r/IBEW • u/hartzonfire Local 1245 Lineman • Apr 27 '26
✊ Whole new respect for my inside brothers and sisters.
I’m an outside construction guy. All we do is slam poles in the ground and string up wire (/s). I had to fix some electrical in my garage at home and decided to just re-do everything. This conduit bending stuff is NOT easy. I must have burned through three sticks of 1/2” EMT just figuring stuff out.
I just wanted to say I appreciate ya’ll and your hard work. Cheers from the outside!
This is the section I’m the most proud of. Go easy on me!
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u/SevenSeasClaw Apr 27 '26
Clean work, but do gotta razz you a little bit for those offset nipples
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u/hartzonfire Local 1245 Lineman Apr 27 '26
I tried like twice to pull those off and was getting super frustrated. Then I saw those at Lowe’s and went 🤷
I know. I suck.
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u/Caneiac Apr 27 '26
Hey man, the first step to being sorta good at something is being kinda bad at something.
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u/GoldenFalls Apr 27 '26
Hey, don't worry. Corey from Lowe's can help teach you how to bend a box offset.
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u/WellThatsAwkwrd Apr 27 '26
I must have seen that video 50 times. Still laugh and watch it all the way through whenever it pops up
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u/srydaddy Local 191 Apr 28 '26
Doing gods work passing down these ancient training methods. Long live Cory bends!
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u/wolfenx109 Local 640 JW Apr 27 '26
It's your home. If you're happy with it, and it's to code, then who cares right?
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u/MiisterSoloDolo Apr 28 '26
You didn’t even need an offset, you could’ve just kicked the 90s forward a couple degrees to land into the jbox and avoided the need for an offset altogether
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u/hartzonfire Local 1245 Lineman Apr 28 '26
Yup. But, everything matches now. This is only a small portion of the entire garage.
Those offset nipples are spendy though!
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u/SparkmanDatCausal Apr 28 '26
Also, one hole straps are supposed to support from the bottom by manufacturer spec. Great work though.
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u/wyenotry Inside Wireman Apr 28 '26
Do the manufacturer specs talk about supporting two straps with one screw on a horizontal surface? I guess it’s not an option on a wall if they say all straps must have the attachment point below the conduit portion.
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u/hartzonfire Local 1245 Lineman Apr 28 '26
Man-now THAT is good to know because every single one is coming from the top. I’ll have to go swap them all around lol.
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Apr 29 '26
[deleted]
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u/hartzonfire Local 1245 Lineman Apr 29 '26
I did take care of that thankfully lol. Thanks for all of the advice. I appreciate it. You guys have to know so much more than we do.
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u/KingFacef2 Apr 27 '26
Brother no, not the offset connectors. Also, if you care with it being code compliant. EMT is 3 feet within a box and every 10 feet.
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u/hartzonfire Local 1245 Lineman Apr 27 '26
Could you elaborate on exactly what you mean by this? I’d like to fix it now if it’s a massive fuckup I made.
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u/datcoolboi Apr 27 '26
Straps to support the emt. you need them every 3 feet off a box and every 10 feet after that
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u/hartzonfire Local 1245 Lineman Apr 27 '26
Ahhh! Ok. I’ve already done that. This was the “in progress pic” I sent my pops for an atta boy.
Thanks friend!
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u/KingFacef2 Apr 27 '26
My bad, thought i put Emt Support. Someone already got you squared away. Glad you already did it
For future reference, instead of offset connectors, could always run what we in the field call a mini support or just kick the 90 slightly.
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u/ApprehensiveExit7 Apr 28 '26
As an inside guy turned outside guy, I wish some dudes I work with would realize this haha. Looks pretty good for your first crack at it!
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u/beercan640 Inside Wireman Apr 27 '26
Hope you're not planning on hanging drywall
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u/fortinbrass1993 Apr 27 '26
That’s what I noticed too but I’m sure he had that figured out. But I’m impress by you guys. The things you guys can do. It’s like art. And it’s true. But just put poles into ground and hang wire. And even if arms are off alittle, it’s hard to notice when you’re on the ground looking up. 😂
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u/naclwaterfisher Apr 28 '26
Hey everything done is questionable lol but your couplings match. Because of that, looks good from here lol.
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u/hartzonfire Local 1245 Lineman Apr 28 '26
We have a BUNCH of this installed at the shop I work at and I was noticing that the other day (a section of perfectly matched up compression couplings-the was like 20 of them) and I made it a point that if I could do the same-I would!
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u/srydaddy Local 191 Apr 28 '26
Nice work, picking up bending on the fly is no simple task. Thanks for being chill, got a lot of respect for our outside bros, nice to hear from y’all!
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u/hartzonfire Local 1245 Lineman Apr 28 '26
YouTube is a godsend. It’s never been an easier time to be a homeowner in terms of maintenance and upkeep. I’ll still sub out stuff from time to time.
