Hello World!

Has anyone tried inserting/pulling 12 or more 4mm^2 wires in a 1 inch PVC conduit? Any difficulty through the elbows?

According to US NEC (one of the many sites : https://www.vikingelectric.com/c/BusinessPa...onduit_Fil_VES) , it's allowable to put up to 8x 10 AWG wires in a 3/4 inch PVC conduit. A 4mm^2 is slightly smaller than 11 AWG and 3/4 inch US is around 1 inch Malaysia measurements.

Thanks in advance.

This post has been edited by beLIEve: Aug 3 2017, 12:07 AM

Tested with 8x4mm2 + 4x2.5mm2. Managed to slide through the elbow with some difficulty. If I bend them to the shape of the elbow, slide in smoothly.

Please refer to the Malaysian guidelines meaning as set by Suruhanjaya Tenaga, we are using 240V 50hz while the US NEC is using another set of voltages and frequency which may contribute to a different set of results..

- conduit require a space factor of 40%

- ducts require a space factor of 45%

Quote
"This means that not more than 45% of the space within the conduit or trunking must be occupied by cables, and involves calculating the cross-sectional area of each cable, including its insulation, for which the outside diameter must be known."

This also depends whether there are a lot of bends within the conduit run and whether the cable is a hard drawn solid conductor or stranded..

A multi strand fine cable is easily pulled while a solid core conductor of similar cross sectional area is not so easily pulled in the conduit..

Quote
"If too many cables are packed into the space available, there will be a greater increase in temperature during operation than if they were given more space."

Please follow your local authority guidelines as they have done the proper testing based on our particular voltages, frequency to our unique weather conditions done on type of material and construction..

Thanks a lot, bro Richard. You've been a great help again.

This is much much better than what contractors told me - difficult to bend. That's why I had to ask here. I tried searching before I posted, but I all I got were US specs, not UK where we derive from.

I'll have to think of something better. The reason I could afford 1x1" conduit is because my aircond's copper pipe is blocking the space for more.

This post has been edited by beLIEve: Aug 3 2017, 12:23 PM

If you pull too many wires to another section, why not just pull a thicker wires say 6mm or 10mm (depending capacity), and create another junction box there.

Thanks bro weikee.

Yes I thought of that. Just feel it'll be funny for a single floor apartment to have 2 boxes. Let me consider my options.

The reason I'm redoing the wiring is because (if you still remember the other thread I posted) 2 circuits already partially shorted. So I just assume the rest could happen any time and better to do the wiring one shot.

how old is your wiring?

Try asking a wireman to do quote for a proper insulation test on your wiring..

Just the Live and Neutral insulation to earth .. It should be less than an hours job..

Bro Richard,

House started development in 1993. We bought subsale.

I sort of done all the hacking for this conduit already, so probably don't need to test these. Others, well, those are the shorted ones, so need to change. The rest would be new additional circuits. You know, if do new wiring, have to plan properly to avoid extending here and there in the future.

In short, there are 6 existing circuits. 2 shorted.

Thanks.

ok bro..

best of luck..