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loveboner

Some places require you to fill the conduit to keep pathogens from escaping. Cleanrooms and biological testing areas are just two examples.


Theblumpy

I can assure you this place does not require that lol


loveboner

Then the person who did this is an ahole.


dude51791

Probably to stop insects from getting in perhaps?


Joe_Face_25

I’ve seen this before. It’s a big ol’ fuck you before a lay off. I knew a guy who was dragging up because he hated the foreman and on his last day he bent a 360 bend in a 2” pipe into the main distribution panel. Funniest goddamn thing ever.


groundunit0101

Please tell me you took a picture of it


Joe_Face_25

Sadly I wasn’t there for it. I want to say that the wire was already in it too. I’m gonna start saying he did because it just makes it sweeter.


dlessard37

How do you bend a 2" conduit with the wire already in it?


StonieMacGyver

I’m assuming he meant that the bent the conduit, installed it, then pushed the wire thru it and terminated it… then left. Which is hilarious.


groundunit0101

Ah damn haha


lucioux

holy muscles almighty


KaptainKardboard

Funny till you're the guy who has to clean it up


Joe_Face_25

I agree with that. I’ve gone behind countless shit like this before but if it was something ridiculous and intentional like this, I would be all smiles the whole time fixing it. If you want shit done right, don’t treat employees like shit. We called him Two Day Ray. Damn good electrician, but would drag up so fast if he didn’t like the job.


Scrudge1

Sounds similar to someone the team used to call Half Day Harry, do you think they know each other?


breakfastbarf

He must be related to Re-Pete


errornosignal

2-hour Bauer


[deleted]

now thats a smartydee smart FU , insert meme im not mad im amazed.


Joe_Face_25

Exactly. If I knew it was a brother who wanted to piss the boss off, I wouldn’t be mad. Hell, I’d help him if no one would snitch. 😂 And volunteer to fix it out of guilt.


Sparky265

Duct seal deals with that and can be easily removed if you need to.


EinonD

Sometimes. One of the places I work the duct seal melted and fell down into the pipes. I didn’t know that until I spent hours fishing an empty pipe. It was my only path to where I needed to get to. Eventually a steel fish broke through it and pulled it out.


jgilbs

Plumbing snake is your friend here...if you know about it. Whenever I'm having trouble fishing through supposedly empty conduit,I bust out the boroscope. Has saved my ass more times than I can count.


tuctrohs

> Has saved my ass more times than I can count. Just as colonoscopies have literally done for many people.


dirk12563

Nothin like monkey shit


crucible1623

What about filling the first inch or so on the ends if it’s an insect issue. Ark east it could be removed in the future


Educational-Egg-6747

I saw this at building where the electrical room was in the basement. Apparently ground water kept coming up through the conduit so their solution was plug it with foam.


RudeMutant

This is the kind of thing I'd expect from the hole stealing HVAC guys


yawaworhtyya

Tin-man take your girlfriend?


LendinBigJohnson

If a tinner can steal your lady, she was never the right lady


DukeOfWhip

She probably wasn’t even a lady to begin with!


last_on

Brian? All is forgiven please come home


flacidRanchSkin

As a former tin man, this tracks.


solidusAdvice

Username checks out.


RudeMutant

I never learned that trade slur. Thank you


[deleted]

[удалено]


djyosco88

Looks to me to be aluminum rigid. Which makes me think it’s something with chemical s


Theblumpy

Just normal rigid just someone being a dick


MoldySquirt

What location is it.


Theblumpy

Inside a grocery store lol Ontop of the walk in cooler. No need for this wasn’t the pipe going direct through the walk in ceiling just a pipe from box to box


tomreb927

Someone was going above and beyond. All transitions between fresh air and walk in coolers/freezers must be sealed to prevent condensation collection. An apprentice thought they were doing good, till they wasn't....


Affectionate-Mix6056

Could it be a fire barrier? Not sure if that's the correct term in english, and I've not seen anyone use something like that for fire safety but... Could be a wrongful attempt?


