Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Flex conduit?

Where can I find some 1.5" or 2" flex plastic conduit?? My house is being built and its time for me to run some wires and conduit for future wires.

I am positive I will have more questions in the not so distant future lol

Thanks yall

1.5" or 2" flexible conduit is going to be a tough item to find I'm thinking, if you are in the early construction phase wouldn't you be in a position to install either 1.5 or 2" coded PVC for your cabling runs? I believe this is the way most folks go. I also believe most would opt for the 2" over the 1.5" size PVC.

I was thinking the flex stuff because its an exterior wall. There is little clearence in the attic and I wanted to have the flex stuff come out a few feet into the attic and be able to curve away from the roof line so I can get to it. There is also a fire brake and the roof decking is on. So getting a rigid pipe through the firebrake and into the attic might be a hard one.

I was thinking 1.5 or 2" because I could get away with one run possibly. I need it to run at least 6 runs of 12-14ga speaker cable and at least 5 runs of coax. I could maybe do a few smaller runs but would like to find some 1.5 or 2" flex stuff.

Anyone know the hiding place or is it a "pipe" dream

A quick Googl and I found this. Hope it helps

That might work...guess I have to call and see if its smooth or ribbed on the inside. I was asking here in case anyone has used a certian brand that they knew was smooth on the inside for easy fishing! I had looked through yahoo bet everthing I remember seeing was ribbed.

I would bet anything in the sizes you are looking for is going to be ribbed. I have always suggested central vacuum tubing as conduit. Maybe a section of vacuum hose could be used as conduit, not too ribbed and things slide through it quite nicely.

Nice...that gives me more ideas to look for. That also made me look at mcmaster.com (McMaster-Carr) and they might have something that is completely smooth. I will have to make a few calls...I will let yall know what I find for future refference!

I believe this is what you are looking for.

Carlon Resi Gard Conduit

I used it all over my house for Cat6, RG6, and ran empty for future what ever. Great stuff. Make sure you look at all the connectors and boxes too. Real easy to work with.

That stuff looks pretty good too. Cheap too!

I REALLY like the fact it comes with the wall mounting boxes too...complete kit....THANK YOU!!!

I think I know what im useing now


Do you know if the wall brackets (like that nice 8 gang version) will be ok with 1/2" drywall?

make sure you are using low voltage wall boxes (with the open backs), you will thank me in the future when running cables.

I used 5/8th's sheet rock every where, (I like to over engineer)and had no problems. Ran at least 2 Cat6 and 2 RG6 and 2 Phone to every room and spot in the house that I ever thought would need it. My office, server room, great room, bed room, and media room also got empty conduit runs just in case I ever need it. Maybe fiber some day? Who knows, at least I'm ready.

I used these type of face plates. Wall Plates Along with the associated plugs. There's other brands out there too but they are all similar.

If you happen to mount one too deep the screws are real easy to find at the hardware store but you shouldn't have a problem with 1/2 inch.

NO, no power cords! At least not if you have to have a building inspected / permit. And even if not it's not a good idea. That stuff is for low voltage only. IE, Cat5 or 6, RG6, Phone, Fiber, Speakers, AV etc. Nothing 120v.

Ok I wont use it for the tv power cord. I was thinking I could mount a box where the TV might end up on the wall and just drop the power cord (along with the a/v wires) through it down to the bottom box and plug it in someplace.

So what would you do for the power for the wall mounted plasma? I will still use a run of this stuff and a box so I can run the a/v cables to the TV...but now I need power.

Remember I wont have the TV till end of the year so I just want to be ready when I get it.

Again robert THANKS! I wish I could email you a beer LOL

you put a power outlet on the wall right behind the plasma so no one can see it. And you have a separate hole behind the plasma to run your AV cables.

Just have an outlet installed right behind the center of where the TV will be, next/near where the low voltage video cables will be.

EDIT: Sorry hutz, didn't see your post- makes mine quite redundant. But let me take this opportunity to state that I like your avatar.

Well if there is just a regualr outlet will the plug stick out to far and cause problems mounting the TV? Is there a recessed type of outlet??

Also if I dont know exactly where the TV will end up and what kind of wall mount I will use....how do you decided where to put it. I would hate to have an outlet and then when the wall mount goes on, not be able to get to it. Maybe I can get them to just hide the wire in the wall and then once I get the wall mount try to punch through with power in the right spot.


EDIT:

Ok did some quick looking and them seem to have recessed outlets. So I guess my question is how do you determin where they should be so I can mount the boxes to the studs and have the drywall cut so its sitting there ready to go. when I get the TV end of the year. I dont want to have the wall plats in a spot that makes mounting the TV wrong or impossibe.

Robert...since you have fooled with this stuff I got a question for you.

