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How hard will it be to pull 250' of 4/0 from 2" conduit

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beltfeed

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I used to have a 25KVA pole transformer. Now I have a 50KVA pad transformer for a shared service between my shop and home fed from a new pole. The old service on the old pole runs underground in 2" conduit for about 250'. I'm pretty sure there are (3) 90's in the underground conduit. The service was two sets of three 4/0 wires. I talked with the line workers when they pulled the can off the pole about scrapping the old service wire. They said we will leave you the wiring that went up the pole to help you out. I want to cut the conduit at the ground put a roller lead at the bottom of the pole for the wire to make the 90 degree turn and hook it up to one of my trucks or excavator and pull it all out. Will it pull or am I wasting my time.


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Junkman

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I can just see the pole coming down. Possibly, if you cut the conduit near the ground and then use a truck rim on edge, it might work as a roller, allowing you to pull the wire. Use a chain through the center of the rim and back around the pole. Just hate to see you winding up like in a Homer Simpson movie.
 
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strength_and_power

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It’s worth a shot.

I wonder if you could use a pressure washer and inject pulling lube or dish soap into the run to give some slip.

Best bet would be to pull all the conductors at once.

Do you know the path of the run and could you dig down to the conduit mid point?

What is the approximate scrap value and how much time can you invest before it’s not worth it? That being said, doing it for the challenge, damn the costs, is a perfectly legitimate reason

Pull away
 
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bluedog225

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I’d do it. I hate to waste stuff.

If I’m understanding your situation, you can eliminate one of the 90s by dinging down 18 inches or so. Then pull it straight (ish) from that point.
 
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mm08822

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At least to clean up at the pole, cut those 2 conduits (and conductors) at/below ground level. Then if you decide to pull the rest, after a few feet of pulling there's only 2 90s left.

If the conduits got loaded up with silt, it may take a bit to break each bundle free.
 
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beltfeed

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bluedog225 said:
I’d do it. I hate to waste stuff.

If I’m understanding your situation, you can eliminate one of the 90s by dinging down 18 inches or so. Then pull it straight (ish) from that point.
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It's down deep. It was down at least 24" before the around the house was backfilled when I built thirty years ago. I had a pan come in and skim off 3000 yards from one of my fields and bring it up for fill / grading. Most of the conduit is probably 6' plus deep. I will call to see what they are paying for aluminum wire scrap tomorrow. I do not have a way of stripping it so it may not be worth pulling it out of the ground.
 
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mike93lx

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jblnut said:
Damn the value of it. Go for the challenge !!

Rent a tractor (150hp+) and hook a 3/8” log chain around the conduit, wire and all and start pulling. Something will move or you’ll dig holes. If you dig holes back up and give it another go from a different angle.
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Rent?? Just buy one of the little Chinese minis!
 
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jblnut

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mike93lx said:
Rent?? Just buy one of the little Chinese minis!
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Good call. Then you’ll have it forever-ish !!

I once “helped” pull a chunk of wire in a very similar situation and we used an F-Three-Fiddy and a big rope and did exactly what I described. To break it loose there was a heck of a run and some tires digging but it gave up. We got enough coin to buy some beer and talk smart the rest of weekend.
 
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sparky 1971

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Cut it off below grade and fuggettabout it. About two years ago I took scrap in; two 30 gallon trash cans, one packed full of aluminum wire and the other packed full of copper. The can of copper brought around $300, but the aluminum was $9.00. All aluminum now gets set beside my dumpster and it's gone by the morning.

EDITED: all of the wire had been separated from the insulation. I won't go as far as to say I stripped it, but it was all bare so it brought a little better price than if it had been wearing a jacket.
 
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Bert_

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Last year I brought in about 1100lbs of aluminum wire. It was only a few crates, I was surprised it weighed that much. I think it was around $450. $6-700 with the other stuff I brought. Not a waste of time.

I've pulled 400' IN with a pickup no problem. But stuff gets stuck after it's been there a few decades.
 
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sparky 1971

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Bert_ said:
Last year I brought in about 1100lbs of aluminum wire. It was only a few crates, I was surprised it weighed that much. I think it was around $450. $6-700 with the other stuff I brought. Not a waste of time.

I've pulled 400' IN with a pickup no problem. But stuff gets stuck after it's been there a few decades.
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You must do a helluva lot of underground to get that much or you started collecting it during the Lincoln Administration. It took me three years of saving cut offs to fill a 30 gallon trash can. I fill another with copper cut offs about three times per year.
 
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Codyboy

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bluedog225 said:
Leaving it in the ground. That’s still waste. We can do better.
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Even copper thieves won't take it.