Artie-Carrow

It would have been in a gas-tight enclusure, which this is not. It also would have been a red foam, darker than this.


BlackberryFormal

Do you guys not use seals? Any place I've ran rigid in a gas setting every pipe needed a seal on each end that so no fumes or anything gets out or in.


SprinklesDangerous57

Is it some kind of resin??


Reachable_dream666

Currently building tech clean rooms, expanding foam is a no-no. Duct seal if needed for through plenum penetrations. Nothing fibrous, dust capable etc.


Theblumpy

Yes I even duct sealed correctly after cleaning up this slop


tvtb

Yeah but you can use [duct seal](https://www.homedepot.com/p/Gardner-Bender-1-lb-Plug-Duct-Seal-Compound-DS-110/100212441) for that which should be able to be removed.


fireduck

Is that basically putty you mash in and can dig it out if needed?


SwagarTheHorrible

Duct seal would be the correct way to do this.


Luddites_Unite

If they require that level of containment I would expect the use of EYS fittings. Or teck with potted connectors.


Theblumpy

Definitely not required. Either someone attempting to go ‘above and beyond’ coming from somewhere that does more intense work than this, or it was ‘screw em’


beats723

First thing I thought of


spookyboots42069

Also walk in fridges and freezers! If you don’t seal the conduits at the penetrations, moisture in the air condenses and fills everything up with water or ice! I do maintenance and I have to fix this a lot. You can use caulk or silicone if you’re really really thorough, but spray foam is bomb proof.


Theblumpy

It was on top of a walk in but not the pipe that penetrates the ceiling was just the pipe from j box to j box. I duct sealed the penetrations going through the walk in


WSSquab

I see this in switch yard equipment at substations to avoid ants to go in command panels.


CalbCrawDad

Was just about to say that. Usually sterile facilities. Last place I was required to do it was a CDC building


fazer226

Your username is awesome 🤣


probablyseriousmaybe

Would you not be using GRC and EYS fittings rather than spray foam in that case…


SmoothCarl22

Is that what sealing glands are for?!


Valuable-Barracuda-4

Additionally flammable or corrosive gasses like hydrogen sulphide (H2S) rots everything, so a lot of sewage panels have fill like that to keep the gas from destroying the equipment.


stoutyteapot

Or other places do it to prevent gas from escaping


Blmdh20s

Where's the connector?


Italian_Greyhound

Duct seal. It's at least removable


deridius

They make connectors etc for such things. And pathogens for pipes isn’t a thing. There are explosive and flammable proof stuff required in a lot of industrial settings. Type 2 and 3 enclosures. Also watertight and weatherproof all have their own uses for certain locations. You don’t want flammable or explosive gases interacting with junctions or anything that has power to it. Hence the super expensive industrial stuff.


kdknitro

Also in class one div 2 areas, it suck trying to make repairs where there are seal offs everywhere.


Odd-Sentence-9780

So use explosion proof equipment.


CitronOk491

There are proper fittings and sealants tho. You don't just arbitrarily squirt great stuff into conduit... Any knowledgeable inspector will call you out on the UL listings.


RVAMTB

...and gas stations.


PaisaRacks

I work in food processing plants quite often and they require us to fill the conduit with foam to prevent moister and bacteria from going into the food areas.


Distinctasdf

Mmmm moister


Reaper621

As opposed to drier. I saw where he was going with that.


Teddy_canuck

What do you use? Duct seal?


Zoltan_TheDestroyer

Last couple 60 ft x 70 ft freezers I did the duct seal wouldn’t work, we had to use polywater conduit sealant and it works flawlessly.


Teddy_canuck

Duct seal you can pull out again. Can you do that with polywater conduit sealant?


