How to feed 4/0 service wire through conduit?

hunterdan

hunterdan

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 13, 2009
Location
Morganton,NC
Yep, that's the ? I have my meter base installed on the home. I have 2" conduit running down to a LB 90 with access door. I was told to run the cable from the meter down then out the access door...then back in and enter the home to the panel. I tried that method and all was well until the loop got smaller when feeding through wall. It was so tight that the grey casing was starting to split. I scraped some meat off a couple of knucklles and called it a day. Is there something I'm missing like KY?
 
rockcity said:
You can buy conduit/wire lubricant at Lowe’s and HD.
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I've got some blue lube that was used on plastic road pipe maybe that will suffice. I wonder if it would have been easier if I had fed the wire before gluing the pvc pieces and mounting to wall?
 

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Dawn works well too. You might need to let the wire lay out in the sun a while before trying to feed it. Let the insulation warm up a bit so it flexes easier.
 
With a 4/0 service wire really need a 2.5" LB.

314.28.A.3 will be your reference for fail if your inspector is on his game.
 
Wire pulling gel might help... Also helps if you try pulling from both ends to make the radius. I've used a tugger--basically a giant windlass winch-- to pull wire that size because it's not ever easy but Ron is also right, you're using pvc so it's not that expensive, going one size larger would be the right move.
 
So... If I were doing this I would run pvc all the way to the panel and pull 3 4/0 conductors. Would be way easier.
 
peewee said:
So... If I were doing this I would run pvc all the way to the panel and pull 3 4/0 conductors. Would be way easier.
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Huh?
 
Shouldn't use se cable in a raceway. Why not continue the raceway all the way to the panel and use a 4/0 thw. Would be easier to pull and Cheaper. Pulling multi conducter cables through a raceway never goes well.
 
Last big cable I was part of installing, was 00, we fished a small rope through first with the aid of a wire fiche. Tied the dawn lathered cable to it, one of us pushed, the other pulled, it was still a monster. But we made it happen. The conduit was left with nothing glued where we could, so we could pull in as straight inline as possible.
 
I finally did get the cable installed due to the helpful tips from all. Thanks
 
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