Bending Electrical PVC Conduit

[crokett]

Inspector came out and passed the trench for the shop wiring but told me that the direct burial rated wire must be run through conduit inside a structure. It comes through the floor then goes into the wall and up to the panel. I was planning on an LB, he says bending an offset would be easier. It is 1 1/2" ID PVC conduit. I was practicing with heating some 1/2" but can't get it to bend without kinking the inside radius of the bend. Somebody suggested plugging the ends. Any other suggestions? I was also thinking of getting 2 45s and seeing if I could get those to work.

[Uncle Cracker]

You can buy pre-bent 90 and 45 degree conduit sections, if that will work. I have bent my own, but had a heater device specifically made for that purpose.

[reddog552]

Bending PVC

Although they have a heat blanket made for PVC condit. The heat dosent get too high that the pipe starts to collapse witch causes the pipe to distort. I have heated up it up on an exhaust, Best on a loader or doser.It is still tricky enough,For the novice buy precast 90s.

[eccentrictinkerer]

Pack the conduit with fine sand and plug the ends. Heat slowly with a heat gun. Rotate pipe to distribute heat.

Worked for me and I'm no rocket scientist!

[JimDantin]

Why not just buy the prebent offsets and sweeping 90 degree bends from HD, Lowes, or wherever? MUCH easier than trying some DIY hack and then facing a disaster when you try to fish the wire.

The conduit run is forever if it's under concrete -- mistakes or shortcuts will really come back to haunt you. I had a contractor abrade the wires that were installed for a garage -- a couple years later a wire shorted out underground. Be very careful where you transition from direct burial to the conduit -- use abrasion-prevention bushings and leave plenty of slack in the wires.

[master53yoda]

I suggested this once before, so i will suggest again and go bang nails for the rest of the thread. turn on your gas BBG allow to get hot shut of the gas and put the conduit in let set in there for about 90 to 120 seconds. Take it out and make your bends on the floor for support and to prevent it from doglegging. I usuall have a cold wet towel to throw over it when the bend is made to bring the temp down fast. Do not move it from the floor for about 5 minutes.

[smorris]

Pack the conduit with fine sand and plug the ends. Heat slowly with a heat gun. Rotate pipe to distribute heat.

Worked for me and I'm no rocket scientist!

Exactly so. Fill it with sand and it will keep it from kinking the inside radius.

[crokett]

There was another option. Was over at my folks today talking about it to my Dad. We went out to his workshop and bent the offset in about 5 minutes.

[woodturner]

There was another option. Was over at my folks today talking about it to my Dad. We went out to his workshop and bent the offset in about 5 minutes.

Would you care to share how you ended up doing it? ;-)

I've had the problems another poster reported where the conduit flattens at the bend. I'm very interested in hearing alternative methods to avoid that.

[woodturner]

Take it out and make your bends on the floor for support and to prevent it from doglegging.

With your method, have you had problems with the conduit flattening where it is bent? If so, how do you avoid that? I've not had success heat bending conduit without some kind of filler such as the sand suggested by another poster, so I'm interested in learning a better way.

[master53yoda]

I've not had much problem using the BBQ, but I do have using a heat gun because of the inconsistent heating. I also use some compression force on the pipe which seems to help eliminate the flatening of the tube.

[crokett]

Would you care to share how you ended up doing it? ;-)

I've had the problems another poster reported where the conduit flattens at the bend. I'm very interested in hearing alternative methods to avoid that.

Yeah. The trick is to heat a much larger area than I was heating and to shape it with your hands to keep it from folding. The other thing to do is as you bend pull on the end to help stretch it. Wear gloves. We bent 1 1/14" and I have 1 1/2" coming through the floor so I decided to try bending 1 1/2" by myself today. It took a while and the bend is a bit lumpy but it worked.