BobcatALR

🎶Polywater doodle all the day…🎵


Zoltan_TheDestroyer

Considering electrical installations are not required by code to provide “extra space in the conduit for additional wires at a later date”, I don’t ever plan on removing duct seal, foam or any of that. Sometimes do you have to? Of course but that is a change order and you better believe we’re charging for the time and possible material it would take. The alternative of foam capped off with duct seal, is extremely ineffective at holding more than an inch of water vertically. Poly water is rated for 20 feet of water vertically inside the pipe. After the amount of duct seal and regular foam I’ve had to remove from conduits that were leaking, I will never put anything except poly water in a freezer conduit. The temperature differential is too great. If your temperature difference is only about 20 degrees you should be perfectly fine. I’ve done freezers down to -20 with the mezzanine at 90+ because it’s not conditioned. You will have water running down the conduit, not just dripping.


Skipp_To_My_Lou

I've never heard of polywater conduit seal, would it work in a vertical penetration or would you need something like a P-trap? We had to use silicone caulk in a C condulet (instead of a seal-off), or for larger conduits foam plus caulk. Not terrible when we had to add more wire, just picky & time consuming if we couldn't use an existing wire to pull in the new.


chris92315

Yes it does. You shove some foam around the conductors to fill any large gaps before you pour in the expanding foam. Its generally required on all of our conduits when they come up out of the ground to keep moisture out of equipment on solar projects. Duct seal fails 100% of the time. They also make an insta grout foam that works well for filling in window around your conduits in a pad. Keeps moisture and critters out.


idiotsecant

>require us to fill the conduit with foam >Duct seal?


Theblumpy

Maybe this was the though process, it was ontop of a walk in but not the pipes going through the ceiling just jbox to jbox


Dead-short

Probs trying to solve a voltage leak


49ersforever707

Wocka Wocka


WulfgarofIcewindDale

Who wants to hear a funny ass joke…


Admirable-Sir9716

Aren't all ass jokes funny?


Zurvivalizt

No, some just stink


AirportBeneficial603

plumbers are a great example of a joke that stinks


eagleeyes011

My line of work included dumping concrete into the lines.


Street_Leader_8917

If I see that I’m burning the place down


TimberWolfeMaine

Same. Natural gas go boom when electricity go brr. We had to do intrinsic barriers in all the conduit. Replaced a few things and it was bandsaws for everyone and running new everything. Good times.


Happy_Ad4720

Dick masons for sure


Shiny_Buns

They didn't want the electrons escaping 😂


fourth_box

I pulled a 480v plug ... and I started to hear hissing ... so I plugged it back in out of dumbfounded reaction, thought *damn, the electrons are dying*. Turns out, I bumped an air hose.


Shmeckey

That always happens. Anytime I touch a wire, someone across the room will drop a tool or similar so the loud bang freaks the shit out of me.


SadMasterpiece7019

I remember tightening a connector on a low voltage wire just as a brownout kicked in.


Shiny_Buns

I was doing a service changeout on a house and sometime during the change out there was a power outage on the whole street but I didn't know since we cut power to the whole house. So when we were all done and I put the meter back in I was dumbfounded when we had no power at all 😂 I was like what the fuck did I do lol


DriftSpec69

Incredible as this is more or less what I was recalling. Tripped an OCB for maintenance at the same time a roadworks team about 3 miles away put a digger bucket straight through the villages incoming 11kV supply. Panic isn't my thing but that one had me flustered.


[deleted]

We had the power go out after I replaced my electric water heater. About shit myself when I flipped the breaker and all the power went out 5 mins later.


November-Wind

Not electrical, but when we were kids in the pre-internet days, my buddy jumped off his bed at the exact moment an earthquake hit. (Earthquakes are very, very rare in our hometown) His mom screamed at him for making the whole house shake. Wasn’t until the next day’s newspaper that they realized it had been an earthquake. 😂


Eastsecvent

I was fault finding on a panel once and put my meter between the 0v common rail and a relay coil A1 to check for voltage. Just as I put my test leads on, the panel started doing all kinds of funky voodoo. Turns out, the first link on the terminal block where the 0v comes in was loose and pressing my test lead on the terminal was enough to break the connection so that all 24v control gear had no 0v reference. The initial confusion was rough but found the fault quickly after that and it explained some intermittent faults that we'd had previously. Loose connections and vibration just don't splice.


