Help Pulling Wire, Doesn't Budge

[DKAudio]

I have two 14-2 w/ ground in 1/2" conduit going from my basement out to my garage. I want to get higher service out there so I got 100' of 10-2 w/ ground (30A service instead of the existing 15A). My plan was to pull one of them out and then use the other one to attach the 10AWG romex and use as a fish. I had a friend over to help, he stayed in the basement and I went to the garage. We used channel lock pliers and pulled back and forth on just one of the romex's. The thing would not budge! We pulled as hard as we could. it is probably only 20-25' of conduit about 3 feet underground. I didn't think it would be that hard, there is quite a bit of room left in the conduit. What should I do? By the look of it I would think it would a pretty straight shot and bend up 90* where it comes up to the lightswitch junction box in the garage. In the basement its coming straight out right through the cinder(?) block wall. Any ideas? Thanks

[HayZee518]

what you may have is a piece of conduit going outside, some direct burialcable and exiting with another piece for mechanical protection. that's why it's so hard to pull. no conduit in the middle. also sometimes people don't use compression couplings for 1/2 emt runs they use screw connectors and they come apart.

[DKAudio]

Oh, well it is romex coming out on both ends and the wire is the exact same vintage, type, etc. At this point what are your suggestions? I think the piece might go under my sidewalk from my back door to my side garage door so I don't even think I would be able to dig if I wanted to. Hmm, this is not good news. Should I just leave the old 14AWG? If one 14 can do 15A then 2 should do 30A so maybe I could still use my 10AWG from my breaker box to the exiting conduit. I know the burried stuff wasen't original with the house (1954) because Romex wasen't around then and the whole house is BX with old cracking insulation. I am in the process of rewiring the whole house! Another thing...where the romex enters the conduit in the basement they tied a knot in both of the 14AWG romex's to act as a strain relief to prevent it being pulled all the way into the conduit. Don't know if that helps or gives any clues. Thanks

[HayZee518]

ok, for starters you can't splice a ten onto two 14's and expect to get 30 out the other end - both would be carrying 30 amps - they're only rated at 15 amps each! Only recourse for you is to dig up the lawn and direct bury 10/2 UF with ground at a minimum of 24 inches. The ten - two is about 5/8" wide so you won't be able to use the 1/2 conduit. for mechanical protection where it exits the ground, use 3/4 pvc plastic conduit, a 90 degree sweep and a 3/4" LB with cover and gasket. oh and get a 3/4 male adapter. this will go into the back of a 30 amp disconnect switch or a four circuit breaker box to the main lugs. Fusing will be at your panel in the basement for the feed going outside. Branch circuits will come off this sub-panel. Because it is a sub panel, the neutral bar must be isolated above ground and an auxillary ground bar must be installed in the sub panel box.

[kactuskid]

You have a ton of problems with not only the existing setup but with your future plan as well. I'm just gonna go through and list them so you can be aware of it all.

Is the romex that's currently installed regular NM-B or is it UF rated? The only romex that's approved for underground burial is UF so if this is in fact buried in the earth and not UF rated then it'll rust right through. If this romex is in conduit all the way to the garage it's stuck because 2 separate 14 gauge cables barely fit inside a 1/2" conduit and the only way this was installed originally was inserting the cable as the conduit was installed. It's no doubt hanging up at the elbows.

And, what type of conduit is buried, is it regular metal EMT? If it is then this is also not allowed and it's probably rusted through.

Next is that 2 separate circuits ARE NOT allowed to be fed to a detached building. This is a code violation.

And one of the biggies is that romex cable should NEVER be installed in conduit that is closed off at both ends as yours is. The ONLY time conduit should be used in conjunction with romex cable is as a short sleeve to protect the cable from harm.

You should just abandon the existing conduit and cable and run a new conduit to the garage. Yu can tunnel under the sidewalk using a 3/4" piece of plastic conduit and glue a hose adapter onto the end of it and a cap on the other end. Drill a hole in the cap. The water pressure from your garden hose will tunnel through the earth for you. If clay soil then may need to use a pressure washers power. Make sure you buy your conduit 1' longer than the sidewalk and dig down suffieciently on either side of the walk to allow for the pipe to come through.

Then install individual THWN/THHN rated wires to supply power from your main panel to a subpanel installed in the garage. Having a subpanel in the garage is the ONLY way multiple circuits are allowed. You can then install 8 or 6 gauge wire if desired.

[DKAudio]

I think it won't be that easy. The existing conduit is running parallel with the sidewalk, not perpindicular. It then comes up from underground and was cemented in, protruding through the sidewalk, it does appear to be standard metal conduit but I am not sure.

[DKAudio]

I don't know if this would give any clues but the wire says...
"600V type UF *DIAMOND* --DUF-- 14-2 w/ Ground"