Snapped a fish tape inside a conduit run behind a hotel wall in Nashville last Thursday

I was pulling three Cat6 lines through a 2-inch EMT for a new security system and the tape broke off about 15 feet in, leaving me stuck with no way to get a new pull string through, so I ended up cutting a small access hole in the drywall to fish it out from the middle, has anyone else had to resort to that kind of patch job?

3 comments

3 Comments

rowan7251mo ago

MAN, that brings back memories! My buddy had the SAME thing happen pulling speaker wire in a office ceiling and he ended up cutting a hole in the drop tile just to get a grip on the broken end. It took him forever to patch it back up but at least he didn't have to rerun the whole line.

casey161mo ago

Oh man, cutting into the drop tile is a pro move honestly. My buddy had to fish speaker wire through this old office ceiling with bad piping in the way, and he snapped the line right at the corner. He ended up cutting a 6 inch square out of the tile, pulling the broken end through, and then gluing the piece back in with some caulk. It was ugly for a bit but you could barely see the seam after a coat of paint. Definitely beats pulling 50 feet of wire again through that nightmare.

riverreed1mo ago

Man, I heard about a guy who used one of those magnetic retrieval tools to grab a broken fish tape out of a wall cavity. Saved him from cutting drywall, but he said it took forever to line it up right.