Cable Snake Steel Fish Tape 50FT

50 FT Fish Tape with High Impact Case for Electric or Communication Wire Puller

• Guide the fish tape through narrow openings, then attach wires to the pulling loop and guide them smoothly to new location
• Reel winds up and stores excess tape as wire is pulled
• Built-in thumb lock holds wire in place

How to Pull Wires With a Fish Tape

With one person standing at the box to feed the wire, pull evenly on all of the wires to be fed. Try to keep the wires untangled as you feed them. Feed the wires by lubricating the wires with one hand and feeding them into the pipe, while pulling the wires off of the wire reels with the other.

As for the person actually doing the pulling on the other end, pull the wires in two to three foot intervals. Count to four and then pull again. Check with the person feeding to see if this is a good pace for them. Pulling too fast can nick the wires and catch your helper's fingers into the box. Leave enough time between pulls so that the person feeding has time to lubricate the wire and pull enough off of the wire reels to feed into the conduit. A simple signal to alert each other that you are ready for the next pull is to tap on the pipe with something like a tool.

Caring for the Fish Tape

Make sure to inspect the reel before each use. Check that its screws are not loose and that there are no cracks. When the pulling loop at the free end of the fish tape weakens, break it off and make a new one. To do this, heat the straight free end of the tape with a blow torch. Hold the hot tape with a pair of pliers. When it gets red hot, bend 0.5 inches of the heated tape over with a second pair of pliers. While the tape is still hot, bend tape over again by 1 inch to make a double loop.