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We have a pretty full conduit from basement to our 9th floor condo. The wires are rated at only 40 amps and we need 80 amps. The architect and electrician we talked to proposed a very expensive solution incorporating building a scaffolding on the building and putting up a new conduit with our 80 amp cables on the outside of the building.Question: Can you instead attach 80 amp cables to the end of the 40 amp cables and pull at the bottom of the 40 amps trough the existing conduit down to the basement?
Hi, Welcome to Just Answer. My name is XXXXX XXX would be glad to assist.
Not sure exactly what it is you are asking. Are you asking if you can pull the new cable inside the existing Conduit using the existing cables as the pulling source, it all depends.
The size of the conduit dictates what size and how many cables can be installed.
Do you know the size of the conduit that you have now?
I would think, that any electrician would have already ruled this out, but sometimes you just dont know.
What size conduit and cable are they proposing to you on the installation? And, what size conduit do have now? That will help access what is happening.
conduit is 2.5 inches but chock full of cables from all the neighbors. Nothing more goes in. I want to replace my cables with slightly thicker ones
Ok, I see it is a shared conduit. That really changes the possibilities here.
The only way to know, is getting a count of every single wire in the conduit and then calculate how much space is being used. Then you can determine if there is enough room for larger cables to your condo.
Unfortunately, when dealing with other tenants wiring, the chance of getting caught up inside the conduit is HIGH. That is probably the one thing they are trying to stay away from. Once you get caught inside the bundle, there is no way to back up or change. You are stuck and now without power until new conduit can be run.
That is what they want to be sure and avoid. When the cables were installed together, they twist and turn around each other. Never a guarantee that they are straight and wont be. If it was only for your condo, that is a different situation, as all the wires will be removed for the new ones, so tangling up is not an issue.
Experience: Contractor-40 Years in the ElectricalTrade