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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 2,876
E
e57 Offline OP
Member
OOOOooo, there are some words that make me cring. SMURF! (wiremold is another) Oh how I hate it! I'm refusing to use it any further.

  • Roll it out, rolls back up behind you.
  • Supply house is always out of the correct glue.
  • Cold day, breath on it and it snaps.
  • 20 people working on a rebar frame for a slab means you're out ten times for site damage.
  • Some cuts or forgets a strap, and it float to the top.
  • So easy to bend that underlings put 560 degrees of bend in a run before waking up for a day of straightening it all back out.
  • [drum roll] Can't handle pressure of concrete pump!


Just got done watching GC's video/pics of walls right before pour, everything intact. Talked to the guy who poured the walls, who checked as well, and poured it himself, he didn't see anything wrong. No couplings in the run to leak, but my fish hits solid concrete a few feet in. Only thing we figure is it broke under the pressure of the concrete being pumped in.

Does anyone else like the stuff as much as I do right now?


Mark Heller
"Well - I oughta....." -Jackie Gleason
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 276
T
Member
mostly I hate getting cold-cocked in the face by the piece I am trying to feed doing a macaroni bend and coming right back at me.

In defense of smurf tube I will say that it fishes easier than flex, when it hasn't got 560 degrees of bend, that is.

So I'll raise my hand halfway.

Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 9,923
Likes: 32
G
Member
I bet it was the pump operator that pinched your smurf.


Greg Fretwell
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 141
B
Member
I would never use corrugated conduit in a slab unless I was pulling in the cables before the concrete is poured. You're just asking for trouble otherwise. And don't expect to be able to use that conduit ever again. Personally I always use rigid in slabs.
Corrugated conduit is great stuff for certain applications but it has its limits.

Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 7,381
Likes: 7
Member
"Smurf" is NOT a popular item in my area. I do not use it as an EC. As an AHJ, I can't remember seeing it on any jobs.

John


John
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 821
S
Member
I've used it twice. Both times have been recently.

1) Used it as a raceway for the data cables in the middle of a conference room, and a separate raceway for floor receptacle.

2) Used it as a raceway for (3) switch legs in a shallow wall space where a 3-gang box had to go.

Both times worked out very well.

Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 391
B
Member
In cases where green-field and smurf-tube can be used interchangeably, what's the advantage of using smurf-tube? I've never used the stuff.

For example, ShockMe77, why'd you chose smurf insstead of flex to fish into a wall? Just price?

-John

Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 821
S
Member
Yup.

Joined: May 2003
Posts: 2,876
E
e57 Offline OP
Member
In my area Smurf is only allowed in concrete - nowhere else. Must penetrate with steel RMC.

The only reason to use it is that it DIRT cheap.

The only reason I used it was our over-zealous PM - Who has never really worked in the field, but feels she should be supervising.... The farther she is away from me the better.


Mark Heller
"Well - I oughta....." -Jackie Gleason
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 814
B
Member
I have a roll in my shed I bought years ago. It's only missing 10 feet.

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