If I were to run the 2" conduit (for TV A/V cables) up to "around" where the TV would be and just leave it in the wall (2x6 exterior wall with bat insulation). Do you think I would be able to later cut a opening in the drywall exactly where I need it... find and grab the 2" conduit and hook it to a low volt box and then mount it? How does the conduit hook to the wall boxes?

For the power I was thinking I could do the same. Have a wire run and just end, with some slack, around where the TV will be and have some wire nuts on the end because I am assuming it would be live. And then mount a power outlet where I need it and wire it up.

This is the TV wall...the orange is the low volt stuff the red is high volt. The fire brake (horizontal boards between studs) are about five and a half feet off the ground. When im standing they are about eye level on me. I am guessing the center of the TV would be slightly lower so the a/v and power outlets can stay under the fire brake. A single 2" conduit run into the attic to run 5 coax and 6 12-14ga speaker wire (2" big enough???). Coming out of the slab on the left is a conduit for speaker wire to go to the couch (shakers) and can go into the bottom of the 8 gang low volt box. The conduit on the right is for a power wire to be run to under the couch.

Thoughts...comments....anyone

I don't see any problem leaving a conduit in the wall behind the drywall.

However, I do believe it is against code to leave a high voltage wire behind drywall. Not even that, but safety wise it isn't safe, unless you DO NOT hook up that line to the power box, not at all.

Yeah I wasn't sure about the high volt wire being live and wire nutted in the wall like that.

So the power line could be run but just not hooked to that lower outlet. Then when the time comes I would need to wire it to the lower outlet and then put a outlet behind where the TV will end up.

Would it be safe/code to have the run of wire IN the junction box just not hooked up?

So it seems it could work...the trick will be finding the conduit/power wire and then grabbing/moving it to where I need in the wall behind the TV.

Since the flex conduit is not rigid it will probably not want to stay where I want it through the drywall hanging process. Do you think if I ziptie it to the dead power wire it would keep it in place?

Thanks for all this help...I am feeling better about doing the wire myself lol. This room will house m80's ,vp150, qs8's and dual svs 39cs+ subs (for now). I cant wait to hear it!

yes, you can tie the conduit to the dead power line (good idea). Then get some wire staples and just secure the dead line to the stud. Then you will know exactly where it will be, right attached to the stud.

I think you are ok leaving the dead line in the live outlet box, just secure the ends.

-Hutz

Sweet I am ordering the stuff today but wont be installing till monday/tuesday.

Cool I know how you feel, I finished my basement a couple months ago, pre-ran speaker wire behind the walls and did all the electrical runs myself. Everything turned out great! I think I did over kill as I have 4 15a breakers dedicated to just my theatre room (16x14 room).

1 breaker for the lighting (I couldn't tap into existing lighting in other parts of the basement), 1 breaker for the front wall where the sub is plugged in, 1 breaker for my East wall where my AV stuff is plugged in, and 1 breaker for the back wall and ceiling outlet for my projector. I have stayed away from using the back wall outlets for anything as I want to have full dedicated power to my projector.

All I know is that I am set completely for power, I will never be under-powered . If I had to do it again, I would have ran 20A power wires to the front and side wall incase I get a big beefy amp in the future, however I think my setup will even work for that load.

-Hutz

Edit: Even though you are running your own electrical, I would highly advise getting an electrician to hook all the outlets up and such, and all the wires to the electrical box. He can make sure all is working as it should and you get a good sense that everything is hooked up properly.

I am only running the low volt stuff like coax for sat TV and speaker wires. The builders guy is running power and telephone lines lol. I am not going to run the power in the house...it would burn down!!

I told them where I wanted the power outlets on the wall. I am not sure what the amp ratting is going to be on all of it. The box in the middle of the wall will be a 4 way outlet and then there is a 2 way outlet closer to the left and right corners for powered subs to plug into. For now my samson 1000 will be plugged in the center outlet. I have an old onkyo receiver now but will eventually get some sort of 200w x 7 amp. Either emotive (spelling?) outlaw or possibly the axiom amp but that's an expensive sucker.

I wonder if I will have enough power in the middle....I mentioned to the builder I wanted the center plugs to be 20amps and he thought that's what they would be buuuut who knows. Maybe he didn't realize what I was talking about......

How does that work...if it has 4 outlets in that center plug...would each outlet be 20 amps or is it divided by 4 so 5amps per plug. And if its like that would that 4 way outlet need its own wire straight from the breaker box? And what if that center 4way plug is daisy chaned to other outlets on that wall...are the amps cut even lower? And when I tap into the outlet for my "behind the TV" outlet...am I stretching it to thin?? The electrician hasn't started yet but probably will any day now.

