Unfilled electrical gaine is an invention of the devil - discuss

[Ian]

It's amazing what you think you can do, till you try it

Having a whole house to rewire, I bought coils of gaine in all sizes (with tire-fils), 100M rolls (couronnes?) of cable in several sections and a whole rainbow of colours, and set to. I thought it would be easy -  decades of DIY experience, a large, long and empty grenier to work in (think of a rope works) and a willing helper in my wife. Stand back, I said, I'll show you how it's done.

An hour later, we had one useable section of 20mm gaine completed, plus a pile of (let's be charitable) "learning pieces".

Two hours later saw us driving to Brico-Depot to buy coils of pre-filled gaine, which I have since used for wiring the house. The half-used rolls of gaine and cable lie, unwanted and unloved, in a corner. Every time I look, they seem to be more and more tangled.

Is there a secret technique or tool that everybody but me knows about? Or is it, as I suspect, just a long established custom that should have died out long ago? Say, in the early days of the 20th century? I can see the point of filling gaine with specialist cable (4mm section or greater, satellite co-ax, etc), but for 1.5mm and 2.5mm? When there's negligible savings to be made by doing it? Not for me - life is too short.

Rant over - thank you for your patience.

[Danny]

Ian,

Not entirely sure what you think the problem is with gaine. The tire fil is used to pull the appropiate amounts of cable through. I have never found it difficult. There are certain rules to follow regarding how many cables per gaine. See this site for some pointers and don't forget the lubrication!

Danny

[Suze01]

Not easy is it?

We unrolled the gain completely in the drive (and going down the lane a bit too hoping nothing would come by).  Then I stood down the lane at the far end and gently pulled the guide thread inside the gaine while husband guided in the cable that had been very securely attached tho the guide thread. It needed a good wiggle from time to time but it worked fine.  Easier if you unwind the roll of cable too before starting as that can be a right pain in the **** .

[Anton Redman]

You use the very thin tir fil to pull through a nylon cord. You find a secure fence post to hold one end and get weaker half of the menage to pull the wires while you push them in. Apart from the ability to set up custom colours for two and three way switching they are awful. I have always posted that t isworth the minute premium for pre wire gaine

[Nick Trollope]

I must admit that I buy pre-wired gaine - I can get it in all sorts of combinations, for feeds, switches, heating etc etc. But, I have never had a problem pulling wires through gaine. One of the basic "pricipals" of gaine is that the wires must be replaceable, in situ. Therefore, fit the empty gaine, then pull the wires through - if you can't then you have done the installation of the gaine wrong.

If you have a straight, non-installed run of gaine to wire, doing it on your own is simplicity - cut the gaine and fils to length, attach one end of the pull-cord (supplied, unless you are trying to cable 50mm+ gaine, in which case you should replace the tire-fil with a piece of polyprop rope) to a soild object and the other end to the wires, then walk away taking the gaine with you. The wires will slide inside the gaine as easy as. Don't push the wires, as this will cause them to kink and catch the sides of the gaine. Use a commercially-available lubricant if you feel the need.

Bearing in mind that the wires can occupy no more than 30% of the gaine, they will be a loose fit.