Around here they will bust the conduit, and stagger cut the conductors. They do this energized..
Once they make the first cut and see that its aluminum...they drive off to go do another one.

***** for the owner because now its damaged and they have to repull all new wire.

Ran into this a lot when I worked nights with the invention of smart meters.

Meter would ping power out, roll a truck and see the busted conduit.

Nothing to do but open the bank , cut it all out to leave safe and leave a note for the customer.
 
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Bert_

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sparky 1971 said:
You must do a helluva lot of underground to get that much or you started collecting it during the Lincoln Administration. It took me three years of saving cut offs to fill a 30 gallon trash can. I fill another with copper cut offs about three times per year.
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Maybe 5 years worth. Probably do a couple thousand feet of trenching in a year but I don't really think that's a lot.

This year I took in a bunch of copper/aluminum AC coils. I thought I had them fairly stripped down so I was disappointed when they would only pay "dirty" price for them. Still $385 for the coils plus a little over a ton of shred steel. $556 so the stuff is gone and I got paid decent for my time.
 
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Stuart in MN

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Codyboy said:
Even copper thieves won't take it.

Around here they will bust the conduit, and stagger cut the conductors. They do this energized..
Once they make the first cut and see that its aluminum...they drive off to go do another one.
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Maybe spray paint the ends with copper paint, and they won't notice until they bring it to the scrapyard? ;)
 
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txvwnut

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wyliesdiesels said:
i would check how much your local yards are paying for aluminum. its usually not much. and you have to strip it first if you want the most money. do you have a stripping machine?
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This right here.^^^ Scrap yards pay more for clean aluminum so you'd need to have it stripped of all insulation and without a stripping machine your days into stripping that heavy jacket off, for what a few bucks and the feeling of being environmentally responsible. I'd just dig down at both stubs outs and cut the pipe and wire off then cover the abandoned line up and go about my day.
 
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mm08822

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Buy a backhoe, cable stripper, trailer and go at it.

Think of how many beer cans you could empty and recycle for that same money all while having more fun sitting on your deck.

The only sweat you break is in getting up for another cold one. Your hands may only get dirty if one fizzes out at you while opening it. :beer::drink:
 
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sparky 1971

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txvwnut said:
This right here.^^^ Scrap yards pay more for clean aluminum so you'd need to have it stripped of all insulation and without a stripping machine your days into stripping that heavy jacket off, for what a few bucks and the feeling of being environmentally responsible. I'd just dig down at both stubs outs and cut the pipe and wire off then cover the abandoned line up and go about my day.
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While it's true that wire is worth more per pound bare, there are more pounds when the insulation is still on and that offsets some of the price difference; it's not enough to break even but enough to make it not worth the time invested in stripping it.
 
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beltfeed

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I checked with my local scrap yard for pricing today. 78 cents a pound with the insulation still on it. Most online wire weight charts show 4/0 aluminum insulated to weigh about 200 pounds per 1000'. I probably have 1500' or 300 pounds. Looks like $234 scrap amount. I will be sawing it off just below ground level and leaving it there. Thanks for all the suggestions. (y)
 
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mike93lx

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beltfeed said:
I checked with my local scrap yard for pricing today. 78 cents a pound with the insulation still on it. Most online wire weight charts show 4/0 aluminum insulated to weigh about 200 pounds per 1000'. I probably have 1500' or 300 pounds. Looks like $234 scrap amount. I will be sawing it off just below ground level and leaving it there. Thanks for all the suggestions. (y)
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78 is a lot better than I expected, but I agree, not enough to justify the work.
 
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bluedog225

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Dunno. Seems like a waste. We’ve all gotten used to throwing stuff away. Grandparents would think us spoiled or worse.

$300 lbs of pure, electrical grade, aluminum. 9000 cans worth. Make it a physics and recycling project for the local high school young men. Do they still have shop classes? They’d love it.

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mike93lx

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bluedog225 said:
Dunno. Seems like a waste. We’ve all gotten used to throwing stuff away. Grandparents would think us spoiled or worse.

$300 lbs of pure, electrical grade, aluminum. 9000 cans worth. Make it a physics and recycling project for the local high school young men. Do they still have shop classes? They’d love it.

IMG_5350.jpegIMG_5349.jpeg
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Time and equipment isn't free. It's not like he is throwing away a bunch of wire that could otherwise being recycled.
 
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wyliesdiesels

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bluedog225 said:
Dunno. Seems like a waste. We’ve all gotten used to throwing stuff away. Grandparents would think us spoiled or worse.
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so you think youll get more money than the time money and labor spent to pull it out of the ground? who knows how easy it would even be to pull
 
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