450' wiring conduit -how to assemble?

[lhfarm]

Glad you got this completed, and was wondering how you felt about the cost of the project overall? Do you still feel you saved money?

I don't have the final costs, but I know I saved money and the job was done right. The lowest bid was using smaller wire and no conduit. I may be close to that, but I will have followed the power company guidelines.

I could have saved more by doing the trenching myself. I battled with that one. The contractor is the same one who did our remodeling in the mid-90s. We tracked him down when we wanted to redo our basement. He had gone to work for a large construction firm as a project foreman, but had just been laid off. He decided as tough as the market is he wanted to get back into the general construction business. We trust him and he does excellent work. But I also know that while he is busy, every little job helps. So I offered him the job and he was happy to do it. In the end, I think it was money well spent.

 

[lhfarm]

Curious as to whether you used any line pulling lube to make the pulling of the cable easier and to not damage the insulation jacket on the cable. It is available at electrical supply houses and possibly at Home Depot, etc.
Did you price out 3" conduit? It might have been cheaper than the 2.5" due to it being used more often.
The other trick is to pull toward the sweeps in your conduit instead of through them first. Example: if you had to sweep around the barn corner to head toward the house it is better to start on the straight run from the house and then hit the sweep area, where pressure builds at the barn end last. Also having someone feed the cable into the conduit and have someone else pull at the other end works well to reduce the kinks and other things cable likes to do.

I had lube on hand but didn't use it. I'm sure it might have made it easier. The wire was hanging inside the conduit and didn't seem to do any damage to the insulting jacket. I did price out 3" and it was very expensive too. I think I would do 2" again, I'd just keep the line striaght.

I started at the barn end and it was straight for all but about 40' where the bend was made to garage. On the advice of the contractor I used 2 45 degree pieces with a short straight piece in between the two for that sweep. When I reached that point, I started working from the garage end, so I only had to get the 2 45s down a relatively short piece of wire. The way the trench was dug, the only 90s are at the ends where the cable comes out of the trench.

A helper would certainly have sped the process up. I did tell my wife when I was finished that I now remembered why I'd had a desk job all these years.

 

[hr3]

OMG

 

[ctgoldwing]

Curious as to whether you used any line pulling lube to make the pulling of the cable easier and to not damage the insulation jacket on the cable. It is available at electrical supply houses and possibly at Home Depot, etc.
Did you price out 3" conduit? It might have been cheaper than the 2.5" due to it being used more often.

I was going to ask the same question - the lube really helps in making it an easier pull as well as preventing scuffing of the jacket. When I built my house the power company insisted that I use 'grey' pvc pipe. After pricing out 3" (I had a 500' run) at an electrical supply house I convinced the power company to let me use pressure rated plumbing pvc pipe, at about 1/3 the price. I ended up running a 2" also for telephone & cable lines.

 

[jenkinsph]

I haven't tracked wire and conduit costs the last few years but when I was buying alot of materials the electrical wholesalers were considerably lower than the Lowes or Home Depots. Now if you walk in as a homeowner to purchase these supplies you will likely pay a higher price than an electrcal contractor who makes frequent purchases.

If I were to bid this job or performed it for myself I would have run 3" pvc conduit complete and in place before the pull. I would also have added a pull box in the middle of this long run. Additionally I would have wanted large radius sweeps to facillitate easier pulling.

As a homeowner I would not use a contractor who turns in a bid that did not meet the local power company's specifications to start with. All good experienced contractors will talk over a job like this with the power company's engineers prior to bidding.

 

[tommu56]

On the advice of the contractor I used 2 45 degree pieces with a short straight piece in between the two for that sweep.

If the bend can be gradual I just dig the trench finesse the pipe in and bury it then pull nice slow arch is less pulling resistance.

solo pulling the wire can be as easy as laying out the wire as straight as possible or pull off the reel directly put a snach block at the other end of the run and loop it back to feed end and set up a capstan or windless or tugger.

with your tractor with back hoe take an old auto rim bolt it to one of rear wheels securely.
lift rear wheels off the ground with out riggers
wedge differential lock on
set it in gear (wedge hydro pedal)
wrap the pull rope around the rim 3 or 4 times
to pull put tension on rope to stop let off tension

tom

 

[2manyrocks]

The guy who got laid off may need the money more than you and it's probably money well spent.

 

[lhfarm]

The guy who got laid off may need the money more than you and it's probably money well spent.

I do feel it was money well spent. My folks ran a small buisness when I was growing up (they closed up when I was in high school) and I know what a tough life that can be. I'll support the small guy whenever I can. I was really disappointed in a couple of the original bidders. One was going to install a setup that was really too small to meet my needs and the didn't meet the power company's recommended minimum. The other was so overpriced that I simply couldn't afford it. I don't know if he thought I had deep pockets or was trying to make up all his lost revenue on one job.

I'm always looking for the deal that is fair to both parties. Maybe in this day and age that just doesn't happen much anymore. One of the reasons we tracked down the general contractor was he had been fair, honest and a man of his word. He wasn't the cheapest, but he was the best deal on our original remodel. We had been trying to work with local guys for 6 months. This was last winter when things were already bad here in the midwest we still couldn't get calls returned or reasonable estimates.

There is a little bit of irony in that the high priced electrical contractor was one of the subs hired by our general contractor. Our contractor seemed to be able to get a fair deal out of them when I couldn't

The bottom line is I'm happy to get power to the barn and happy to work with good people.

 

[gwjd]

first dont put the cable threw then assemble the pipe the primer used with the pipe will melt the insulation, also if there is a service pole on one end have a helper feed and gresse the wire run and hevey line threw the pipe then put a pully on the pole or structre, then hook it up to the BH adn pull you have your pulling equetment

 

[gwjd]

dont mean to dobble post but if you are passing a line threw pipe get a circle of light weight matirial figure 1/4-1/2" under sized tie on some twine then use a shop vac to pull it threw then pull the hevey line with the twine, and even if you have to buy some stuff to pull this off you will still save money then the sparkes just gotta atatch the new service, also you get some seat time after all you did buy a BH