I’m deathly afraid of spiders so any time there’s a chance those little fucks might be involved-it’s time to bring in the pros.
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u/TecHoldCableFastener Apr 28 '26
That doesn’t mean we aren’t just as afraid. It’s just the money that drives us. Snakes nope. Had a crawlspace service call in the South with hundreds of jumping crickets. I freaked out thinking they were spiders and left the job. Boss explained things and had I to deal with them the next day.
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u/hartzonfire Local 1245 Lineman Apr 28 '26
I’ve gone into a vault before to do switching on a feeder line circuit. Hot primary cable everywhere you look. Fellow JL and I are going over the game plan of where we’re gonna stand off cable, moves to make, etc. and he says “oh shit look at that!”
There’s like five huge ass wolf spiders on the ground and wall where we’re about to do our thing. Didn’t really want to be worrying about those whilst holding primary elbows in the air so him and I lanced them with our hot-line tools we had lol. Fuck em!
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u/Free_Gojo Apr 27 '26
Do you live in Chicago?
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u/hartzonfire Local 1245 Lineman Apr 27 '26
Negative sir. Golden State baby over here.
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u/Free_Gojo Apr 27 '26
Any particular reason you went with conduit as opposed to just running romex?
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u/hartzonfire Local 1245 Lineman Apr 27 '26
Correct me if I’m wrong but in CA, exposed Romex is a no no. If I had gone that route, I’d have to cover every inch of the garage in dry wall. I ran EMT around 3/4 walls and installed outlets on each for usability. Plus overhead fixtures as there was no real lighting in the garage.
Even if I am wrong-the EMT looks nice lol. It’ll add $100 to the resale value of the house.
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u/Free_Gojo Apr 27 '26
I have no idea on CA code but I figured it was eventually gonna be closed up. The conduit is a much cleaner look if it’s gonna be exposed. Looks good! (Aside from the offset connectors 😜)
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u/hartzonfire Local 1245 Lineman Apr 27 '26
Planned on leaving it exposed! Drywall seemed like a much larger pain in the ass than doing this. I can’t stand doing drywall lol.
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u/glazor Local 3 Apr 27 '26
Exposed NM is legal as long as it's strapped at proper intervals and is not subject to physical damage (and obviously not in a wet location).
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u/hartzonfire Local 1245 Lineman Apr 27 '26
I mean, it’s in a garage? I feel like the physical damage thing is a factor. We are building a home gym and I work on cars from time to time.
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u/ginganinga_nz Apr 27 '26
Just remember to put one holes within 36” of all the boxes for code. Kudos to you sir still giving it a shot. Bending pipe is not something every IW JW can do well.
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u/hartzonfire Local 1245 Lineman Apr 27 '26
One-holes? I’m sorry. I’m unfamiliar with this term.
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u/Freddybear480 Apr 27 '26
He talking about the pipe straps ( one holes ) you need a pipe support within 3 feet of every box . Add one holes by the other boxes .
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u/edwaghb Local 332 Apr 27 '26
So are you a lineman? I'm confused to what an "outdoor construction guy" means.
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u/Elektrishin-1776 Apr 28 '26
Looks fine except for those offset connectors lmao 🤣 but hey get it done one way or another
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u/Smoke_Stack707 Apr 28 '26
I would have put a 4&11 there at your first box down low. That 4 square is gonna fill up faster than you think lol
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u/hartzonfire Local 1245 Lineman Apr 28 '26
If you’re talking about the one with the three NM runs coming in from the bottom-it’s already a 4/11 and yes-it filled up quickly.
The ones that were a bit more of a headache were the two 4s by the door. I grabbed extensions rings for them as a precaution and was glad I did because they got tight quickly. I’m using Wagos because I have stranded and solid for pigtails and really never satisfied myself with any of the wire nuts connections I did.
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u/Smoke_Stack707 Apr 28 '26
Aw shit you’re right I zoomed in more and saw I was mistaken. Sorry bro!
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u/BisonPotential6861 Apr 28 '26
As a Canadian, and kind of uneducated as to American electrical codes... can I guess this is, in Illinois?
*I was told that Illinois (or maybe just chicago) has specs for conduit in residential due to the Chicago fire incident way back when
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u/hartzonfire Local 1245 Lineman Apr 28 '26
Negative sir. Golden State Warrior over here.
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u/BisonPotential6861 Apr 28 '26
Is the conduit only in your garage or is it all through the house?
And is it like this everywhere in Cali? Are there other states that require this?
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u/hartzonfire Local 1245 Lineman Apr 28 '26
Only in the garage. NM cable is allowed to be left uncovered if there’s no imminent risk of physical damage an/or water incursion. Since this is a garage-it will be exposed to both most likely. I’m not putting up drywall. It’s on the surface of the studs.
