stub lengths with normal hand benders.

The extra labor to segment then cut every stub to proper length is killing me. The conduit is not consistent, so the one time the superintendent asks for a demonstration the conduit bends perfect without kinking, so he believes its operator error, or bending on uneven surfaces.

Any suggestions on how to deal with this issue? Will the supplier take back this kinked boneyard?
Click to expand...
usually the times ive seen kinked conduit is improper weight on the bender, not a smooth bend (jerking) or when someone bends it in a tree or a bumper or something. but if you bent it properly and it still kinks something might be wrong. have you tried using a chicago bender or hydraulic bender?
 
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