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Chat with an old electrician changed my whole approach to fishing lines
Ran into a retired sparky at the supply house last week. He told me I was fighting the cable instead of working with it. Said I should relax my grip and let the weight do the work. Tried it on a tough conduit run yesterday. Snaked 75 feet of coax through without a single snag. Anybody else get handed advice that made no sense at first but turned out gold?
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fiona_reed29d ago
Completely. Old timer told me to stop yanking on the wire like I was starting a lawnmower. Just let it breathe through the bend. Felt weird at first but now I don't fight it anymore. Changed everything.
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drew_chen29d ago
Yanking on it like you're pulling a weed is exactly what causes kinks and snags. Fiona's right about letting it breathe through the bend, but that only works if you're not forcing the wire into a tight radius. The old electrician's advice about letting the weight do the work is dead on for coax and Romex, but watch out with stranded wire. If you let the weight pull too fast, that skinny copper can birdcage and get all tangled up. A steady hand with a relaxed grip works best, just enough tension to feel the wire moving through the conduit. Your mileage may vary depending on the cable type and how many bends you've got in that pipe.
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