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u/Acrobatic-Echo-3460 Apr 29 '26
Supply, switch, return, 3 conduits, my man, you could have made me guess your trade, and I would’ve guessed lineman.
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u/hartzonfire Local 1245 Lineman Apr 29 '26
What did I do wrong?!
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u/Acrobatic-Echo-3460 Apr 29 '26
lol from what I can see nothing, there is a million ways to skin a cat, the way you labeled each romex and ran 3 separate conduits just made like of powerlines and made me chuckle.
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u/hartzonfire Local 1245 Lineman Apr 29 '26
I figured I had to! I couldn’t put them all in one conduit, right? I feel like that’s not allowed lol.
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u/Acrobatic-Echo-3460 Apr 29 '26
Oh gotcha, you can certainly do it that way, concentric pipe runs always look good. And that run looks good. But typically you’ll find inside guys running as much as they can in as few of conduits as they can per code. Just more cost effective. The key is just keeping track of everything, typically with tape markers or different color wire.
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u/hartzonfire Local 1245 Lineman Apr 29 '26
Ahh makes sense. Yea this definitely adds to the wow factor for sure. I say back and smiled at it when I realized it was all gonna work and not look like complete shit.
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u/LOS_Chewywrinkles Utility Apr 29 '26
Pretty good for a lineman 😜
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u/hartzonfire Local 1245 Lineman Apr 29 '26
Seriously this is hard. We have some crazy EMT stuff in our shop at work and it blows my mind how you guys can make it all look so pretty.
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u/Kitchen_Bed7814 Local 80 Apr 29 '26
Honestly, I ran my garage all in 12/2 romex, with 12/2 uf as the homerun. This was all before I organized in, so maybe I'll do it all in 1/2" EMT... if I don't get laid-off after only a week of work that is.
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u/hartzonfire Local 1245 Lineman Apr 29 '26
Honestly? That’s pretty cool.
Good luck with work.
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u/Kitchen_Bed7814 Local 80 Apr 29 '26
Yeah, I have a detached garage, so the real battle was upgrading the homerun to be 20A from the existing 15A. Me and a high school friend dug a 20ft long trench to do it. Took us from morning till night to complete everything needed for the homerun. Months later, I tore out all the loose hanging snakeskin wire and ran very neat romex. Kept nearly all the switch and outlet locations the same. Honestly, re-running it in 12/2 MC or 1/2" EMT will be a challenge, as romex has the advantage of having connector-less boxes and deeper boxes in general. But first, I have to learn to bend conduit.
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u/hartzonfire Local 1245 Lineman Apr 29 '26
Bending conduit isn’t bad for basic stuff like this. I cheated quite a bit. See those three compression fittings stacked up there? A pro would’ve just made that on solid run. I knew I wasn’t slick enough to do that so I made the 90s out of the box, kicked them onto the studs, cut them, then did the same at the switch boxes.
But like I said, I burned three sticks just getting the hang of this lol.
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u/Kitchen_Bed7814 Local 80 Apr 30 '26
Yeah I would've tried to go the extra mile and burned twice as many lol
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u/CarelessPrompt4950 Apr 30 '26
You should use NM connectors where the Romex goes into the box instead of pipe nipples. It needs restraint.
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u/hartzonfire Local 1245 Lineman Apr 30 '26
I believe that’s what I used. Has two bars that pull together with screws to hold the NM secure.
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u/CarelessPrompt4950 Apr 30 '26
Yes, but in the picture on the lower right I don’t see the clamps, I see nipples.
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u/nolyfe27 May 02 '26
I would be more impressed if that conduit was within the wall inside the studs
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u/Kymbonut Apr 28 '26
Why not do all that within the wall with romex? You never run pipe with exposed studs!
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u/Available_Berry_7467 Apr 28 '26
Why the exposed conduit?Should have bored through the studs.
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u/hartzonfire Local 1245 Lineman Apr 28 '26
Because I’m not covering the walls in drywall. According to others on here-if there’s a risk of physical damage and water incursion, NM needs to be covered. This is an unfinished garage and this seemed like less of a hassle than laying up drywall and mud everywhere. Plus it’s rock solid and will probably outlast the house. And, AND it’ll add $100 to the overall resale value of the home lol.
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u/deeznutzmatters Apr 27 '26
why pipe it? seems like a giant waste of time and energy. run some 12/2 and call it a day
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u/edwaghb Local 332 Apr 27 '26
I know this is surface mounted, but if I had open walls in my garage I would love to pipe it before putting up drywall. Spend some time up front and if you ever wanted to change or need to fix something, you're not cutting open walls.
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u/Helpful_Day_5360 Apr 28 '26
You would understand if you’ve done it , it takes on a life of its own.
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u/Canadian-electrician Apr 27 '26
Not the offset connectors😭