The misadventures of a Wells-Index 860C

[ScrapMetal]

Well, I think I pretty much lucked out as when I checked the building plans I found that there was a 1.5" pvc conduit connecting my building equipment room to the "shop"/garage. There were already three strands of #3 awg wire in place as well as one strand of #6 awg for ground.

I spent an entire day with a metal "fish tape". At the 160' mark it would hit a dead stop. I tried to use a smaller fish tape to reach it but was unsuccessful. As a last resort I pulled it all out and started from the other end. Ended up with the same results, dead at the 160' mark.

Today I used a different tactic. It'll end up costing me a bit more but it will probably save my voice from another day of a constant stream of profanities. In short I'm now going to use the existing #6 wire for the pull.

Here is a pic of my "professional" setup using some 12 gauge wire, a couple of wood screws, and a broom.



It actually worked fairly well. I did need to run back and forth a number of times to keep the wire from getting kinked as well as to add more lubricant. I think that if I had taken the time to make a solid spool for it much of that running could have been eliminated.

You may also note that there is a stranded nylon line being pulled in to the conduit with the #3 wire. I will be using that tomorrow to pull through another #6 wire which is where my "added costs" came from. The old wire's case was just too beat up to use again so I picked up some new wire on my way home for tomorrow's "pull". It should go much faster as I left the broom in place.

Now will come the tricky part. I need to figure out what I need for a new power panel. I want it slightly larger than the existing panel but not huge. I don't know if they make a panel for 3-phase/4 wire, 240v and 100 amps in that size or not and trying to figure out the specs from online information is daunting.

I'm getting a bit closer anyway.

Thanks guys,

-Ron