# Tips on getting measurements for conduit and how to run conduit?



## Ostrich Society (Dec 14, 2021)

The goal of running conduit is to bend it as little as possible. Keep that in mind when you’re doing layout. Sometimes adding some strut can save you offsets, or saddles.

Next onto some resources:

First The Electricians Guide to Conduit Bending book by Richard Cox is worth every penny.

The second resource is Holmz Law on YouTube. He makes great videos dedicated to running pipe. If you have a question chances are he’s made a video of it.

Finally, take advantage of being an apprentice, ask questions, go over layout with a more experienced guy on crew. Write down everything they say, little tips, tricks etc.

You got this.


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## CMP (Oct 30, 2019)

I would tell you that bending the conduit is the easy part. Visualizing how it should best be routed to avoid bends is the hard part. Laying it out to get accurate measurements where nothing good exists to measure from makes it even more challenging.
Learn to use story sticks as temporary aids to measure from. Then learn how to make an isometric sketch of the way the pipe should be, then label your sketch with your accurate dimensions. You can be a lot faster and better if you go up one time to layout the best route, make the isometric sketch, then get accurate measurements for your layout and label your drawing.
Go back down and make the sticks exactly to your drawing, then one more trip back up with the proper hangers and fasteners to install them. Actually your hangers and clamps should already be installed to take accurate measurements with your story sticks.

If you can get it installed and done with just two trips up, your doing dam good. Many times your isometric sketches can be used more than once on the same job. I always made mine on chunks of cardboard made to fit in my pouch pockets. Only toss them when the project is over.


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## kb1jb1 (Nov 11, 2017)

CMP said:


> I would tell you that bending the conduit is the easy part. Visualizing how it should best be routed to avoid bends is the hard part. Laying it out to get accurate measurements where nothing good exists to measure from makes it even more challenging.
> Learn to use story sticks as temporary aids to measure from. Then learn how to make an isometric sketch of the way the pipe should be, then label your sketch with your accurate dimensions. You can be a lot faster and better if you go up one time to layout the best route, make the isometric sketch, then get accurate measurements for your layout and label your drawing.
> Go back down and make the sticks exactly to your drawing, then one more trip back up with the proper hangers and fasteners to install them. Actually your hangers and clamps should already be installed to take accurate measurements with your story sticks.
> 
> If you can get it installed and done with just two trips up, your doing dam good. Many times your isometric sketches can be used more than once on the same job. I always made mine on chunks of cardboard made to fit in my pouch pockets. Only toss them when the project is over.


Very nicely explained. I often spend hours going over the many options and planning a conduit run. I find going over it in my head makes the final decision the best one. But then there are guys that take one look and just go to work and the conduit looks perfect. Ask these guys to wire a house and they are lost.


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## wiz1997 (Mar 30, 2021)

I have always believed in order to make runs of conduit look good an electrician needs an imagination.

You need to be able to visualized the conduit run in your mind.

Ask yourself questions......

How can I get from point A to point B with the least amount of bends?

How many bends will it take using one hole straps saddling around things on the wall versus using unistrut and passing over those things?

A well planned conduit run is both functional and a work of art.


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## bill39 (Sep 4, 2009)

To your question about measuring correctly, how comfortable are you with reading a ruler correctly and with fractions (assuming you are in the USA)? 

If you can’t do or read fractions then maybe get an engineer’s rule that reads in tenths or hundredth. Or even a metric rule. But then how are you going to coexist working side by side with people with a fractional ruler/tape measure?


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## splatz (May 23, 2015)

First choice, don't measure where you can put the conduit in place and mark the conduit and work off those marks. Second choice, use a folding rule, as @bill39 said, use an engineering scale which avoids the fraction math. Third choice, use your tape measure. 

It will simplify things if you do most of your work with 90's, 30 degree offsets (multiplier is 2) and 10 degree offsets (multiplier is 6). Think about working things out so you avoid two bends in the same stick. Think about working things out so you avoid short pieces but also don't waste too much time and scrap trying to save a single coupling here and there.


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## Wirenuting (Sep 12, 2010)

When I first started to produce the worlds best looking pretzels, The old guy I was working with let me just have at it and bend away till I was tired of walking to the dumpster. 
He then told me to look at the ceiling as if I was upside down and kind of backwards. He also told me to use the folding ruler when I’m looking.

It gave me a whole new prospective and was the key to being able to walk in a room and quickly see were I was going to run my pipe. 
Also I’m the only one left around the shop who carry’s a wooden ruler in my pocket. Besides being a great measuring device, it’s a nice non-conductive pointing stick.


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## SWDweller (Dec 9, 2020)

The Uglies book with its short cuts helped me in the beginning.
I was roping apartments in Al and the ex foreman stubbed all of the air conditioner feeds on the wrong side. I was handed a bender and 100' of 3/4" EMT and connectors. The boss thought there would be no need for couplings. Wrong!
It took time and pratice for me to get good at it. Then I went to work for a company with a Greenlee 555. Could really make nice looking groupings with that.


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## DragnUp (Jun 18, 2021)

1. on the hydraulic bender, for accurate bends, i make sure to keep my head perfectly still and close one eye when looking at the angle measurements along the outside edge of the bender. if you move your head while making the bend, or if you have both eyes open, you are not availing yourself of the machine's precision. 

2. have some scrap straight pieces of conduit for dummy extensions from the coupling you're working from. this will help you take measurements toward the end of the next piece of conduit you're planning. 

for example, if I had a "T" fitting that i had to drop a straight piece down from, i would go ahead and screw in a piece of conduit that's longer than the piece i think i need. then, i can take measurements and make marks, get it level, plan a support, then i'll have a good measurement for the piece that's going in permanently. 

3. if you close one eye, you can line up any three points or objects by sight. 

4. don't skimp on supports. get good at using beam clamps, window clamps, "parallel" clamps, dummy strut, "L" brackets. if your conduit run is loose and wobbly, you'll never get the right measurements, and you'll have trouble getting the next piece straight and level. learn the rules of what should and should not be used to support conduit.

5. be mindful of other installs in the area - don't block or impede others' construction. electrical conduit is the low man on the totem pole, and you'll be ordered to re-route if your conduit impedes piping, sprinkler/fire systems, ducts/vents, insulation, lighting..... pretty much anything....


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## macmikeman (Jan 23, 2007)

Not all buildings are conducive to measurements, meaning you might end up eyeballing sometimes cause you cannot find a common point to measure off of to compare two different points for instance if the floor slopes . This is where the Bosh laser measurement tool comes in real handy for me. That bugger is very accurate. In my previous example, the floor might slope but 22 feet up the top of the building headers are quite level and good to measure off to , regardless of how windy it is when you employ the laser measurement tool. Works great for horizontal head scratcher's as well.........


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## SomeJoe (Apr 9, 2021)

Hidden conduit; don't worry about dog legs or inaccuracy that much, with time you'll eliminate this.

Exposed conduit; try to always tuck it away in corners, along side rain gutters or other linear objects. Make it look like it's part of the building. If too many degrees then use conduit body to break that up and as pulling points. Install as if you're going to see it everyday.


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