Whole House in ENT

[Kidd6488]

Just curious, has anyone ever done, or seen, a house wired completely in ENT? (The flexible plastic conduit, usually blue)

I just kinda like the idea of being able to easily change things using conduit, and having more protection for your wires.

The price differece can't be that much greater than Romex, 12-2 can it?

And I wouldn't mind having the extra space that comes with a 4" square box and a mud ring.

What is everyone else's opinion?

~Jonathon Reinhart

[HayZee518]

While it may seem to be very practical, using any type of conduit would be a pain especially where turns are required. Flexible ENT would have to go through holes bored in the supporting studs. Nominal 5/8" holes are acceptable but this size would have to increase to allow the tubing to get pulled through the studs, which may weaken the studding.
Most tubing jobs are laid in before the concrete blocks are put in complete with boxes, etc. Corner pulls are field fabricated bends with a bender to allow the wires to get pulled in AFTER the concrete work is finished. Some boxes are accessed from the top with a box or "T" type fitting so with a finished wooden plate on your walls this won't do, because you build on top of the plate for the second floor. Flexible tubing is tough to pull wires through because of the ribbed construction of the flex.

[Kidd6488]

I used some of this for some outlets above our kitchen cabinets (uppers) and pulling (acutally pushing) wires wasn't too bad, as long as I put a little electrical tape on the end of them.

~Jonathon Reinhart

[HayZee518]

Yeah a series of three wires isn't too bad to push into a length of tubing but it get's difficult when you go to more than four conductors. You also have to take into play the current de-rating factors when you pull more than 4 conductors at 80% fill.