Getting water out of a conduit?

[jymbee]

We want to reuse a buried 2 inch conduit that currently has a 6 line phone wire in it and install a new coax cable for Internet/phone. For whatever reason the electricians are unable to pull the current cable out. It breaks before it comes free. One theory is that it may be glued to the conduit in some places.

In any event, the conduit is around 300 feet long we are able to blow air from one end to the other which obviously means it's not entirely blocked but when trying to get a pull line through (bag + plastic string) it doesn't make it as we can hear water in the line-- not enough to completely block it but enough to keep the string from going through.

Someone suggested we get the type of large compressor where you can build up pressure then release it all at once and BLAST the water out. Willing to try just about anything to keep from having to retrench. Any suggestions?

 

[CobyRupert]

We want to reuse a buried 2 inch conduit that currently has a 6 line phone wire in it and install a new coax cable for Internet/phone. For whatever reason the electricians are unable to pull the current cable out. It breaks before it comes free. One theory is that it may be glued to the conduit in some places.

In any event, the conduit is around 300 feet long we are able to blow air from one end to the other which obviously means it's not entirely blocked but when trying to get a pull line through (bag + plastic string) it doesn't make it as we can hear water in the line-- not enough to completely block it but enough to keep the string from going through.

Someone suggested we get the type of large compressor where you can build up pressure then release it all at once and BLAST the water out. Willing to try just about anything to keep from having to retrench. Any suggestions?

2" is a pretty good size conduit for a phone wire or coax. Any chance conduit could of been crushed or there is a right angle
fitting in the line somewhere? Seems like a crushed conduit would still pass a lot of air.

Doesn't seem likely it would be glued?
What do you mean it breaks before it comes free? Does it breaks more than once? Seem like it would break once and then come free? Or maybe break again if pulling from the other end and then come free? If so, put the two pieces together to see where in the length of conduit the cable is snagged, that's the one spot that needs to be retrenched to fix your crushed conduit.

 

[My Gym]

Is it a straight run. If it has a corner it was most likely why the wire broke. Use a 240' Tuff-Grip Fish Tape, Model Number: 31-057 | Menards® SKU: 3643671

$66.98 Feed it as far as you can from each end, measure . The then dig cut and splice conduit. using fish tape as you go.

 

[Soundguy]

agreed with previous post(s)

 

[Daver1963]

Conduit blower system. You use a CO2 tank and it puts high pressure into the conduit. I've used them on 500ft runs of 4" conduit. Water is no obstacle. I've seen it blow water so hard it went through a 4X4X4 handhole and the water went into the conduit that was on the other side of the hole.

 

[rgr33]

I doubt if the cable is glued, the conduit is put together with fast drying glue well before the cable is pulled. It sounds like some measuring and exploratory digging is the answer. I suspect conduit is crushed somewhere in the run.

 

[jymbee]

Ah, don't know what I was thinking-- it's not a 2" conduit. Smaller-- I think inch & a quarter. (half?) There is one right angle but with a sweep type elbow.

The darned phone cable in there is a mess to work with given the slippery shielding and all. The end we're pulling (or trying to pull) from has a vertical section going up a utility pole and the electricians (who have done this a million times) use a heavy pulley to get the a straight angle and pull with a small pickup truck. The wire ends up just coming apart between truck & pole.

Should also have mentioned that if we have to end up retrenching it would need to be on a different path (or shallower depth) given this is just one of several conduits in the same trench which also contains other phone wire, primary power line for house down the line, and so forth. No way to I want to dig into that!

2" is a pretty good size conduit for a phone wire or coax. Any chance conduit could of been crushed or there is a right angle
fitting in the line somewhere? Seems like a crushed conduit would still pass a lot of air.

Doesn't seem likely it would be glued?
What do you mean it breaks before it comes free? Does it breaks more than once? Seem like it would break once and then come free? Or maybe break again if pulling from the other end and then come free? If so, put the two pieces together to see where in the length of conduit the cable is snagged, that's the one spot that needs to be retrenched to fix your crushed conduit.

 

[jymbee]

Yep, I bet that thing would do it! BUT... not sure where I could find anything like that around here to rent one...

Conduit blower system. You use a CO2 tank and it puts high pressure into the conduit. I've used them on 500ft runs of 4" conduit. Water is no obstacle. I've seen it blow water so hard it went through a 4X4X4 handhole and the water went into the conduit that was on the other side of the hole.

 

[EarPlug]

Why not just use Direct Bury coax cable?

 

[Industrial Toys]

Are we talking PVC ridged conduit? Did you say how long?

I have run into this enough times before. It's always a mystery. The glue idea just does not hold water (pun intended). The conduit is probably damaged, or maybe there is a stone in there acting as a wedge.

I don't like the idea of water in a conduit, but that's just a fact in some cases. As mentioned, don't even worry about it and just go with underground COAX.