Ok, all you DIY'ers....

I'm at an impasse with my husband over the use of conduit pipe for wires in homes. Ive been telling him that it was used much more extensively than it is now, where romax is king. He keeps saying that pipe was hardly ever used - mostly just for exterior installations. I just spent the last 30 minutes googleing, but I cant find any confirmation for my stand, beyond the fact that conduit pipe is a good way to protect wire from moisture, gasses and nails that get pounded into walls.

I know that one of the houses I lived in as a kid had pipe running the electrical - well at least what I could see in the unfinished basement ceiling. Also, I dated an IBEW electrical apprentice for a while, who constantly bemoaned the use of romax, saying that is was less safe. He felt that laying pipe was becoming a dying art.

What say you?

I'm with the husband but local rules can vary. BX (armored) used to be used a lot more, that's a flexible metallic cable not a pipe.

Ok, all you DIY'ers....

You rang?

First of all, I AM NOT AN ELECTRICIAN.

Ok, got all that important lifesaving business out of the way, good, good.

Romax is king. I live in a house built in the waaay back, and I have flexible steel conduit everywhere. But you have to realize that inside that conduit is cotton insulated copper. You are unable to find any confirmation for your stand because there *is no confirmation* for conduit protecting electrical wires from moisture and gasses (come on. gasses?). Nails, sure. They make specialized nail guards for vulnerable places where a nail could threaten a wire.

Never dated an IBEW member, but I do have friends who are master electricians. What I've learned is that romax is vastly easier to install, and that equals cheaper. Also, unless you're putting the wires in a plenum where smoke from a fire in one part of the building might contaminate another part, wires in conduits are probably overkill. One distinct disadvantage of conduits is that they are hotter and heat is the enemy of electricity.

...


Now as for laying some pipe. That should probably be discussed in a different thread.

Let's get our terminology in order.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_wiring#Modern_wiring_materials

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_conduit

http://www.southwire.com/romex.htm

Then, we can talk.

such a purist

I'm used to seeing rigid conduit tubing in commercial and exposed applications mostly. Inside a wall, romex is where it's at in residential. BX, the flexible spiral armored stuff, was in our unfinished exposed basement growing up and is inside walls in commercial buildings, which are built to higher standards.

Armored cable and conduit are better, but both are more expensive and take longer to install and require critical details to be taken care of otherwise the sharp metal can actually cut into the wires and defeat the whole point.

I use romex, the plastic stuff. It's good.

Oh, and I agree with your husband. Sorry. I don't believe conduit was more common in the past. Wiring has actually gotten a LOT better over the years on average. You can still have shitty electricians who use shitty materials, but on the whole, wiring is a lot better today.

The Only practical way to use Conduit ( weather EMT or Ridged ) in a wall is to prewire when a house/building is being built ,
That being said , it IS Possible to put it in walls etc after the fact , Just a PAIN IN THE ASSSSSSS !!!!!

And Pico the Layen pipe comment , well Classic !!!

Well, Im still a little bit over my head with this topic, but thanks for all the input. Im really not looking forward to sharing this with my husband...:o. Maybe he will simply forget about the whole thing.

Big V - I got the 'moisture and gasses' info from my googling. Im thinking that was more to do with industrial or commercial sites.

Zip - thats the Gracie Allen side of me showing up again...:p:

sure , sure, I saw that too. And there are circumstances when you'd want to protect the wires from gasses, but not in your house. I just got a giggle from it.

Good luck!!!!

glatt;754570 wrote:

...commercial and exposed applications...

That's where I'm at.

glatt;754570 wrote:

I'm used to seeing rigid conduit tubing in commercial and exposed applications mostly. Inside a wall, romex is where it's at in residential. BX, the flexible spiral armored stuff, was in our unfinished exposed basement growing up and is inside walls in commercial buildings, which are built to higher standards.

Armored cable and conduit are better, but both are more expensive and take longer to install and require critical details to be taken care of otherwise the sharp metal can actually cut into the wires and defeat the whole point.

I use romex, the plastic stuff. It's good.

Gravdigr;754587 wrote:

That's where I'm at.

and when you have to run a lot of wire, you can cram individual strands in a single conduit w/o having a ton of redundant grounds.

It's much more expensive and not worth it unless called for by code.

AFAIK there is no conduit inside my house which was built about 1985.
There is romex throughout the interior and conduit leading to the house.