Today, I returned to a job that has laid dormant for over a year. I put in a 3/4" RMC conduit for landscaping last summer. I had about a 50+ run under a driveway, with Christies on both sides. So I show up today, after a long time away waiting for the driveway, and landscaping to get done. I start stuffing my fish tape ine, and it only goes about a foot... ?

I start from the other side, same thing. What ever I'm hitting feels kind of soft...

I figure theres dirt/mud in the pipe. But I put the thing in myself... I greased, and taped all of the couplings, and they were wrench tight, then taped both sides, my tape is still there, but falling off. I try a few more times, if I get through, I'll swab it I figure. NOTHING!

So I give up. I go to a job a few blocks away, where I know the GC, and I borrow his compressor. I go back, with my jury rigged valve that I have occassion to blow string through with. I figure that if I can get the tape through, I can swab it. I get it all hooked up, fire up the compressor, and give it some air. It makes the wierdest noise!

[phonetic]
Phump!
Phump!
Phump!
(long hiss getting lower)
Phump!
Phump!
Thoomp!
Thoomp!
Thoomp!
Thoomp!

Thoomp!
Thoomp!
(loud hiss of free air)
[/phonetic]

I figure its clear... Lets go see what came out? I expect some mud, or mud and some pebbles...

I get to the other side, and its SLUGS!

No, not the KO kind, SLUGS!
The slimey, slow moving, snail without a shell kind! They blasted out in the Christy box like the got shot out of a cannon. Some whole, some in parts, SLUGS!

I guess they had a little slug freeway across the driveway, after my tape fell off.

[icky]The wire pulled through REAL smooth![/icky]

You could have attached the wire to them, and come back in another six months!

I thank you both for the best laugh I've had all week!

Yuck. What is a Christie?

"Christie" is a manufacturer of cement in-the-ground boxes. Another name is "Quartzite."

Christie == concrete pull box