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isherwood
isherwood
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Romex How can I pull cable through wood and metal - retrofitframing without damage?

I had to install a new wire for my water heater (higher amperage/bigger wire), and was drilling through the wooden top plate to snake the wire down the wall to the pass-through. Everything seemed standard. Put the wire in and heard what sounded like wire scraping something (possibly metallic). Pulled it out, and the romexcable sheath had little scratches on it; not gouges, or cuts. The hole was at least 3x larger than the wire and was clean.

Now this house in Florida where metal studs are commonplace. Elsewhere in the house there have been metal bottom plates which transition to wood as we exit the exterior wall zone so I suspect under this wooden top plate there was a metal top plate - probably a few mm of metal.

I know that with metal studs anti-short bushings are used, but I am curious how this kind of situation is handled in old-work scenarios such as this where putting in an anti-short bushing isn't possible. Short length of conduit? Don't worry about it? Pulled the wire in and out a few times - more scratches but no cuts or gouges.

Romex through wood and metal - retrofit

I had to install a new wire for my water heater (higher amperage/bigger wire), and was drilling through the wooden top plate to snake the wire down the wall to the pass-through. Everything seemed standard. Put the wire in and heard what sounded like wire scraping something (possibly metallic). Pulled it out, and the romex sheath had little scratches on it; not gouges, or cuts. The hole was at least 3x larger than the wire and was clean.

Now this house in Florida where metal studs are commonplace. Elsewhere in the house there have been metal bottom plates which transition to wood as we exit the exterior wall zone so I suspect under this wooden top plate there was a metal top plate - probably a few mm of metal.

I know that with metal studs anti-short bushings are used, but I am curious how this kind of situation is handled in old-work scenarios such as this where putting in an anti-short bushing isn't possible. Short length of conduit? Don't worry about it? Pulled the wire in and out a few times - more scratches but no cuts or gouges.

How can I pull cable through wood and metal framing without damage?

I had to install a new wire for my water heater (higher amperage/bigger wire), and was drilling through the wooden top plate to snake the wire down the wall to the pass-through. Everything seemed standard. Put the wire in and heard what sounded like wire scraping something (possibly metallic). Pulled it out, and the cable sheath had little scratches on it; not gouges, or cuts. The hole was at least 3x larger than the wire and was clean.

Now this house in Florida where metal studs are commonplace. Elsewhere in the house there have been metal bottom plates which transition to wood as we exit the exterior wall zone so I suspect under this wooden top plate there was a metal top plate - probably a few mm of metal.

I know that with metal studs anti-short bushings are used, but I am curious how this kind of situation is handled in old-work scenarios such as this where putting in an anti-short bushing isn't possible. Short length of conduit? Don't worry about it? Pulled the wire in and out a few times - more scratches but no cuts or gouges.

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Alex
Alex
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Romex through wood and metal - retrofit

I had to install a new wire for my water heater (higher amperage/bigger wire), and was drilling through the wooden top plate to snake the wire down the wall to the pass-through. Everything seemed standard. Put the wire in and heard what sounded like wire scraping something (possibly metallic). Pulled it out, and the romex sheath had little scratches on it; not gouges, or cuts. The hole was at least 3x larger than the wire and was clean.

Now this house in Florida where metal studs are commonplace. Elsewhere in the house there have been metal bottom plates which transition to wood as we exit the exterior wall zone so I suspect under this wooden top plate there was a metal top plate - probably a few mm of metal.

I know that with metal studs anti-short bushings are used, but I am curious how this kind of situation is handled in old-work scenarios such as this where putting in an anti-short bushing isn't possible. Short length of conduit? Don't worry about it? Pulled the wire in and out a few times - more scratches but no cuts or gouges.