When pulling cables through a conduit,
what, if any, sort of lube do you use?
What is the best sort of Lube?.

I use either a product called yellow 77 or polywater. Both work just fine cost is the deciding factor most of the time.

we use a product called "aqua-gel". seems to work better than the old "yellow-77", and evaporates rather than getting sticky and "gluey" like the yellow-77. i have had to pull out cables such as MCM 250-500 before, that had been originally pulled with yellow-77, and they were stuck inside the pipe like super-glue, sometimes, nearly ripping the conduit down, just to get them to budge a little.

i owe someone a thank you in this forum, used thier trick of lube/mouse pull back and forth in 340' of 3" .

the 350 URD triplex went like S#$! thru a goose!

~PS
all my lube froze this week.....
don't they sell a non-freezing kind???

Sparky

Ideal makes a non freezing lube,(agua gel?) but the claim is like 30 degrees. Not much help in No New England, especially this year it seems . Mighty chilly already.

NEC Rule in Article 517:

"Wire-pulling compounds that increase the dielectric constant shall not be used on the secondary conductors of the isolated power supply." www.nfpa.org

Don't ever use axel grease!!!

Fire Hazard!!!

http://www.polywater.com/iwcs.html

[This message has been edited by Joe Tedesco (edited 10-24-2002).]

The last hospital isolated power system that I worked on required the use of XHHW wires and only talc for lube if needed. This was in the design specs for the job.
Don

Is talc allowed everywhere? I've never heard of using it as a pulling lube before. But I do remember being the young aprentice standing under the conduit and getting a shower of yellow goo.

A few more years of therapy and I should be ofer it. ~

WIRE-PULLING COMPOUNDS (ZOKZ)

Wire-pulling compounds are for use as lubricants in installing electrical
conductors in raceways. Listed compounds have been investigated to determine their compatibility with conductor insulation and coverings.

The Listing Mark of Underwriters Laboratories Inc. on the product is the
only method provided by UL to identify products manufactured under its
Listing and Follow-Up Service. The Listing Mark for these products
includes the UL symbol (as illustrated in the Introduction of this Direc-tory)
together with the word ²LISTED,² a control number, and the product
name ‘‘Wire Pulling Compound’’ .

Here is part of the installation instructions from the PostGlover website. They are a manufacturer of hospital isolated power systems.

PostGlover Isolated Power Panel
Don



[This message has been edited by resqcapt19 (edited 10-24-2002).]

resqcapt19

I used talc for pulling wires too.

[This message has been edited by Joe Tedesco (edited 11-09-2002).]

Ive used spray teflon-had about 80' of #6 to go through 1" pvc (customer had buried it) to a shed for sub-panel-laid the roll on the ground,sprayed one side,let it dry(just a couple minutes)flip and repeat,pulled it through slick.

Heard a funny thing from a code teacher once at school "Don't use lube that takes up too much room in the pipe then you can fit more wires in." HAHA.

I've used armor all, on some low voltage dc already, haven't had the nerve to try it on anything higher than that.

TW

I am a yellow 77 guy. I absolutely love the smell. Wish I could get that smell for a cologne. Nothing like the smell of 77 first thing in the morning after coffee. I did use this puling lubricant on the last big job I was on and it was nothing short of amazing. Cables flew into conduit. I think they nicknamed it "monkey spunk". Still get a chuckle. I rememeber sending my apprentice up to the LV guys and getting "a cup of monkey spunk".

Sparky......which lube pulling trick you referring to?

Yellow 77.

Assuming under-ground installs:

On LOOONNNGGG Pulls (100+ ft), I recommend using the largest pipe practical, usually 2" to 3".

The best thing to do, is dig the trench and lay the pipe yourself, then you'll have less than 360º of bends to contend with and your "targets" will be as close as practical. Let the excavators do it, and who knows what you'll end up with.

In fact, most of my advice centers around:

If ya want the job done right, do it yourself.