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Finally got a clean pull through a packed apartment riser
Had a job in a 70s building downtown where the main riser was completely stuffed. I mean, you could barely see the old cables in there. The super said the last guy gave up and ran everything outside, which looked terrible. I spent about an hour trying to fish a line through with no luck. Then I remembered a trick an old timer mentioned once: using a shop vac on the other end. I taped a plastic bag over the vacuum hose to create a seal around the pipe opening downstairs. Upstairs, I tied a small bundle of plastic strips from a bread bag to my pull line and fed it in. The suction grabbed it and pulled it right through in about ten seconds. Felt like magic after fighting with it. Anyone have a different method for those impossible vertical runs?
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the_riley7mo ago
Totally get that feeling of victory. Had a pull last month that was a solid block of old fire goop in a conduit. Tried every rod and fish tape I had and just made a sticky mess. Finally hooked a small sponge to a light line and used a pressure washer from the other end to push it through. The water carried it right along. Sometimes the simple tricks feel like cheating after you've been fighting it.
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the_abby7mo ago
Felt like magic" is a bit much for a vacuum trick. It's just physics, not a miracle. We've all been there with a tough pull, but calling it magic is a stretch.
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the_elizabeth6mo ago
And it's funny how the simplest fix usually wins in every situation, not just wiring.
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