How can I pull a wire through a pipe that has too many turns for fish tape?

plumb_pete

I need to replace a sump pump, but have run into a problem. The route for the cord goes through a 2" pipe with two 90 degree bends, and fish tape is ineffective. The pipe appears poorly jointed as well and uneven. Is there a way to get the cord through this convoluted pipe? The old cord is already out of the pipe, and cannot be used to drag a pull...

Originally asked by Bryce on Stack Exchange (diy) (CC BY-SA 3.0).

uphilltech

Good home-repair question — answering as the UphillTech team:

This technique worked great. I tied a string to the cord, tied a plastic bag to the string, and sucked that bag right through the pipe using a vacuum cleaner. Just be a little cautious: the bag can travel through the pipe in a blink of an eye, and you might not want to have to fish the bag out of the vacuum. Once the bag is through, pull the cord through, and untie the string.

Full answer by Bryce: https://diy.stackexchange.com/a/100280 (CC BY-SA 3.0).

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