The 20a breaker will be in your breaker box. All 4 outlets will feed off that 20a.

I would suggest a dedicated breaker in your breaker box of a 20a run to where all your AV stuff will be. All your amps and pre/pro's and such should be on a dedicated 20a breaker IMHO.

And then I would run a dedicated 15a or 20a for your subs and plasma TV outlets.

And then run an additional 15a for the rest of the oulets in your room for lamps and whatever else, even your ceiling lights can go on this run.

I know that sirquack as well as dwellel (however you spell that!) otherwise known as dave ran a dedicated 20a to their AV rack, and is used only for their amps and processors and whatever else.

So if I wanted to power all the a/v stuff (200x7 amp,pre-pro,cd,dvd,sat boxes ect) in the middle of the room INCLUDING the plasma NOT INCLUDING the subs would a 20amp be enough? I can then do a dedicated 15amp to each of the sub outlets in the left and right corners of the wall OR could those 2 sub outlets share a 20amp?

On a lighter note I found this wall outlet. It is recessed for the power plug behind the plasma. Only thing is it does not attach the flex conduit to it...but as long as its in the wall I think I can grab it to run a few wires through and make it work.
recessed outlet

I think that would be ok (AV stuff and plasma on a 20a).

Both of the subs can go on the same 15a breaker.

Its actually a good idea to keep the subs of the same run as the display, I know when watching a CRT, my sub was plugged into the same line as my CRT, and every time the sub went off I got lines on the screen.

So keeping the subs off of the display is a good idea.

Great...getting closer in my mind!!! I already told the builder when they start the power runs to call me because I wanted some dedicated stuff in there.

THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

To bad I didnt get any work work done today lol

concering your recessed box, wow that is cool!

You can have the power and the low voltage AV wires in 1 recessed outlet, very cool.

I wouldn't worry about the conduit, once the cables are in there it isn't going anywhere

Yeah I just saw that bad boy on Carlon's site...its perfect! I figgure once I have a hole in the drywall big enough for that plate I will have no trouble finding/grabbing the conduit zip tied to the power wire and passing some cables through.

That brand Carlon has some awsome stuff...BIG thanks to Robert for the heads up on it.

Well I got my stuff in and installed it in my house. Big thanks...that worked perfecty!! I didnt run the wires in the conduit yet or the rest of the house becasue all inside walls are empty the outside wall has the conduit. Now I can run the wire when I want after drywall goes up!

Here are some no so grand pics from my cellphone. The speaker wire coming up from the slab is for some shakers under the couch. I cut the PVC down so the wires comes in from the bottom of the 8gang box. There will be a power wire run to sit next to the conduit up mid wall for the future plasma.

Center 4way outlet is on its own 20amp and it will be power for the a/v gear and the other floor outlet is also taped to it so maybe a lamp or two. The 2 outer outlets are on there own 15amp and will have a sub on each or one if I corner load them.

looks good

I am glad you put those dedicated breakers in there. You will be thankful in the future, not having to worry about overloading.

I would suggest buying some string or something, and running them in the PVC while the wall is open and just leave them there, just to make pulling your AV stuff easier.

-Hutz

I thought about the string thing...actualy they came with string already in them but it came out when I stuffed all this crap into the trunk of my 06 mustang with a 12" sub in the trunk as well lol.

My thoughts on that is a fishing weight tied to a string....since its a straight drop it should be cake to just trow the weight in and it should drop to the bottom easy.

I mainly didnt run all the wires becasue I dont know where the sat. multiswitch will be mounted yet....the electricians were all over the house doing there thing....and I was out to 3:30 am the night before!!!

Another trick for fishing a pull string through longer runs is to use a vacuum. Tie the end of the line to a plastic grocery bag and shove in one end. Then at the other end use a strong vacuum hose to pull it through. A shop vac works very well. You just have to create a half-decent seal if the hose doesn't fit the conduit end exactly.

I've done this several times when running cable for a convention. In that case the conduit walls were smooth, but it probably will work even with the corrugated stuff if you have enough suction.

If it doesn't work, or for shorter distances I guess a fish tape would be easier.

Looks like you have done a very nice job. I'm sure the finished product will be spectacular.

Dang thats a good idea too with the vac. So simple and I bet it would work with the corrigated stuff too. I think tho since its a 10' run and straight I am not worried about fishing. I have a fish tape too if need be.

I will post pics as I go....house wont be done till sept/oct. I will order my axiom's closer to that time so I dont have them packed for months but not used. Juuuust in case something is broke or I dont like the sound. But I am sure I will like the sound of them. I am also going to run the new outdoor speakers on my back porch....and my old b&w 601S2 will be in my garage for when I wax/work on the stang lol!