Debate: Is landing pipe with connectors faster than bending offsets on big jobs?

I tried pre-making all my conduit sections with couplings instead of bending offsets on this warehouse job last week in Dallas, and it cut my rough-in time by like 2 hours. But my journeyman said I'm sacrificing stability for speed so I'm curious which way you guys go on commercial runs.

2 comments

2 Comments

oscarb7128d ago

Yeah I tried the all-coupling method once on a parking garage and ended up with a whole row of connectors that looked like a chunky metal caterpillar. My foreman walked over and just shook his head without saying anything. I get the speed part, it does save time on the initial layout. But on big commercial runs I've noticed those couplings can wiggle loose over time if the pipe gets bumped around during other trades' work. You ever see what happens when drywallers hit a row of them with a lift? Not pretty. So I still bend offsets most of the time now. It might take a little longer but at least nothing's coming apart behind the sheetrock.

bettywilson28d ago

Buddy of mine tried that on a hospital job. Drywall crew dropped a sheet of rock right on the line. Couplings popped off like bottle caps. Had to rip out a whole section of ceiling to fix it. He bends offsets now too, swears by it.