Had to pick between a fish tape and a glow rod for a tight conduit pull today

I was doing a 60 foot run through a 3/4 inch conduit in a finished basement in Brookline and couldn't decide between my steel fish tape or a fiberglass glow rod. Went with the glow rod because I thought it would bend better around the tight corners. Big mistake, it snapped on the third bend and I had to leave the wire halfway in and come back tomorrow. Has anyone else had a glow rod fail on them like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

tarab541mo ago

Started using glow rods a lot for tight spots but after snapping two on simple bends I went back to steel tape, just gotta baby it through the corners.

hugo_ellis1mo ago

You ever had a buddy who swore by glow rods no matter what? I had a friend who was all in on them until he tried to fish one through a crawlspace with a 90 degree turn and it snapped clean in half. He was so mad he threw the pieces in the trash and drove straight to the hardware store for a steel tape. Now he keeps the glow rods for straight runs but won't touch them if there's any real bending involved.