# No Lube THHN Wire



## Idaho Abe (Nov 28, 2007)

Has anybody seen the new Southwire Simpull No Lube THHN wire that you can pull without pull grease?? I have seen video and seen a sample of the wire I am wondering how it will do out on the job site??


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## kbsparky (Sep 20, 2007)

I want to know how much extra that stuff costs, as well ... :blink:


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

I've heard it works, but not by personal experience.


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## BryanMD (Dec 31, 2007)

480sparky said:


> I've heard it works, but not by personal experience.


What I want to know is how we'll break in the apprentice if we no longer need to have him stand at the pipe opening and lube all day.

Somewhere near Davenport, IA is a rather good young apprentice affectionately known since those hot summer days as "Astro-Glide Boy".


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## HighWirey (Sep 17, 2007)

BryanMD said:


> What I want to know is how we'll break in the apprentice if we no longer need to have him stand at the pipe opening and lube all day.
> Somewhere near Davenport, IA is a rather good young apprentice affectionately known since those hot summer days as "Astro-Glide Boy".


This new technowledgy stuff is way beyond me. We used have a new sparky, always from Kentucky, lube our conductors.

Folks, the writers are still on strike, seems like some posters here may could scab for 'em :no:

Best Wishes Everyone in 2008


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## BryanMD (Dec 31, 2007)

It was a crazy funny scene.

Nine 3" ducts stubbed out the side of the building just above the gear, I was on the ground working the spools, two Iowa farmboys were working the tugger and pullrope (and moving around 3 levels of building to 9 panels), and then there was AstroGlide Boy... standing on top of the gear with a 5 gallon pail of the nasty yellow lube. Oh yeah, and it was HOT!

Good Times.


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## goose134 (Nov 12, 2007)

I have used the Simpull 3/0 cable. We had to do about a 200 foot pull with it and did seem to go really nicely. I didn't buy it so I have no idea how much more it is.


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## brian john (Mar 11, 2007)

I have seen it on 3 or 4 different jobs, all the electricians told me they still used lube. Explanation: If it pulls easier without lube it should fall in with lube.

Old habits die hard.


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## frenchelectrican (Mar 15, 2007)

I used few time and it work very nice but only one qurik is the prints in case the inspectors want to verify it.

The early verison have bold THHN prints and have small THWN print on other side of conductor ughhh.,, but by now i belive they did change the print so it will print both THHN/THWN in bold format.

as far for cost wise the Sim-pull wire they told me there is no increase of cost still priced the same with conventinal THHN/THWN wires.

but only other quirk is becarefull they will pick up debires rather easly and also just watch out when you pull them in very cold days they can crack if not carefull.

Speaking of this subject this was disscussed at other forum and the Sim-pull company rep read the info what we been discussing about it and he fix that curpit.

Merci, Marc


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## JohnJ0906 (Jan 22, 2007)

480sparky said:


> I've heard it works, but not by personal experience.


I've used it once, and it worked very well.


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## RHarv (Jan 27, 2008)

We tired the wire a couple of months ago at the plant, for some new equipment and the stuff is wonderful never had a problem with it.


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## IceNine (Jan 16, 2008)

The company I work for uses this all too often.

I work at Grain elevators and a good portion of our new work has to be bored under old construction.

Pulling the "sim pull" through bored tubing is a PITA...

When the Sales Rep came to "sell" it to us he said the selling points are the tuff, slick skin that is resistant to normal abrasion from pulling and the fact that when you bend it the insulation doesn't crinkle.

Personally I think its a huge waste of money, as a matter of fact we had an easier time pulling old wires out than we did pulling the sim pull back in.


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## amptech (Sep 21, 2007)

IceNine, What kind of problems did you have ? We've been using Simpull since it came out and haven't had anything but good luck with it. We've pulled several runs ranging from 2/0 to 500kcmil both underground in PVC and overhead in EMT and rigid. We did one run under a slab that was (4) 3/0 and a #1 175' in 3" PVC w/(2) 90º and you could shove it down the pipe real hard and it would coast 6' at a time.


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## jason007 (Apr 14, 2007)

we used it just recently on a job and couple other times before and lubed the head up as we pulled it in did pull nicely. the stuff is slick kinda slippery to handle takin it off the van to the job site lol it slid right out the van door when grabbed it opened up went to grab it slipped out of hand lol


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## HighWirey (Sep 17, 2007)

amptech said:


> and you could shove it down the pipe real hard and it would coast 6' at a time.


Don't think I have had anything larger than #10 do much 'coasting'!

Best Wishes Everyone


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## sparkysteve (Jan 23, 2007)

I've used it, and it is amazing. Pulls easier than the regular stuff with lube on it. We had our doubts about it until we pulled it. Our project manager says it doesn't cost much more that the regular wire. It saves way more in time and manpower. 

On the downside, we won't get to tell new apprectices that there is a free pair of wire strippers at the bottom of every bucket of lube.:laughing:


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## IceNine (Jan 16, 2008)

amptech said:


> IceNine, What kind of problems did you have ? We've been using Simpull since it came out and haven't had anything but good luck with it. We've pulled several runs ranging from 2/0 to 500kcmil both underground in PVC and overhead in EMT and rigid. We did one run under a slab that was (4) 3/0 and a #1 175' in 3" PVC w/(2) 90º and you could shove it down the pipe real hard and it would coast 6' at a time.


