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The day I finally understood why my old boss was so picky about wire pulling
Back when I was a second year apprentice, I thought my journeyman was just being a pain when he made me re-do pulls if a single wire got a kink. I'd just straighten it and keep going. Then, about three years ago on a service call in a 90s split-level, I found a failed neutral in a bundle behind a panel. The insulation was cracked right at a sharp bend from the original install. Took me half a day to trace and fix it. Now I use way more pull points and never force a wire around a corner. What's your go-to trick for keeping wire runs clean in tight spaces?
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john6483mo ago
Yeah, that's how you get callbacks years later. My trick is a little silicone spray on the wire before the pull, not a ton, just a quick shot. Makes it slide through like butter, especially in those packed stud bays. I keep a can in my bag just for that. It stops you from having to muscle it and cause those sharp bends.
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the_kim1mo ago
Wait, are you TELLING me you actually want kinked wires in your bundles? Look, I get that the original post is about being careful, but I've seen more problems from guys being too precious with their pulls than from a little kink here and there. You spend all day adding pull points and you're just making extra junction boxes for something to fail later. A straight bend from a kink that you smoothed out is NOT the same as a factory 90 that was always tight. I've pulled THOUSANDS of feet of wire and a quick kink that you straighten is fine, it's the guys who yank the wire back and forth twenty times that damage the insulation. So no, I'm not going to stop and cut a new piece every time the wire gets a little wavy on me.
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