How Do You Bend a 90 in Conduit?

Installing conduit is one of the primary tasks of a commercial/industrial electrician. Without it, wire can’t get from one point to another! And bending a 90 degree bend in conduit is one of the first skills learned when starting to bend conduit. Most of us electricians start out learning to bend on steel EMT conduit. But what about Aluminum EMT conduit? Is there a difference? In todays episode of Electrician U, Dustin Stelzer talks a bit about the pros and cons of each as well as the necessary steps to successfully bending a 90-degree bend.

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First let’s talk about Penn Aluminum, todays sponsor. Penn Aluminum produces some of the best Aluminum EMT conduit available. But why use aluminum EMT instead of steel? Its considerably lighter than its steel counterpart and easier to bend, which results in much less stress on the installing electrician and leads to much greater productivity. In todays market, aluminum EMT conduit is anywhere from 10% to 20% cheaper than steel EMT, which can add considerable cost SAVINGS to a project. However, one of the downfalls to using aluminum EMT is that it IS harder to pull wire into. It just seems that the wire (or the wire pulling apparatus) gets hung up on the inside of the pipe. Penn Aluminum has developed a special coating for the inside of the conduit called Blue Lightning. This coating acts much like Teflon making the inside of the pipe super slick and wire goes in much easier even than standard steel EMT. Check out Penn Aluminums website- they have a ton of products that will certainly meet your conduit needs! Great company!
The first step in bending a 90 in conduit is to establish a length. Once a length is established, you will need to mark this on the conduit- lets say 36”. The next step in the process is to apply the deduct (this is the length required where the conduit will actually SWEEP and that will need to be considered in our calculation). Standard deducts are ½”- 5”, ¾”- 6”, 1”- 8”. Subtract this distance from your original mark- for our 36” 90, we will make another mark on our conduit at 30”. Hook the bender onto the conduit with the open end of the bender FACING the direction you hooked your tape measure on. Place the ARROW on the bender handle on the 30” mark (distance needed for 90 MINUS the DEDUCT). A very important step in the bending process is to apply FOOT pressure, not just PULL with your arms. So, step on the bender shoe, while pulling on the bender handle until the measured portion of the conduit is vertical in the air. Using a torpedo level, continue to adjust the vertical portion until it is at 90 degrees. That’s it! Bend completed! Not to worry if you OVERBEND, just step on the portion of the conduit still on the ground and PUSH the vertical portion of the conduit AWAY from you until it is at 90 degrees.

[dustinbergeron]

Another thing I learned is if you ever bend it a lil too much you can use the handle from the bender to straighten it back

[kennethrobinson]

Nuff blessings to you Electrician U from Jamaica , it is a blessing learning a hold lot

[stringlarson]

I haven't done any conduit bending in about 20 years. I used to have all this stuff in my head. I'm currently rewiring my 1913 home and replacing a bunch of non-code BX, replacing sections of RMC, and adding new runs. I figured I'd just start re-learning as a beginner.
Thanks for posting.

[abeldegefu]

I work in electrical department since I am following your videos, my job get easer than ever and safer . Thank you so much.

[josueortiz]

Grate video!!! You should do a second part of bending conduit like making offsets and saddles bends that would be really nice!! I really appreciate everything you do I am really learning a lot

[ScienceOfThePS]

As a homeowner running conduit for a room renovation on my home (required for code; Chicago area), this was extremely useful. Thank you!

[benfowler]

The “Stubs 6” to ⬆️” on the bender is your takeoff or sometimes referred to as a deduct. It’s usually cast into the head on 1/2”, 3/4”, and 1” benders. Only mentioning if someone was curious what that meant. Not all benders refer to it the same way as the Klein he is using.

[Sembazuru]

I guess a minor disadvantage to aluminum conduit is your magnetic level doesn't stick so you have to keep putting it down and picking it back up when dialing into the angle you want. Though with a 3D printer I suppose you could fix it and have two clips that slide onto the ends of the level to allow you to clip the level to the conduit. (Opposite facing clips that provide tension to lock the conduit into the groove down the one side of the level with a twist.) Probably not a big deal if you are experienced and usually only need one tweak to hit your angle per bend. But for beginners not having the level mounted to the conduit could waste a lot of time just picking up and putting down the level.

[dankelley]

Great but confusing. Wish you would’ve been running EMT to a box & demonstrate what & why you were trying to accomplish.

[sargeatlargev]

I’ve been using these bending videos to help with night school. We have a test on bending and I missed the first week because my daughter was born. I bought a bender and 100’ of 1/2 Emt and have been practicing my bends using sharpie with what degrees I used per your video so I can easily look at all of my bends and can easier learn what degrees I need to have, and shrinkage calculations because I’ve been struggling to figure it out in the book. Much appreciated for the help!

[miguelrodriguez]

I like Benfield Conduit Bending Manual. Also, you do incredible work in breaking things down.

[Aepek]

Love aluminum conduit for weight saving, back breaking, and bending…..as far as pulling wire thru; that is what my apprentice is for😅, as I’m watching and taking a “standing drink”😉

[luisaguilar]

Muy buena aportación para los que empiezan en el sector eléctrico, la herramienta Klein es lo mejor, yo soy de la ciudad de México y tengo 30 años trabajando con herramientas Klein.

[nhzxboi]

Essentially a plumber's job. Cross-trades. Original conduit was from gas lighting piping. Interesting fact.

[billthompson]

The first bend is called a stub bend, The second is called a back bend.

[johnsxterra]

This video has helped me in the field many times

[elitesoccerblogs]

Thank you for sharing your knowledge! Can you please make more conduit bending videos?

[paultech]

Thanks. Make sure the camera has a good view of the marker marks before and after, maybe use a different color for the take up. When I did my first conduit project I got the Conduit Bender Elite app, I think it’s still available (just to be sure, I have no affiliation with them)

[larryjohnson]

Love your videos! I’m learning so much! I’ve only been in the trade for about a year. I started out in residential and now I’ve converted to commercial. I love it! Can you make a video on how to read blueprints? It would make life easier! Thank you!

[theseattlegreen]

I think all hand Benders should get rid of the star and Teardrop and the notch and just use different colored arrows