Almost every run we have is 200' or more, When we used it the first couple times the boss bought one roll of that stuff and 2 rolls of regular, 2/0 and when you'd pull the regular wires the sim pull would un-roll and then get tangled and cause huge headache's. 

But I have a little update, we used it just yesterday actually on a 540' 2/0 pull through boared pipe, that connected to pvc, then through 2 metal 90's. And yes it sucked. But the single biggest problem we had with it was the fact that the sim pull cover when cold (25 deg F) cracks off.

Other than that there were no major issues, but we didn't have to use lube and we had similar results. So maybe I judged too soon...

I'll let you know when the weather gets warmer what I come up with


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## bburnette (Apr 13, 2008)

you should try the aluminum simpull THHN. It is light and the tensions are lower than copper. saved a bundled. Copper is like buying gold these days.


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## nick (Feb 14, 2008)

we pull a lot of 500mcm and 600mcm and in lengths of about 250 360 ft mostly parralled runs the no lube is ok , you can tell if you pull it for about 3 weeks in a row and change back to reg wire on some we had from other jobs left over . we have a problem with the greenlee automatic wire feeder with the no lube wire, it slips in the tires/// so thanks to greenlee i have a purpose iam the feeder when we use no lube wire. but that said we do like the no lube its great .


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## jculber (Apr 22, 2008)

Is this Simpull pre-lubricated? Just curious becaus if it is, would it pick up a lot of debris off of the floor and such before going into the conduit.


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## bburnette (Apr 13, 2008)

*SimPull*

the simpull insulation has a wax in it and this makes it slippery. The Southwire rep tells me this is an additive that migrates to the surface of the nylon jacket.


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## 3phase (Jan 16, 2007)

My supplier finally started carrying it. Small town area. I used some on a service up the other day and it is nice. Especially for a one man shop. It is rather hard to hold on to though.


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## TheRick (Apr 13, 2008)

3phase said:


> My supplier finally started carrying it. Small town area. I used some on a service up the other day and it is nice. Especially for a one man shop. It is rather hard to hold on to though.


It is slippery...but that's the point isn't it.:whistling2:

Seriously, I have used it, and if you wear some food service grade rubber gloves they seem to give a better grab on the insulation than your bare skin.


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## piperunner (Aug 22, 2009)

*Simpull wire the best*



Idaho Abe said:


> Has anybody seen the new Southwire Simpull No Lube THHN wire that you can pull without pull grease?? I have seen video and seen a sample of the wire I am wondering how it will do out on the job site??


I only do power distrbution new work i can tell you this the cost in labor is important it pulls easy less mess the basket or fingers comes off faster no clean up ever ! The tugger doesnt even stress out on 500 foot runs and the size of simpull wire is less in diameter then your standard wire in size meaning the total the insulation part is thinner ! In 35 years pulling wire its the best ive ever pulled. Ive read the comments the ones who said its tuff to pull never pulled wire IMO i do it everyday . You do not need soap thats a fact and it doesnt fall out of the truck its slick outer jacket is the key to it but thats why it pulls easy .

We only use it and get our runs on one spool with the ground set up its easy and you save on labor which means less work more production and money to spend on wire and new tools !


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## ibuzzard (Dec 28, 2008)

Back from the dead,a 2+ year old post!Lay it to rest,LOL! Oh,wait - I do what I want!


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## hardworkingstiff (Jan 22, 2007)

brian john said:


> I have seen it on 3 or 4 different jobs, all the electricians told me they still used lube. Explanation: If it pulls easier without lube it should fall in with lube.
> 
> Old habits die hard.


I've used it with no problems, but, I have old habits. I still used lube, just not as much.

Edit: Oh yea, there was no additional cost.


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## EstR13 (Oct 6, 2010)

I've used super slick, which im sure is probably he same thing. That stuff is amazing :thumbsup:


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## piperunner (Aug 22, 2009)

*No lube wire*

Heres a few shots of the clean no mess after a pull.
Not like when ya use lube or wire soap for the electricians here that would like to see it . ..


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## Vintage Sounds (Oct 23, 2009)

I like how the jackets are so colourful instead of phase taping regular boring old black ones.


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## Frasbee (Apr 7, 2008)

Vintage Sounds said:


> I like how the jackets are so colourful instead of phase taping regular boring old black ones.


We had them on a job I was on. They said it didn't cost anymore than the black cable, but you did have to order it well in advance.


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## oldtimer (Jun 10, 2010)

Frasbee said:


> We had them on a job I was on. They said it didn't cost anymore than the black cable, but you did have to order it well in advance.


 Great Idea.. But I will bet it will confuse many electrical inspectors.


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## JohnR (Apr 12, 2010)

I have used it a number of times, and it worked very nice, no mess to clean up. However, if you should need to pull it out and then back in for what ever reason, you will need to use soap on the second pull.


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