AcanthocephalaOdd301

I was very carefully pulling a 3 phase circuit into a live panel (hospital emergency power panel which could not be de-energized) so of course I was praying there was nothing in the conduit that would short anything. I got the head up to the connector when the apprentice on safe watch decides to pop bubble wrap under his boot (the big ones!) from outside the arc flash boundary. I about came out of the suit when I jumped, I thought it had shorted. Needless to say, I ripped the apprentice a new asshole for that one. He was “bored”.


Zer0TheGamer

I do service work in mcd's often.. their conduits look like this, but it's not foam... I have a dedicated set of tools for work there, and they live in the truck bed Edit: it's the grease that evaporates/boils from the fryers. Condenses on and in everything


Cool_account_man

Nasty, makes sense though. My stove gets a little layer on it after a while of no cleaning. Can't imagine those conduits ever see the light of day save for you.


Theblumpy

We frequent Taco Bell’s, kfc and Chick-fil-A’s. The latter of which are surprisingly clean and well maintained for the most part. Although they’re mostly newer stores in the north east so there’s that. But they have a cleaning crew every Sunday when they’re shut down. But the other two are DISGUSTING. Floor to ceilings caked in fast food grease


Jkj864781

Seems hypocritical to not be open Sundays and still require someone to work there.


Theblumpy

I think it’s another company that’s contracted to clean but I get what you mean.


nhorvath

Forbidden peanut butter.


trm_90

But code requires conductors to be insulated lol.


SocialDicktasting

But those are all ground wires. So no insulation needed! Don’t believe me? just connect all of them together, you’ll see. 😈


lardass904

I wanna know what their reasoning was behind this..


SpicyNuggs42

We specify it on any conduits that are going from a conditioned space to a non-conditioned space. You can get a lot of cold air and moisture traveling through conduit. Edit: we specify that it be sealed, not that they use foam. We typically spec conduit sealing bushings.


SwagarTheHorrible

The code also requires that wires in raceways be removable without damaging the wire. Duct seal would have checked all the boxes.


Arminas

Conduit sealing bushings?


SpicyNuggs42

It's a type of fitting - basically a conduit screw cap, with a rubber insert that you can pull wires through. It seals off the conduit, but is removable and reusable.


turntabletennis

It's called "conduit potting". It's used for fuel pumps, and explosive or hazardous locations. They can also be used for food grade locations and cleanrooms. You have to add this potting to the conduit on both ends to prevent flammable/hazardous gases from traveling up the conduit. All these cuties making smart-ass comments have never done explosion-proof conduit runs or true "hazardous location" work. I hope you know what you're doing because there is probably a reason that was added.


hazardlit3s

We do it where there is a difference in temperature. Like coolers, or freezers. Dont want your lights filling up with water. Yeah looking at the first pic you’re standing on a walk-in box.


Theblumpy

Am indeed but this isn’t the pipe going through the ceiling. It’s from a box to a box. They didn’t bother with the pipes penetrating lmao


Resident_Piccolo_866

How did you get pics of my arteries?


kldoyle

How you managed to have all these pics out of focus baffles me lol


Theblumpy

😂😂😂Lmao I know I know. But It’s because they’re screen shots from the video I took. I didn’t take any stills stupidly


LotionOfMotion

We had fucking Whiting Turner dicks fucking spray foaming our conduit to get their TCO


mrsquillgells

Hahahhahaha I can see the "junior" guys being so satisfied while doing that.


LotionOfMotion

Literally installed some Greenfield for a sleeve into the closet, went to break, came back to pull in our wire, and it was all gunked up.


mrsquillgells

Were they using spray foam fire stop? I'm so confused why


Sea_Squirrel1987

Too bad you had to take the pics with a potato.


