PSA: That old installer who said "just pull harder" was dead wrong

I had a 6-year vet tell me to just yank harder when I was stuck on a tight conduit pull in an attic near Austin. I followed his advice and ended up snapping the cable right at the 90-degree bend, cost me an extra 45 minutes and a new roll. Turns out he was used to commercial work with bigger pipes, not residential attics with those tiny 1/2 inch bends. Anyone else get bad advice from someone who just had more years but not the right experience?

2 comments

2 Comments

torres.elizabeth28d ago

Hear me out, but I don't think the guy was totally wrong. Pulling harder has a place, it's just that you gotta know when. I've done both commercial and residential, and in those attic bends, the trick isn't brute force, it's using a little cable lube and a steady, even pull. If you yank sudden and hard on a tight 90 in 90 degree heat, yeah, you're gonna snap it. But a slow, constant pull with some soap on the wire, that's different. The guy probably just forgot what it's like in a hot attic with cheap pipe.

margaret9928d ago

My buddy tried pulling some 10 gauge through a finished basement ceiling last summer. He thought he could just heave on it and power through a tight bend. Snapped the wire clean and had to spend three hours fishing a new one through the wall. He said if he'd just slowed down and used a little dish soap it would have taken ten minutes.