I have to pull 3, #4's and 1, #8 (150' ea.) through 1 1/2" PVC. There are 2, 90 degree bends. Am I better off to pull 1 or 2 wires at a time, with a additional pull rope, or just pull all 4 at one time. I have plenty of lubricant available.

Comments? Suggestions?

Thanks

Pull them all together

I have pulled many cables as an Electrician for a power company

And agree with Washington1 -- they make a pulling sock that is like

The Chinese finger puzzle that grips cable for pulling... Usually best

To have someone feeding and keeping wire straight -- and someone

Pulling -- a pipe or long bar can increase pulling power when pulling

Rope is wrapped around it and leverage gives more pulling power...

One of the biggest mistakes I saw was wadding wires in a knot at end--

Best to taper cables like the tail of a snake-- taping ends at different

Locations --stagered --- Really pulls much easier

A Fish tape, is usually pushed through the conduit, Attach wires with Head(where wires attach to fish tape or rope) and try to keep smaller than all conductors. You can use the chinese grip if available. You can also use a vacuum to pull a string or line to use to pull with a rope. Basically, just because you MAY not have Fish Tape, or the chinese grip, doesn't mean it can't be pulled.
Also, leave enough wire at each end(If the Panel is 1 foot x 2 foot(height+width), have 3 foot for connecting)
If you know exactly where and how to connect, the wires can be shorter.

These guys are all right. If you're using a pulling sock, you can also use a swivel between the sock and the rope to keep your cables from knitting. We ALWAYS pull an extra piece of jet line into the conduit for future use.

biggsie, I wish I could get all of our guys to understand tapering the end of for the pull!

This went much easier that I had expected. I stripped back the insulation about a foot on each wire. I removed about half of the strands from each. I then folded them back to form a loop and wrapped the wires back over themselves.

I used braided 3/8" nylon rope to pull with. I looped this through the wire loop and used some of the single strands of copper the wrap around the 2 pieces of rope that formed the loop. I then wrapped everything with electrical tape.

I had a helper that pushed and lubed the 4 wires while I pulled. It took about an hour of prep time to layout the wires across the yard and prepare the loop. It only took about 20 minutes to actually pull the bundle through. I think the wire lube really made the difference.

I stressed over this much more than I should have. Thanks for everyone's help.

Good Deal, If you do a lot of this, you will want to strip less than a foot, in case other end needs it, then the short pieces left over can go between meter and disconnect.

I see no reason why it wouldn't have been easy in your case. You sized the conduit larger than required (Smart move).

Yeah, I was planning on 1" conduit, which would have probably been sufficient, but the cost difference to go to 1 1/2" wasn't that much. I'm sure glad I spent the extra money.

The only thing I regret not doing, and I always have in the past, is run an extra pull string for future use. Just got on a hurry and forgot to do it. I sucked the first one through with a shop vac. Not sure if this trick would work well with wires present.

Thanks for all of the help.

Pulled five 10ga THHN's today through 80' of buried 3/4" PVC conduit with two 90 Degree bends. My pull rope was 3/16" cotton clothesline. I put five loops in the end of the clothesline about 2" apart apiece and hooked each wire in each loop with about a 2" bend back on each wire, without wrapping the wire around itself. Then taped the whole run with electrical tape. Some of the taped knots were over 1/2" diameter which made for a firm pull - estimate about 25 lbs of force average. My wife fed the wire in one end while I pulled. It didn't take long to get it through though and I now have permanent power to my two story shed/playhouse. Hope I didn't saw completely through the elbows!