ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Pulling out old feeder wires underground

If you blow or vacuum the pipe put a bottle of yellow 66 in there after flushing and blow that through. If you ever get the wire moving that will help it go.

May I offer a suggestion that nobody has mentioned?

If you break loose the stuck wires, stop and tie a pull-rope on at the other end before you remove them.

I'd feel like an ass for forgetting that on a 250' run!

I took a combination of your advice. I flushed palmolive liquid soap with a fire hose down pipe, put my 2 ton chain puller, put alot of tension on it, and beat it with a sledge hammer to vibrate it loose. One conductor at a time, they get easier as each one coomes out. Thanks Oh BTW, Were you serious about the elephant? And yes Larry I remembered the pull rope.

[This message has been edited by skipr (edited 09-04-2006).]

Skpr, I would now try to swab out that conduit before putting new conductors back into it. Palmolive soap is probably not so good for the wire insulation.

You mean run a wadded up rag or something? Probally not a bad idea. Isn't that soap biodegradable?

But it WILL leave your hands fabulously soft and smooth!!

("You're soaking in it." "Dishwashing liquid?!?" "Relax, it's Palmolive.")

Anyone else remember those ads?

But seriously, there is a risk of degrading the conductor's insulation by using anything other than approved pulling lubes.

And swabbing out the conduits will tell you if thery're going to be safe for the new conductors.

Simlpy tie (very securely!!) a rag to the end of a pulling rope and pull 'er on through. Or you can use a mouse of the correct size.

You should pull a mandrel through the conduit to prove it is ok to install new conductors. As others have suggested, there may be underground damage. If you do us a madrel, make sure you use a pull rope on each end.
Don

[This message has been edited by resqcapt19 (edited 09-05-2006).]

I'll let Electure confirm, but I'm pretty sure it was a true story about the elephant.

Were you in India Scott?

The best free advice you can get.

If the job specs are good they will require a witnessed mandrel test anyway.

However if it was up to me I would try a full size mandrel, if that did not pass I would try a mandrel that is the required raceway size of the conductors I planed to install.

I would also have looked at the conductors I pulled out to see if there was a something obvious holding them up. If there was damage it would also give an indication of where the damage is located.

Lets keep in mind it was the customer that wanted the conduit reused, it's not an EC 'cheat'.

I don't know if the soap will damage the insulation or not, but it will set up like adhesive when it dries out. I have a friend who is also an EC who used to always use dish soap for pull lube. When trying to remove conductors from a conduit to reuse the pipe after a couple of years he found out just how well dried soap works for an adhesive. 10 #12 stranded THHN in a 3/4" EMT run of 250' would not break free.