My fish tape snapped inside a conduit run yesterday

Jana Fox · 2026-03-09T20:10:08.119862+00:00

I was pulling a new RG6 line through a 50 foot conduit in an apartment building, about halfway through. The tape just gave out, leaving about 15 feet of it stuck inside. I had to go back to the truck for my fiberglass rods to fish it out, which took almost an hour. Has anyone found a brand of fish tape that really holds up to daily use?

diana1407mo ago

Try pulling that mess out on a Friday afternoon.

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jade3287mo ago

Remember when my buddy's tape snapped and shot back like a whip. Left a welt on his arm that looked worse than the conduit.

6

julia_park447mo ago

Fifteen feet of tape stuck in a conduit sounds like a pain, but is it really that big of a deal? You got it out with the rods, right? Jade328's story about the whip and the welt makes it sound like some action movie scene. I've had tapes snap before and yeah it's annoying, but an hour to fix it just seems like a normal Tuesday. Are we making a simple job sound way more dramatic than it needs to be?

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