Pulling Long Cable Through Underground Conduit

Today we try and save some money on the Cable provider's installation charges by running our own pull line so they won't have to have their contractor come out and fish the new cable line from the existing pole all the way down to the house.
I've seen some videos and how-to's explaing how to use a small piece of bag and some twine in combination with a vacuum to get electrical lines through conduit in a house that is pretty twisted and curved. I thought, well.. this is pretty much a straight shot, its just really LONG. I decided to have a go. Here is the result!

[@johnhilberg9530]

I know it's too late for this project. I am an electrical contractor for over 30 years. If you use nylon string that is shown in this video, you will have a potential problem with cutting into the conduit wherever there is a 90, if that happens the string will break and cause a cut line in your conduit, and some major problems for your conduit run. The best thing to use is what they called jet line. It's a flat nylon pole string made for exactly what he is attempting to do. And to get the jet line through the conduit, if you can create a strong seal on one end of the conduit in a vacuum, a good vacuum will pour the jet line through. I'm glad all went well for this gentleman.

[@kenkelly1154]

Jet line is NOT flat. Wow. Blow your jet line, use it to pull MULE TAPE, which is flat, through. 30 years huh? Nah. Lol

[@iamthemoss]

We live on 20 acres, we laid about 900 feet of 3 inch electrical conduit and 1000 feet of 2 inch PVC water pipe. We pulled the string on the conduit with a shop vac and a conduit plunger. We also ran another 2000 feet of one inch for driveway lights and an electric gate. It was a lot of work but saved the wife and I probably 20K

[@57oldsmobile]

Next time I would hook 2 pull strings to the comcast cable, disconnect it, and pull it back to the pole. Tie the one string off and pull the comcast cable back with one of the strings and re-connect it. The tied off string can be used to pull the new cable. The vacuum method or compressed air works best on an empty conduit.

[@itluis2009]

You right on the money man We do that all the time

[@kenkelly1154]

WTF? Really?

[@unionse7en]

good video, people; take precautions to not let debris into the pipe by gravity/suction or the string picking up debris. Don't make it harder than it has to be.

[@LOCALOUTLAW1]

Great video! Thanks! Nice when you leave the failures in the video for a real world feel!

[@Roadglide2020.]

I can't believe you got that bag to suck through a conduit with a cable in it already. So many things could have gone wrong. Good job

[@leonascherer1617]

I just can't thank you enough for your video. After I watched it I ran right out to my car port and vacuumed a pull string through thirty feet of half inch conduit. It freaked me out it worked so well. I tried to push a heavy wire through it for an hour and thought my next phone call was to an electrician. Thanks again. We left Mass. Because of the mosquitos and black flies. Arizona only has black widows and rattlesnakes.

[@fleanine]

So glad the video was helpful! Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment after you tried it out -and got actual results for yourself! Cheers!

[@Niafifia]

125 feet of drain pipe ready for winter. This worked within 10 seconds. Thanks!

[@fleanine]

That’s awesome! Glad you had success!

[@KarasCyborg]

Conduit is very expensive, look for direct burial cable. You can also use water pressure to push a string rabbit through the pipe. Using dish liquid for lube works miracles as well.

[@bigdaddy7670]

Fantastic job!! I must say, I had my doubts, but I was proven wrong.

[@fleanine]

Thanks for watching! It was a fun project!

[@brianrandolph2501]

I would keep the twine on the roll to reduce drag. I use pull string in a box or bucket and just let it pull out, also reduces waste. Tear a corner of the bag and use it as a balloon kite. You can cup over the opening to increase suction, shouldn't need to take the standpipe off if the sweeps aren't hard 90's. The pipes will *always* have water in them. You want to cap it to keep out debris though.

[@FutureKite]

Very interesting thanks for posting this! 🙂

[@user-ij5wl3gw6r]

Good job. I've seen packing bubbles attached to the string versus a bag. That seems to work well and I believe another video shows the use of a leaf blower...lol

[@hastechlk7986]

I❤️ THIS VEDIO 👍🤗... WHICH WILL SAVE LOT OF TIME AND MONEY 😊😊😊GREAT GOOD FOR SLAB ALSO

[@AmericanOne9621]

You could of disconnected your coax from your house and used it to pull a string in your conduit. Once you had to coax and sting out on the other side use the string you just pulled in to pull another string back along with the coax.

[@fleanine]

As I mentioned in the video, Verizon owns that main line and pulling it out was not an option. Even if we planned on somehow using it to pull the cable line through and then putting it back. Besides, the run of coax would be way more hefty and sloppy once you start pulling it out, rather than just running the lightweight line through. All in all it was a success and i would do it exactly the same way next time! Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment!

[@fuzion430journey3]

And always pull another drag line and leave it in the pipe so u don’t have do do this again

[@metal_mo]

@@fuzion430journey3 how to you keep the drag line from tangling around the cable when you are pulling both at the same time? I'm pulling a 300' cat6 cable through a underground conduit and though about pulling a string with it, but I'm worried it will just wrap around the cat6.

[@dougb8207]

@@fuzion430journey3 wouldn't it rot over time?

[@ssslimey]

​@@dougb8207Polyester won't

[@dewaynehanson3751]

THIS IS T totally NUTZ ..... But it worked after all of your efforts, but CON GRADS it in order ! ! ! YEA ! ! ! Wiring pulling / fishing 101 reconfigured ! ! ! 4 STARS

[@fleanine]

Cheers to that!!! Thanks for watching and for your comment! Much appreciated.

