[TowerTalk] Drip irrigation tubing as conduit, revisited.

[Djordan (personal)]

Pat, 

The irrigation tubing worked for me and another ham buddy.  We used 500ft lengths.  I used a shop vac to suck a cotton ball tied with light weight line to traverse the 500ft length.  Then pulled a proper pull line then pulled two lengths of multiple-mode fiber.  

Water is the enemy of fiber so the system had to keep the moister out and it has for several years now.    My buddy used water to push his pull line. I think the water method is more effective for long runs. 

I would be interested in hearing from those that experienced failure! Wonder what happened. Please respond direct. My wife uses the tubing in the family garden. It's exposed to the sunlight and has been for many years.  No noticeable degradation. 

73,
Dave
WA3GIN

Sent from my iPad

Be Prepared Stay Prepared

> On Mar 23, 2014, at 9:55 AM, Patrick Greenlee <patrick_g at windstream.net> wrote:
> 
> Previously I mentioned here that I wanted to use 3/4 inch ID black plastic drip irrigation tubing rated for 100 PSI and available for about $12 per 100 ft roll at the big box stores like Lowes or Home Depot for conduit thinking it would be good for burial or environmental protection above ground as it has good UV resistance. I got replies indicating it had been tried and failed, especially in longer lengths.
> 
> I purchased 4 each 100 ft rolls of the 3/4 inch 100 PSI drip irrigation tubing.  I wanted to use it to protect 8 wires, 6 each #14 and 2 each #12 that would run underground from a barn to a tower site just under 100 ft away.  I rolled out one 100 ft section and clamped Vise Grip type pliers to each end to facilitate keeping the tubing from rolling back up.  I then the ran my electrician's tape through the tubing, attached a 3 stand polypropylene rope (cheapy from Harbor Freight) and retracted the tape pulling the rope through the tuning.
> 
> I set up a painters ladder with the backside toward the tubing but a few feet away from the end of the tube.  I placed a scrap of pipe through two of the rolls of wire and suspended them by tying para cord from the axle to the ladder's braces. Note, the ladder rungs are too close together to allow free wheeling of the rolls, hence using the backside where the braces are farther apart than the rungs. I similarly suspended the other two rolls of wire. Four rolls  of two conductor wire.  Three rolls are 14 ga and one roll of 12 ga.of wire.  I wove the wire through the rope a few (4 to 6) times.  You do this by twisting the rope against the lay and it opens up enough to put a wire through it.  I then taped the ends of the wire tightly to the rope.
> 
> I then manually pulled on the rope while holding the tube with my other hand and the 8 conductors (4 pairs) of wire were easily pulled through the 100 ft length of tubing,  There was room for a few more conductors, I think, before pulling would have become really difficult.  I had a quart of electricians wire pulling lubricant standing by but didn't need it.  I repeated this process for a total of three irrigation tubes full of wires.  My rotators require 8 wires each so this handles two rotators and leaves 8 conductors for coax relay switching and winch control for crank-up.
> 
> I have subsequently pulled the three tubes full of wires plus a 10-2 with ground direct burial romex through a buried conduit to the tower located nearly 100 ft from the barn. I pulled all of this at the same time in one shot.  It was considerably more physically demanding so I had the only other ham in my zip code mind the bundle as it went into the conduit were it exited the barn while I pulled at the tower end. I could manage it but it was strenuous so I tied the rope to the pickup and slowly drove away. All went fine the second try.  The first try the rope pulled through nearly a roll of electrical tape.  Manually removed the bundle from the conduit, tied constricting knots around the bundle (should have done this in the first place) which get tighter the harder you pull. All went perfect on the second try.  Neither the pickup nor myself were physically challenged.
> 
> This drip irrigation tube in 3/4 inch ID at about $12 per 100 ft seems like an excellent way to bury wires if you are not going to try to add more conductors after the fact. I don't know, not having tried it but, it might be difficult.  With its UV resistance it is a good way to weatherproof wires above ground as well, say on a tower for instance. Once in place you could seal the openings with RTV or... Something of interest I haven't tried yet is to "splice" lengths of tubing together. I'm thinking a couple inches at the end of a roll could be heated and expanded (belled) just a little to allow mating another section and with an appropriate glue and maybe some RTV on top you should have a waterproof splice.
> 
> Why did I use this tubing for wires in a conduit?  Concern for condensation or leaks and because it is cheap insurance, very good insurance.  Undoubtedly some of my description of how to will not be as clear as I intended.  Send me an email (I'm good on QRZ) and ask anything.  I will be happy to try to clarify.
> 
> 73,
> 
> Patrick NJ5G
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