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Re: [TowerTalk] Buried conduit pull rope

To: towertalk <towertalk@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Buried conduit pull rope
From: Steve Maki <lists@oakcom.org>
Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2017 12:47:36 -0400
List-post: <mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
Yes, the footage marks on muletape are an added benefit.

At the *pull* end of the conduit I usually rig up a strategically placed pulley in line with the conduit to avoid pulling over the sharp edge. A Little Giant ladder is handy for things like that. And a helper at the feeder end (with a handy talky if it's a long run) is indispensable.

-Steve K8LX

On 8/29/2017 12:09 PM, Grant Saviers wrote:

Good advice.  I'd add: put a chafe collar on the ends of all conduit, a standard pvc conduit part (also code on 3/4 and larger IIRC).  The sharp end edge of a conduit can slice thru cable insulation.  Another advantage of using mule tape or conduit measuring tape as the pilot is exact length measurements of the conduit as installed.  One calculated length I used was much shorter than actual and resulted in only 1' tails - ouch but better than -1' tails.

On 8/28/2017 20:45 PM, Steve Maki wrote:
Depends on what you're pulling, how big the conduit is, how many bends, etc. In worse case scenarios I avoid knots of any kind in the pull line. I stagger the cables being pulled and simply tape each cable to the mule tape with generous TIGHT wraps of electrical tape. I'm not afraid to use a whole roll or two of tape, and a fair bit of time preparing the mass of cables. I'll cut the ends of the cables at an angle to lessen the chance of catching on a conduit joint. A little cable lube helps.

As you probably noticed muletape is commonly available in 1250 lb and 2500 lb strengths (and stronger), so it's good for pulling fairly big bundles of cables thru hundreds of feet of conduit with a capstan winch. If you try to do this with twist rope you'll melt PVC 90° bends almost instantly.


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