That time I had to choose between a fish tape and a glow rod for a 4-story apartment building in Phoenix

Last summer I was working a job downtown and needed to pull cable through a really nasty conduit run with three 90-degree bends. I went with the fiberglass glow rod because it's stiffer and I figured it'd push through easier, but man, it snapped on me halfway in and I had to start over. The fish tape would've bent around those corners better and saved me two hours. Anyone else had better luck with one over the other in tight spots?

2 comments

2 Comments

ruby_murphy2d ago

Three 90s in Phoenix heat is a recipe for disaster no matter what you use, I've been there. But I gotta disagree with going fiberglass on that. The glow rod snapping on you is exactly why I'd pick a good steel fish tape every time for long runs with tight bends. The fiberglass is brittle in dry conditions and that heat makes it worse, it'll fatigue fast. With a fish tape you can work it back and forth, feel the resistance, and it'll actually flex through those bends without breaking. The trick is to use a strong tape like a 200 foot Klein and really load it up with lube before you even start. That rod was never gonna survive those three 90s, you just learned the hard way like I did on a job in Mesa a few years ago.

alicea262d ago

Man, those three 90s are a killer. Did you try lubing the conduit at all before you sent the rod through, or did you just go in dry?