Tried using a fish tape made of fiberglass instead of steel on a 100-foot run in an old warehouse. Snapped in half on the third bend.

Was running coax through some nasty conduit in a building from the 60s. Thought the fiberglass would be easier to handle. Got about 60 feet in, hit a tight 90 degree turn, and SNAP. Lost the whole run. Had to pull everything back out and start over with steel. Learned that fiberglass is fine for short straight runs but DO NOT trust it for anything with more than two bends or any old pipe. Anyone else had a fish tape fail on them at the worst possible moment?

2 comments

2 Comments

richard_sanchez431mo ago

Have you ever tried the trick of running a shop vac with a pull string through the conduit first? I had a similar headache in an old industrial building where steel tape kept binding up, so I taped a plastic bag to the end of a string and sucked it through all the bends. Got it through on the first try, saved me a whole lot of cussing. Then I just tied the coax to the string and pulled it back. Way less stress than fighting with a fiberglass tape that might snap any second.

grant8261mo ago

Man that exact thing happened to me last year on a 80 foot run in an old church. I figured fiberglass would be lighter and easier to wrestle through. Got maybe 50 feet in and it just gave up on a slight bend. I was so mad I just sat there staring at it for a minute. Steel tape all the way for anything with any age to it.