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How does a guy get a steel EMT body?

3K views 35 replies 10 participants last post by  Dorado 
#1 ·
I need one 3/4" steel type C EMT body - the threadless kind, not the kind that also works with rigid conduit. Any tips? I know where to get aluminum ones but I heard they make them in steel, and my EMT is steel, so I figured that's the right choice.
 
#3 ·
"...and my EMT is steel, so I figured that's the right choice"

No, aluminum will work just fine, in most cases.

Greater impact resistance is one of the reasons to insist on steel (actually malleable iron). But if that is the case, why would you use set screw connections or even EMT to begin with ?

You need a 3/4 type C conduit body. You want the threadless setscrew type and "steel". Unless you give on one of the wants, you may not find it.

Or, buy a threaded malleable iron one, and use fittings to adapt to a threadless setscrew EMT connection.
 
#14 ·
Lets get back at the beginning. What exactly are you trying to accomplish, and what will be the end result? Are you planning a home theater, or just a way to hide wiring from across one area to the next?

Instead of all of us playing twenty questions, put it all out on the table, and just explain exactly what you are trying to accomplish from start to finish.
 
#21 ·
I'm curious as to how you know where your tenants are going to want their TV? You are going thru an awful lot of work for something as simple as this...and using 1" EMT to boot.
 
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#5 ·
OK, I gave up looking for steel anyway. Steel may have been thinner so the EMT would be closer to the wall and the wall straps would work better, and my EMT kind of has to be very near the wall because it's coming out of a difficult-to-enlarge hole, but I could probably make it work.
 
#7 ·
For a solution involving bending, I might have to bend it away from the wall only 1/4" - 1/2" so it still fits in the soffit that will be covering it. I can't adjust the soffit depth because I want the soffit to be the same depth as a feature in the corner of the wall, about 2 1/2" (see picture). And I wanted an access panel in the soffit as near the corner as possible. But I'll make it work somehow.
 

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#12 ·
Putting in a condulet (90) will be next to impossible to pull any new cabling through! You would be best off putting a bend in the conduit forming a nice sweeping 90 instead of the condulet. If you don't have a conduit bender, you can buy the 90 degree bends pre-formed and just couple it on either side to your conduit.
 
#13 ·
I won't be using a 90 degree condulet. I'll be using a type C, so the holes are in line with each other. I already assembled most of the conduit with the sweeping bends you mentioned and I can actually push in more than one coax by hand, even one at a time, through a 90 degree bend, then a more shallow bend.
 
#15 ·
You actually answered the only question I needed help with. I'm just a little concerned that the EMT body may not fit because the EMT may have to be too close to the wall. No biggie. The EMT body would just make fishing with fish tape a little easier in some cases. A gap between EMT sections would be fine because it would be covered by the soffit, and I'm building this so fish tape isn't even necessary.
 
#17 ·
I want to put the condulet at the open end of the EMT shown below. Then I'd be able to push new cable through the EMT at that point. The cable will start at the white plate (right side of the top photo) where it's pushed from inside the closet. When it gets to the corner, hand pushing from the closet 7 feet away probably won't work, so I either need a condulet in the corner or I need fishing tools. I want future tenants and Cablevision employees to be able to change cables by hand, so I'm installing a condulet if I can make it fit, or else I'll just leave an uncovered opening where the condulet would have been. That hole in the corner of the wall has steel mesh in it and it's difficult to widen without cutting the corner bead and totally opening it up, which I'd rather not do. I'd rather spend 30 minutes filing inside the hole than cutting off the corner of the wall. Maybe I will.

PVC is thicker and I'd have to enlarge the hole and the condulet would be less likely to fit.
 

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#22 ·
I'm running cable from the living room to the bedrooms. There will be raceway above the bedroom doors so it's easy to drill different holes and add different splitters. The EMT will only go part way through the hallway where there would be no need to change anything other than replacing or adding cable.

It's 3/4" EMT. It's possible I'll switch to 1", but I may be better off with two 3/4" EMTs because of the tight space. Yes, I'm going through an awful lot of work and I'll probably keep it as it is.
 
#28 ·
There's no good way that's easier. This was the best of the bad ways. I don't know how many coats of paint raceway could take before becoming unopenable, and this will probably look better than raceway through the entire hallway. Crown molding isn't user friendly for replacing or adding cable, and my ceilings are only 8' high with closets that would be in the way of continuous crown molding, and it's expensive, especially if I want the living room to match the hallway. Two uncovered parallel cables stapled along the corner of the ceiling certainly wouldn't look better. I've read too many problems with wireless solutions for TV, and I need a standard solution that the next tenants wouldn't be put off by. Under the carpet can't be done without crossing a doorway, which isn't a good idea, especially for data cables. The door rims are embedded in plaster on steel mesh. As long as the end result is good, I'm not letting the work and the fact that it's unconventional bother me.
 
#29 ·
You are installing an access panel. There is no need for a condulet.

You could install a piece of PVC sleeves to get the cable where you need to go.

You could also forget the raceway all together. Just pull a string in with the RG6, then you can use the string to pull in anything additional.
 
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