Saturday, May 17, 2025

Expanding Possibilities

So when I installed the conduit along the west side of my house, I just glued the whole length together with all the appropriate fittings and let it be. As it turns out, PVC conduit has quite a notoriously large coefficient of thermal expansion, and so when the sun started beating down on the wall (as it is wont to do), the conduit expanded and bent into a wiggly noodle.

This is not ideal.

So, the solution is to install some sliding expansion couplers.

These ones will expand by up to 4 inches in length, which is, honestly, quite a lot. Way more than I'll need for this length of conduit, but that's the size they come in.

As we can see below, it was slightly warmer outside when I initially installed this conduit, judging from the gap that was left after I sliced through it.

But I think we'll have enough range to accommodate it with the coupling set to about half its stroke.

And if we don't, well... I'll be concerned.

Since I have a box that somewhat anchors the middle of the conduit, I installed one expansion joint on either side.

I actually bought a third joint too, to install along the front of the house, but that run is always in the shade and close down to the soil, so I don't think it'll expand and contract as much. Also it has a bend on one end that can take up a bit of the motion.

But mostly I haven't installed it because it's much more of a pain to physically reach it.

If it proves to be an issue, I have it if I need it.

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