What size electrical junction box fits a 1-inch diameter cable anyway?

[trader4]

Doh! We lost that battle early on. Danny had a real hard-on for installing that box. I agree with you and Oren that the box wasn't really necessary. But I think we missed one point in explaining to him why. As I recall, he was complaining about two things with regard to disconnecting and removing a pump motor:

A - Very difficult to get the wires out from the motor. I disagreed with that. Yeah, it's a little tight, but with a pair of needle nose pliers, they should come out without much trouble.

B - He had to rotate the whole motor/pump to unscrew it from the conduit, because the elbow screwed into threads in the motor. I knew what he meant, but didn't think through that there are two piece conduit elbows, where you could remove the CONDUIT from the elbow, pull the wires out of the motor and elbow, then unscrew the elbow. He now has that type connector, actually he got rid of the elbows at the motors all together, so taking it apart at the motor should be no problem. But I don't think we clearly explained those finer points to him.

[trader4]

Ahah! I knew something wasn't right with the end of that conduit we were looking at. It's as I suspected, there was a bushing inside it. The inside hole diameter was too small, the wall way to thick for it to be liquidtight conduit.

[Danny D]

It's amazing how much collective knowledge there is on a.h.r!

I had physically eyeballed it. And I was wrong.

Also, I had measured the conduit. I was wrong there too.

I learned a lot in this, my first 220v wiring job ever!

[Danny D]

I must, belatedly, agree.

I think all my cursing and swearing from the initial motor removals had swayed me, before we ever started.

If you recall, the original elbow setup made it nearly impossible to get the wires out, mainly for these three reasons:

1. The covers of the original 3 motors were rusted on tightly
2. The motor had to be spun in order to spin off the elbow
3. It was impossible to pull the spaded wires through the elbow

With the covers rusted on in the past, I couldn't disconnect the wires, which meant I couldn't spin off the elbow nor pull the spaded wires through it.

In hindsight, the simpler solution would have been to put a multi-piece straight-through connector on the motor. Luckily, there's nothing stopping me from doing so, except I'm heading off to camp with the kids this weekend.

[Danny D]

I do belatedly agree, in hindsight ... I had not realized that the

*simpler* (and better) solution would have been to buy the following:

a. Two straight-through multipiece (easily removed) conduit connectors b. About 20 feet of conduit & 12 AWG or 14 AWG stranded copper wire c. Spade and open-end crimp-on connectors d. About 20 feet of bare copper 10 AWG bonding wire & connectors

Instead of: a. Six straight-through multipiece conduit connectors b. 20 feet of conduit & 10 feet of 10 AWG stranded copper wire c. Spade and open-end crimp-on connectors d. About 20 feet of bare copper 10 AWG bonding wire & connectors e. Waterproof junction box and waterproof cover f. Waterproof wire nuts & di-electric grease g. Concrete pedestal

The key to the lesson was to better understand the difference between the absolutely horrid elbow connectors and the lousy one-piece patent-pending straight connectors versus the much easier to remove multi-piece connectors!

That took time and experience. The lessons learned are remembered for the *next* wiring job!

[Danny D]

I'm confused. I see that it's a multi-piece elbow connector, but are you saying the original setup wasn't water tight?

[gfretwell]

If you are going to do this again, go to Home Depot and look over an assortment of the parts to get a better idea of what is available and what stuff looks like. If your store is like mine, you won't be disturbed by a pesky sales associate for an hour or so.

[Danny D]

The main breaker panel is about four feet above the pool equipment.

The 40,000 gallons, if it were to overflow into the pool equipment would surely run down the hill, as it's all very steep stuff out here in the mountains. It would never even make it to the neighbor's yard.

[gfretwell]

NEMA 3R equipment is weather resistant but not really water tight. The boxes will accumulate water if the rain hits them directly, particularly after the gaskets start to degrade. A lot of guys will drill a small hole at the lowest part to allow water to drain out. That is why anything outside or underground is called a wet location.

[trader4]

No. Just that the picture that you showed us of the end of the conduit did not look like liquidtight conduit of any size. The hole was small, the wall was way to thick. That's why I said it looks like it has a bushing in it, which was correct.

[Danny D]

Auuuuurgh. *now* I understand what you were trying to tell me! You are wholly correct! In fact, while I was testing the system just now, I kept kicking the concrete paver, and thinking I should have moved it up a foot or so, out of the way.

That's *exactly* what you had forseen, and were desperately *trying* to tell me! Mea culpa. I did what I thought you had suggested, only I didn't fully understand it.

Next time, I'm just going to put a straight shot conduit from panel to motor - but - if I were to have the junction box, I would move it closer to the panel so that it's more out of the way!

Sigh. (slaps head).

Anyway, since the leaks moved backward (now they're coming from the underside of the pump to motor interface!), I'm glad the paver is there to keep the electrical box dry!

[Danny D]

You scare me. A lot! I'm going to have to switch nyms again, just to start fresh! :)

BTW, I think every thing you said, turned out to be the best practice, in the end. As was said by Bob, trader4, and others.

I just didn't understand it all.

Right now, I have to pack for camping, but, the good news is that it's all buttoned up, and, well, the *original* leaks are wholly fixed!

The key problem is that there are new leaks, at the interface between the pool pump and the motor.

I think there is a "seal" there that I've never replaced. Maybe I damaged it. Dunno - but *both* motors are leaking from that location!

Unfortunately, I have the "band" tightened as far as it will go by hand:

[trader4]

What exactly was the point to seperating the motor from the pump to begin with? I recall hearing about soaking parts in acid too. I just tuned out on all that.....

[DD_BobK]

that 12 was more than sufficient. don't know how you got onto 10, but it's better to be too large,than too small. Only disadvantage is it;s harder to work with.

+1

[DD_BobK]

be done in just a few minutes. And you should rarely have to do even that, because those pumps last a long time.

[DD_BobK]

DDD-

That's got to be the most unusual wiring job I've ever seen in 45 years of DIY & real engineering too.

[DD_BobK]

[DD_BobK]

brought this up already. >>>>

Bingo! +2

DDD- You're headed to pump repair or replacement now. :(

When you put in the new pumps you can re-wire the whole installation correctly and get rid of that dumb box / stepping stone Rube Goldberg arrangement.

Oh well.....

[tamilkamal64]

[trader4]

He could have just cut off the old conduit and wires near where they enter the motor, since he was going with new wiring anyway Or he could have removed the conduit nut and pulled the conduit off the connector. Or if none of that was to his liking and he chose to rotate the whole motor, why couldn't he just rotate the whole pump too? It's not all that much more difficult. Seperating the motor from the pump when that whole assembly was working and not leaking made no sense to me.

Also, wasn't there something about soaking the parts in acid?