Need a wire reel idea !!!

[jchealey]

I am going to pull 2-3o and 2-2o wires into a 3 inch conduit and need to build something to hold onto the wires and un-reel them as I pull. There is 160 feet of wire to pull. Has anyone designed a pull reel that I can build for this job?

Jerry

Eating my Wheaties for this weekend!!

[HayZee518]

Easy job - use a piece of 1 1/2" pipe to go through the reel holes and two saw horses. Use an 1 1/2 Inch one hole strap screwed into each sawhorse.
Use two people when pulling - one to feed the cables and apply wire lubricant, the other operates the tugger. Pull slow and steady. Don't let the cables twist over themselves, try to keep one uniform bundle. if they twist over themselves, stop the pull, pull back, straigten out the cable and resume pulling. You know you have to derate the current capacities where you're pulling 4-6 conductors in a conduit by 80% don't you? Did you calculate the cross sectional area of each conductor and multiply by two, then add them together for the total area? The internal diameter of a conduit has a cross sectional area that can be filled by two percentages of cables.

[HayZee518]

What's the insulation type printed on the cable ?? THW, RHH ?

[jchealey]

THHN on the outside of the cables. Turns out the electric supply place did not put the cables on reels so I laid them out on the ground. With my wife pulling (not much), I put a quart of lube down the tube and lifted the wires onto my shoulder and pushed them down the hole. Was not hard at all. Just tiring to lift the wires.

Jerry

[HayZee518]

I agree - wire pulling [or pushing] is not easy - THHN is good, the nylon covering over the TW insulation raises the temperature co-efficient to 90 degrees C. The lubricant you used will over time evaporate out of the pipe and just form a soap powder in the pipe, IDEAL yellow works good.