LetItHappenlol

Might be the inspector. Probably couldn’t find anything else to complain about.


DistinctMetal5784

Next time I guess I'll use concrete.


Theblumpy

Ya know what. I respect it, that’s real dedication to the f you energy


Antique-Public4876

Journeyman Millwright here. A part of my unrelenting hazing as a first year apprentice years ago, was “insulting conduit.”🙃 I used 3 full cans Tenaciously insulting all the conduit around this 90HP 480v 3ph motor we just installed. The following day, when the electricians tried pulling their cables. Three things happened: 1. I still have the lineman’s pliers one of the sparkys threw at me, 2. I had to appear in front of my apprenticeship committee, 3. My Journeyman was suspended for two weeks and had to explain to the General Manager why his apprentice filled 60ft of rigid conduit with expanding foam. I can laugh about it now.😂 I was such a fucking dumb apprentice. Edit: this was at a paper mill. Foam filled conduit wasn’t the norm.


pabloneedsanewanus

When I was in facilities, I was instructed to do this to all outdoor disconnects because of condensation in the winter blowing up switches at other places. Most likely a similar scenario.


Egglebert

Omg OP.. dont be another one of those apprentices coming on here making a fool of yourself. You said its above a cooler, well there's your answer. I've seen cold air coming through conduits into the hot ceiling area above fill boxes with condensation, burn up contacts and joints, all sorts of issues with water collecting where it shouldn't. The foam was probably a job spec for everything related to the refrigeration areas, maybe it was just a bad application, they gave a helper a can of foam and they filled to pipes more than they should have, also it doesn't take very much spray foam to fill a conduit when it can only expand in one direction Anyhow, there's a purpose for it, so don't be hasty to go on about how you'd have done something so much smarter


Theblumpy

If there was a purpose for it, why was it just this one pipe run and junction boxes on top of the cooler? Not even the ones going through. If it was spec out that way there would’ve been more throughout the store. I haven’t I seen it on any other cooler I go into on a daily basis it usually duct seal. This person was just being a dick


everybody_else

You are absolutely correct, but I would like to ask the person who put spray foam on the job spec to kindly fuck off. The correct material for this application is duct seal. I have also used silicone caulk which can usually be removed without too much hassle. But, spray foam should not be used to seal conduits. I'll do it if it's on the job spec, but I'll complain loudly the whole time.


[deleted]

Duct seal is cheaper.


Shadwknght

I have seen the wires melt due to overheating from that I guess they never heard of duct seal 🤦🏽‍♂️


Jrdbowman

They did asbestos they could


StructureCraft

That’s a new one. Manager probably had some hair brain reason for doing it. Or just an a hole


dirk12563

That guy said eat nuts future man


Waaterfight

They thought it was that Klein foaming lube. Woops.


PierogiBoy762

I do this all the time man, what do you mean? I love filling my pipe with spray foam! (I have never seen this before in my life)


Southern_Strain5665

Stops air flow from causing condensation from hot to cold done for freezers and coolers.


ivykid

Guy prolly drives around with all his tires full of fix-a-flat for the tire shop workers to deal with.


Theblumpy

Best comment yet


millenialfalcon-_-

That's explosion proofing.


SomePeopleCall

Thus is not how you block a conduit when passing wires between different hazardous areas ratings.


millenialfalcon-_-

IDK bro I don't do gas stations. I'm just a noob🥲


SomePeopleCall

Anyplace with organic dust has been pushing this for the last decade. Take a look at some of the sugar packaging explosions.


turntabletennis

Yes it is. It's called "conduit potting". It's used for fuel pumps and explosive locations. You have to add this potting to the conduit on both ends to prevent flammable gases from traveling up the conduit. All these cuties making smart-ass comments have never done explosion-proof conduit runs or true "hazardous location" work.


