Free Sample
The Complete Handbook of Electrician Fish Tape
A practical handbook for professionals, businesses, and serious hobbyists: choosing, using, and maintaining fish tape for conduit and wall pulls.
by Alumigogo Books
Chapter 1: Understanding Electrician Fish Tape
The electrician fish tape is a simple-looking tool that solves a stubborn, repetitive problem: getting a pulling rope, and then a cable, through a space you cannot see and cannot directly reach. That space is usually a length of conduit, a wall cavity, a ceiling void, or a floor chase. While a flashlight can show you the opening of a pipe, it cannot show you what is happening a few feet in, especially after a 90-degree bend or two. The fish tape is the tool that bridges that gap, both literally and practically.
At its core, a fish tape is a long, flexible coil of flat or round spring steel, fiberglass, or a composite material. It is wound onto a spool or reel that fits in your hand. One end of the tape, called the leader, is fed into the conduit or cavity. The spool end is used to push the tape forward. The idea is to shove the tape through the obstruction until it emerges from the other end, then attach your cable or pulling rope to the tape's leader and pull everything back through. It is, in essence, a way to extend your reach and your control around blind corners.
Why bother with a dedicated tool for this? Because the conditions inside a conduit or wall are hostile and unpredictable. Conduit runs are rarely straight lines. A typical residential run might have several 90-degree bends, or "ells." A commercial run can be