[@eugenepohjola258]

Howdy. Totally awesome. I can't help but wondering. All the trouble to dig a conduit canal and bury a only two inch pipe. I think common sense should tell it shuold have been at least five inches. And further. It is bewildering that the pipe was not fitted with a string or rope before burying. That would have been way easier. I hope the cable guys pulled in a new string alongside tha cable. High Regards.

[@davepetro5676]

No don’t unroll it let vacuum UNroll it’s it string don’t get caught.

[@Drivehooks1]

Yep. Leave the string on the screwdriver and let the vacuum suck it off the roll. Pull slack if need be. Probably better to use Jetline for this. Also, a fish tape or long wire with a small hook on the end is great to have if you think the string is close to the end and you can't see it. Fish it down the duct and snag the string. Good video though. They learned a lot by doing it themselves.

[@gman8260]

Very surprised the entire run was in conduit. Usually, the cable companies will just have sweeps and a short piece of conduit at the house and pole and the area in between is just in a slit trench and covered over.

[@effthegop]

I love watching homeowners struggle :)

[@iranmatias-quinones6247]

Greetings. Really cool technique, looking forward to trying it out.

[@fleanine]

Thank you for watching and taking time to comment! Cheers!

[@larrywarolin7215]

My only advise would be, instead of saying "come on bugs" try insect repellant. Other than that, ya did good kid.

[@ac41201]

That’s brilliant! Thanks for the idea.

[@ftjp8]

Nice video! I'm doing this about 400 feet. Crossing my fingers

[@fleanine]

You got this. Check back later and Let me know how ya made out! Im curious! I’d say good luck, but you prob don’t need it. Just a bit of patience.

[@69T57]

Glad you save money that's pretty much what they would have done👍🏼

[@ruebenandrews9914]

How on earth was the vacum able to pull the string from one pipe all the way underground to the other pipe. Is that some super industrial vacum or a normal vacum?

[@Nick-bh1fy]

Assuming all the pvc is properly glued and the pipes are well seated in the fittings, you essentially have a sealed vacuum going the whole distance. Water,dirt or mud can inhibit the ability to pull the string the whole way through but a regular shop vac should do the trick

[@Mike-01234]

I just discovered that I years ago put in wrong color wire in a 100-foot 1" half conduit wondering if I should pull it all out and redo it or leave it. There is white tape on the neutral, but not legal. It was before I knew what I was doing with electrical work.

[@dougb8207]

That was fantastic! Great job! Perseverance through a couple problems and terrible biting flies. I'm glad you thought to film this, and your wife was very helpful. I'm curious where do you live, because it's beautiful country, and also would insect repellant help? Thanks for making this and sharing it with us.

[@mygarden365]

Great tip, thank You.

[@bryonwilson8498]

Seriously? You could see the bag, so why didn't you use a fish tape with a hook to grab the bag?

[@FragrantVagrant69]

Nicely done!

[@fleanine]

Thank you! Thanks for taking the time to watch and comment ! I appreciate it.

[@FragrantVagrant69]

@@fleanine my pleasure! I used to do network cabling, and this technique could have saved me a lot of time!

[@notredo]

Haven't watched yet,but don't use nylon string line. It will cut into the bends if there is a significant amount of tension and get stuck. Use a polypropylene line. I'll watch and see what happens. Good going getting the line in. Getting past the existing wire is usually more of a problem. And the way you puffed up your bag helped get the water out. Once again. Good job

[@rickyalger8569]

nice property bro!

[@senior4546]

very helpful, soon il have the same job to do, only 100f for now,but will give it a shot..does anyone here has done the the trench with a box blade ripper on a tractor, i wonder if its too narrow and ill have to widen it with a narrow shovel....planned to use 3 inch pipe,,and number 6 wire

[@playstationgamer8759]

Why do they need it to be a straight line install?

[@salvadorcortezjr6572]

U needed to tie the rope to the bag handles

[@gurban333]

try a leaf blower on the back end as you vacuum the other

[@skeginaldp1533]

Only tip would have been running more than one cable just incase one ever had a problem you’d have another on standby

[@bigpun4780]

Well done!

[@fleanine]

Thank you. I appreciate you watching!

[@grantrettke4851]

Cool beans keep at it!

[@josephfili8003]

Nice work but I think you should retitle your video to pulling string not pulling cable. I was curious to see how the cable went through

[@AngryJesus]

After doing what he did, pull some mule tape through with the string, then pull the cable with the mule tape.

[@markbewley9341]

Why not use a air compressor with a mouse and just push it through by turning the compressor on and having the hose end into the conduit with the string in a bucket let it rip probably take 5 seconds,,

[@BlackVibeBallsack]

Your not an electrician....but you got it to happen...so...good job...kinda

[@LifeAsDane]

12:50 talk gets dirty

[@bigsidable]

Been there before. 2000 ft of line. But the butt head who put the pipe in. Put a rock in the middle of the pipe half way through. Cause there no way a rock the size it was. The dude was pissed because he got demoted on the job. Then fired. We had to dig out the pipe. Find the rock remove the pipe splice it and start all over. 99 degrees no shad. That sucked. Good job.

[@rickdeckard9810]

Try using a tripod next time.

[@GForceIntel]

This is pretty crazy. Now I just need a vacuum and wire.

[@KevinCoop1]

You should not unspool the cord from the spool. It would have pulled it off very easily.

[@fleanine]

Yeah, the reason I did it that way and flagged it it was because I wanted to know when I should be at the house, so if I was getting caught up in the pipe somewhere , I would have some idea of where. I probably could’ve rolled it back up on the spool, but in the end it worked anyway. The worst part was the mosquitos!! Thank you for watching and taking the time to comment!

[@Agisilaos746]

Do the fcking pull dude. 20min??!!

[@richardrushing2094]

No

[@steveeastwood3918]

get a tripod