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I'm running a subpanel to a new workshop and after a couple of hours of pulling, I finally got the wire to start coming up the other side just to run out of wire on the other end. The wire was originally calculated for a smaller run which we had to change due to rocks but I forgot about the change when I went to run the wire today. I'd prefer to not have to pull this wire out and purchase more wire (#2 alu) so I'm hoping there is an alternative. I can see the wire coming up the other end, it's about halfway up the conduit and there is about 12" still sticking out the other side. Could I cut both conduits down 12-18", add a junction box on both ends, and then extend both wires as I still have to fit on the expansion fitting and the LB.

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    Something is wrong with your situation if it took several hours to pull the wires through that, for something like that it should only take a few minutes.
    – whatsisname
    Commented Dec 28, 2021 at 23:24

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Forget it. You'll go broke trying to "fix this"

My first thought was "You've given us a tough problem. #2 aluminum is so cheap that it's difficult to find solutions that are cheaper than just buying the correct length of cable". I thought of RMC conduit (6" cover) to cut the corner ($3/foot), or using double-size conduit bodies as junction boxes ($15-50 each).

But then, I realized you're going to need six rather expensive Polaris connectors for this splicing ($20 each). Therefore saving this wire will cost you more than the wire costs. So forget about it. The cheapest way out by far is to buy new cable long enough to make the entire run. And maybe get 4-wire this time so you don't need a discrete ground?

I'm puzzled how you even came up this very short anyway. Normally you buy wire to make it all the way from panel to subpanel. But you clearly aren't even close here.

It is illegal to build conduit around wires. So I would suggest you finish the conduit run, including the LBs going into the house and the interior runs to the panels, install the panels, and then measure the distance with a measuring tape, then add another 10 feet to allow for in-panel wiring and surprises.

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    OP: Also note that at this wire gauge you are allowed to re-mark a conductor across the "hots" and "not hots" color boundary. Instead of buying new triplex or quadplex twisted cable, you could buy 4x single-conductor black-insulated wire and re-mark the ends of the L2, neutral, and ground conductors with red, white, and green shrink tube/tape/paint/etc. I suggest this because IMHO loose conductors will pull through the conduit more easily than twisted cable does.
    – Greg Hill
    Commented Dec 28, 2021 at 22:14
  • Note that for #2 Al, the OP could do the splices with a couple of $25? MPDB63153s (maybe closer to $35, but still much cheaper than Polaris connectors even if somewhat more work to use in some ways) instead...
    – ThreePhaseEel
    Commented Dec 29, 2021 at 1:27
  • In response, I decided to spend the $100 and get new wire. I purchased three new 2 awg black wire and a 6 awg green wire and I'll mark the black wires with tape. In response to how I came up so short is the original plan was to have the box in the left corner of the building but because of ledge, we had to move it to the right of the door which made it too short.
    – Ryan Detzel
    Commented Dec 30, 2021 at 21:26

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