Wire type

[Alie&Jim's Carrilite]

2 hours ago, dan412 said:

I layed the wire out next to the ditch and the conduit slid one piece of pipe over the wire at a time then glued until I had all together then put the whole works in the ditch.

The insulation is usually PVC based.  I did the same as this but wrapped the cables in duct tape at the conduit connections.  

[Lance A Lott]

It pulls through the straight sections pretty easily. In fact if you layout the wire you can walk several glued sections down the wire and then walk the sweep and only have to glue the sweep in. if you only put the glue on the male portion of the joint you should not have to worry. 

[Ronbo]

I have pulled 3 strands of 250mcm about 150 ft. Used an excavator attached to the rope. Just don’t break the rope.

[Imurphy907]

thhn nore xhhn will do.

 

For buried or buried on conduit you want RHH/RHW-2/USE. This is specific service entrance wire designed to be placed in conduit or buried. Do not use THHN or XHHN.

[Jack Mayer]

On 11/3/2018 at 5:13 AM, Chad Heiser said:

When I built my shop, I pulled four 2 gauge wires (stranded copper) through 120 feet of conduit with four 90 degree sweeps in the conduit (1 vertical at the supply side, 2 horizontal under ground and another vertical at the load side).  I used 3 inch conduit and it was a difficult pull.  I don't think I could have pulled the size wire you are looking at through the same conduit.  I wish you the best of luck.

Chad has it nailed. You are going to have an incredibly difficult time with that pull. I've done a similar pull and we had to dig up one of the bends. Even then it was difficult. But I'm not saying it is impossible....only hard. The other advice - to size the neutral the same - is sound advice. There are things that are "allowed" in the code that are not necessarily the best way to do things. Size the neutral the same.

BTW, for others and future reference. You cannot have too big a conduit. I never put in less than 3" EVER. There is a cost difference, but you will be glad you paid that bill. I know it is a moot point in this case....but for others.....

[ARGO]

OK, I am not NEAR as qualified as you guys on AC current. But I AM cheap. I ran a 30A line about 150 ft house to dock straight pull. Bought a spool (500ft) of copper stranded and cut it in 3 pcs, color coded the ends & pulled it all 3 pcs together. Cheaper than buying 3 conductor wire pre made.

[dennisvr]

Success on pulling the wires yesterday. 
I built a tripod arraignment with a pulley and bolted a 2500lb winch to the bottom.  I dumped a quart of lube down the conduit and had a guy lubing and feeding the line as I worked the winch.  I used a flat tape like pull cord rated at 2500lb and spooled it onto the winch.
It was a really good feeling when the wire came out of the other end of the conduit.  So now I need to install all the breakers, plugs and switches and I'll be set.
 

[Lance A Lott]

1 hour ago, dennisvr said:

Success on pulling the wires yesterday. 
I built a tripod arraignment with a pulley and bolted a 2500lb winch to the bottom.  I dumped a quart of lube down the conduit and had a guy lubing and feeding the line as I worked the winch.  I used a flat tape like pull cord rated at 2500lb and spooled it onto the winch.
It was a really good feeling when the wire came out of the other end of the conduit.  So now I need to install all the breakers, plugs and switches and I'll be set.
 

Wonderful news. So what wire did you end up going with?

[Jack Mayer]

Cool. It is always great when a plan works!!!