sundance-communications.com/forum Forums Wiring - Telecom Carriers - Trunks & Services Cabling Telephones Systems Wiring Cable Pulling Do's, Don'ts, and Duhs!

If you have any tips to share here, please do. One I found today:

I've always thought of cable lube for use when pulling wire through conduit. Until today that is. We lubed up our pulls through the hallways, and wow! - it's much easier to pull wire (harder to hold, but...).

The clear stuff (what I improperly call "K-Wire") that Ideal makes is really nice in that it doesn't seem to stain things like carpets, paint, your clothes, etc.

Lubing all pulls seems so simple a solution that it falls into the "duh" department.

A question here: I know a single run of cat5e has a recommended max pulling force of 25 lbs. What are the specs on multiple pulls (say, 4 cat5e in one drop)? Cat6 and coax, what about those?

Apologies if this topic has been done before, but I hadn't seen anything recent here.

Jack

On larger jobs, it is generally better to order cable on reels rather than in boxes. Also, some manufacturers will offer reels with more than the traditional 1,000 feet. Isn't it frustrating when you end up with fifty pieces of cable that are too short to do anything with? You end up with a thousand feet of waste.

Also, when placing the reels on a rack for payout, orient them so that they spin in the opposite direction of the adjacent ones. This will prevent "runaway" cable and subsequent tangles when the pulling stops. The slight resistance will keep the payout taught without adding too much more pulling force requirement.

When using a conduit blower, it is much more productive to use it to suck the line through than to try to blow it. Also, if you don't want to invest in the string packs and foam rubber pistons, a trash bag tied like a bow tie on the end of a piece of jet-line will do just fine. You just need to trim the trash bag so that it isn't too tight in the conduit.

If you have an underground conduit that can't be fished due to rust, mud, etc. or the existing cable is frozen in place, all is not lost. If you don't care about saving the existing cable, a service call from a sewer rooter company can work miracles. They can run a snake through without a cutting head attached that WILL make it through. This will likely break the existing cable to be removed free at the same time. I've done this dozens of times and not one time was the existing cable damaged, even though we were replacing it.

On the 25lb x how many cables part - it is usually ONE cable that gets snagged up so you really can't go by 4 cables x 25lbs = pull with 100 lbs force.

Had a retired SBC guy working for me for several years. On his first pipe/cable job said he needed helium or nitrogen to blow a string/strap through or he couldn't do the job(ex-cable splicer). He already had the vac, string and bags! I got there didn't say a word and fifteen minutes later the string was through and his eyes were ! The real key with this is having a vac that can suck the rust off a trailer hitch ball!

I use cotton balls tied on the string number of cotton balls depends on conduit size. Hit a bend or tight spot the cotton balls will bunch up and create a tighter seal for more vacuum and break through the bend or tight spot. Always had good luck doing it this way.

Since I'm by myself I use pulleys a lot for a straight pull into the conduit or around corners. Pulleys come in handy a lot of times.

A don't. Don't let your wife "help".

Best thing about 'sucking' the string through is when you wind up going through some sort of box. John C.

Since I'm by myself I use pulleys a lot for a straight pull into the conduit or around corners. Pulleys come in handy a lot of times.

I agree , cable joe works great

I use these second man pulleys also