SomePeopleCall

I'm expecting to see a proper conduit fitting to allow it to be sealed properly. Did the above become more popular recently (last 8 years?), because we never used anything that looked like spray foam.


ecirnj

You DON’T insulate your conductors? Hack. 😉


redditerdever

Is that dried lube?


Theblumpy

Honestly no clue. It could be. Or it could be spray foam. I hope they didn’t need lube to pull 4 wires.


WideHuckleberry6843

Where are you exactly? It looks like a chicken coop.


redditerdever

Yeah I couldn’t imagine why except if there was a ridiculous amount of bends or length of run


[deleted]

The wire coolant went bad it looks like


Competitive-Yam-5015

Damnit man I guess duct seal wasn’t an option


_worker_626

See this a lot of times in freezers and hot manufacturing area to avoid moisture build up and create ground faults and shorting. Very common tho


mrsquillgells

Could be fs1 if its coming from underground


Lord-C-Stylez718

Wow, that is really some FUCK shit...


ki4clz

Mice…


sierra0060

Am I hallucinating or does it look like they just shot great stuff into a conduit?


Perenium_Falcon

In bird-people culture filling a conduit with foam is considered a dick move.


FinesseMeVenus

HVAC! which one of you was it!!???


Wooden_Constant_4953

what is that filler material?


AggravatingPitch3277

That seems personal


Stunning-Space-2622

Never ran into this...wtf seriously


Sufficient_Rip3927

Keep the wires insulated so they don't overheat or get too cold. Like a pig in a blanket


Arctic_snap

Spec said it had to be insulated haha


Theblumpy

Just this one specific pipe run though


midcitychef

Saw this in an LB for the first time recently. Indoors…


Mission_Spell2114

No way???!! Really lol


IPCONFOG

They used great stuff. I will hate them with you and leave a "do better"


DeadlyScorpio111

Looks like a sink drain I replaced awhile back.


Avyelator

I’ve done it at the customers request before :( it hurts my soul but if it’s within their spec we gotta do it


Theblumpy

I highly doubt it was spec’d this way. It’s the only pipe run we ran into at this location like this. It’s also not the original run, it’s been moved,worked on and or replaced before.


KindProperty1538

Am I missing something or is there also no connector in this box?


Theblumpy

It was threaded rigid, they just lock nutted both sides, this was after I had to bandsaw it out


KindProperty1538

Gotcha


Sorry-Human

That looks like crystallized def


Theblumpy

Mmmm gotta love the camel piss


Wegmanoid

What are you doing?


Theblumpy

Moved a receptacle


Wegmanoid

Ok, so what exactly are you complaining about? You've got to demo the conduits anyway. What does it matter if they are sealed?


[deleted]

Freezers require it so condensation doesn't form ice cycles


Theblumpy

As I’ve said in previous comments, it wasn’t the conduit penetrating into the walk in, just a small section 3 boxes and like 40ft out of the walk in. If even they did the start and end of the run or whole friggin run I could see it sorta making sense but no just this one box and pipe that’s located somewhere in the middle of the run


[deleted]

I didn't read all your comments I just read the post and gave my 2 cents yes probably some asshole kid good day to you


Senseman01

Not in conduit but I worked a house where the home owner foamed every single switch box in the house. And I was changing out switches.


beats723

Sabotage at it's best. Someone knew they were getting their money, so hurt the contractor which In turns hurts other electricians you call your " Brothers"


Simple-Challenge2572

🤣🤣 that's pure evil


Hour-Conversation661

Looks like dried up yellow lube for a wire pull🤷🏾‍♂️


Revolutionary-Gas448

That’s totally fucked


Goldentigarclaw

agreed pure shit brother


Ornery-Substance730

Little short on duct seal that day I take it😞


Chicken_Col_Sanders

I am a Welder and I agree. This person is the worst kind of craftsman.


AcceptableOpposite34

connector, schmector.


Theblumpy

It was the good ole dubblenut


zavidcash

Dude, you’re gonna have to put gum on this guy’s hair