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Pulling in cable - how hard can it be?

Chris Pearson

I am knackered - I have spent several hours today pulling in 3 x 16 mm² into 25 mm conduit. OSG promised me that it was possible and indeed it has been, but how difficult does it have to be?

Lube the cable, up the ladder, pull a bit, back to the beginning, lube the cable, back outside again, up the ladder, pull a bit. Down the ladder, move the ladder, up the ladder, pull a bit, down the ladder. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

Am I missing something?

  • Ha ! I suspect we have all been there or somewhere like it - the oddest ' never again' I got involved with that needed cables threaded, was coax inside  inside a nylon 'suzie' pipe to get RF feeders up a pneumatic mast as a self stowing 'curly wurly'. That did involve subcontractors, yellow lubricant by the bucket, screwing the end to heavy wooden benches and using a forklift to provide the pull. And then once cables were finally in, we had to reset the coil back to helical by winding it tight to a former and heating it in an oven...

    But in your shoes I might have used my 'phone a friend' option to get a pair of hands at each end. Some jobs are a lot more than twice as fast with two people.

    Mike

  • Chris Pearson said:
    Am I missing something?

    In hindsight yes.  (Everyone else knows better after the fact even if they have never done the job)

    Extra pair of hands
    Larger conduit diameter especially if there are lots of tight bends.

    I do however feel your pain, as you went to a good reference source and you used there recommendation.  

    Maybe the OSG needs an update to a worked example like your scenario.

  • in reply to whjohnson

    The won't be a next time.

    In any event, SWA would have been ugly and probably, not bendy enough.

  • Yes! Use SWA next time!

  • in reply to broadgage

    Too late now!

  • Usually working on my own, having spent I don't know how long doing similar with long cable runs running between floors, +1 for having someone else at the other end!

    If it's surface run conduit and you can make the conduit joints without risking damaging he cables (so more likely with push fit PVC than threaded steel) then another option is to put the cables in situ first and then thread individual lengths of conduit over them. The old rule about all conduit systems having to be fully assembled before drawing in has long since gone (or rather now only applies to conduit buried in a structure).

       - Andy.

  • Just because the OSG says that it is possible, does not mean easy or sensible except on a short and straight run. I would be inclined to use a larger conduit.

  • in reply to Simon Barker

    Grin

  • You're missing somebody else to do the pulling bit.

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