C
contract harry
Further to the thread that has closed, here are my findings.......
Straight out of the box I can certainly see where the cost implication lays with these couplers. The machining is lovely and the mechanism robust (they are German, what do you expect?). The claim I thought was “fantastic” was the IP67 rating. Quick 90° bend, coupler, and straight, then dip in the horse trough…………67 they ‘ain’t. IP55 worst case, and IP66 best case. Although…….as they are push together instead of screw, if the ends of the conduit to be inserted were coated in silicon gel it might be possible to get close to their claims. That aside, you cannot pull them apart. In the vice, foot against it, pulling while rotating!!! Yet push the release ring down firmly and they slide straight off.
Next up, continuity. Couple of bits of threaded scrap firstly with regular screw coupler and then BP version (over the threads). Crock clips either end and the difference was 0.01Ω across the joint (in favour of traditional screw coupler).
So, here’s a little codicil for my chum the “engineer”. I’d say it probably takes about 2 minutes to fashion a running coupler with the conduit already cut to length and pipe vice in the immediate vicinity. I did it in 10 seconds!!! That is a 92% labour saving! QED I think.
And try this little hypothetical scenario. You have a HL conduit path with T’s dropping to feed various appliances or switches. In order to reuse or modify the existing installation you’d have to cut the conduit drop from the T box in situ before any bends, and then unscrew the conduit from the T box. Then, once having rethreaded you have to screw the conduit back in. If you were going to put a T box at the bottom of the drop you then have the added gamble of getting enough clearance to screw the bottom box on, or put in another running coupler, or even better the much maligned “running nipple”. With these little beauties once you’d made the cut push the coupler on and you’re off.(we are of course taking as read the appropriate filing has been performed).
So Mr IOW…..I really like them. The “acid test” will be if there is a tangible benefit to using them on site and if they are cost effective. We are conduit-ing again in a couple of weeks so I’ll be able to give a better evaluation after that.
H
Straight out of the box I can certainly see where the cost implication lays with these couplers. The machining is lovely and the mechanism robust (they are German, what do you expect?). The claim I thought was “fantastic” was the IP67 rating. Quick 90° bend, coupler, and straight, then dip in the horse trough…………67 they ‘ain’t. IP55 worst case, and IP66 best case. Although…….as they are push together instead of screw, if the ends of the conduit to be inserted were coated in silicon gel it might be possible to get close to their claims. That aside, you cannot pull them apart. In the vice, foot against it, pulling while rotating!!! Yet push the release ring down firmly and they slide straight off.
Next up, continuity. Couple of bits of threaded scrap firstly with regular screw coupler and then BP version (over the threads). Crock clips either end and the difference was 0.01Ω across the joint (in favour of traditional screw coupler).
So, here’s a little codicil for my chum the “engineer”. I’d say it probably takes about 2 minutes to fashion a running coupler with the conduit already cut to length and pipe vice in the immediate vicinity. I did it in 10 seconds!!! That is a 92% labour saving! QED I think.
And try this little hypothetical scenario. You have a HL conduit path with T’s dropping to feed various appliances or switches. In order to reuse or modify the existing installation you’d have to cut the conduit drop from the T box in situ before any bends, and then unscrew the conduit from the T box. Then, once having rethreaded you have to screw the conduit back in. If you were going to put a T box at the bottom of the drop you then have the added gamble of getting enough clearance to screw the bottom box on, or put in another running coupler, or even better the much maligned “running nipple”. With these little beauties once you’d made the cut push the coupler on and you’re off.(we are of course taking as read the appropriate filing has been performed).
So Mr IOW…..I really like them. The “acid test” will be if there is a tangible benefit to using them on site and if they are cost effective. We are conduit-ing again in a couple of weeks so I’ll be able to give a better evaluation after that.
H
