My first big service upgrade took 14 hours instead of 8

I figured a 200 amp panel swap would be a solid day job but the old conduit was full of water and rusted solid. Had to chip out the mud ring and drill new holes in the block. Has anyone else found a faster way to deal with corroded rigid conduit on service changes?

2 comments

2 Comments

sullivan.john20d ago

Man that's a rough one. Best trick I found is to hit that old rigid with a torch for a minute or two before trying to pull the locknut. The heat expands the metal just enough to break the rust seal. Also keep a set of those big Channelocks handy for when you gotta grip the hell out of it. If the threads are totally shot I'll just cut the conduit flush with the box and use a mechanical coupling on the clean end inside the new panel. Saves you from chipping out the whole mud ring. Just be careful not to scorch the block too much if you go the torch route.

miles_jackson920d ago

Whoa hold on, is this really that big of a deal? I mean, I get rust and stuck threads are annoying, but breaking out the torch and cutting conduit flush with the box sounds like overkill. Half the time, if you just spray some PB Blaster on it and give it a few taps with a hammer, that locknut will break loose without needing heat or cutting anything. And if the threads are shot, you can still usually get a thread repair tool in there for way less hassle. Seems like you're going straight to the nuclear option when a little elbow grease and some spray would do the job just fine. Not saying your way won't work, but it feels like a lot of extra work for something that might not be that bad.