Electrical box question

[Mike Ruggeri]

Probably a stupid question but I have never really paid attention....

What is the proper way to run/attach a metal electrical box and conduit to a steel lally column?

I would like to run a new line to the middle of my shop. The proposed line would run from the sub-panel, up across the ceiling and then I would like it to go down the the lally column and have the box mounted about waist level on the column. I would think it would be tough to attach the box or the conduit with screws to the steel cement filled column so I was thinking about some type of clamps that would go around the column and secure the conduit and box. Any ideas or experiences?

Thanks in advance.

Mike

[David G Baker]

Mike,
A heavy duty "U" clamp may work for you, a clamp designed for large conduit. I don't know how large the box is that you are going to mount, if the box is smaller than the screw holes in the "U" clamp you can mount a board to the clamps and then the box.
Thank you for posting steel lally column because I had never heard the name for the columns so I looked it up on Bing and found out that the lallys that hold up my home in the basement may not considered permanent supports according to USA building codes and I may have to change them out because the ones that I have are not considered permanent.
I have also been thinking about using the non permanent columns in one of my barns to help support the upstairs that have too large of a span for 2x6 floor joists.

[Prashun Patel]

Can you wrap the column with 1x boards? This will provide a better surface for nailing/screwing, and can also serve as a conduit for Romex.

[Thom Sturgill]

+1 to Shawn's idea.

[Rob Russell]

Can you wrap the column with 1x boards? This will provide a better surface for nailing/screwing, and can also serve as a conduit for Romex.

Be careful here - running NM cable behind 1x boards means putting nailnig plates over the whole length of where you're running the cable. Wrapping the lally collumn in 1x boards and then running EMT down the boards is what I'd do.

[Jeffrey Makiel]

I ran wiring down a lally column for an outlet.

I bought some EMT conduit, an electrical box, offset conduit connector, and some 5" band clamps to secure the conduit to the 4" lally column. The box is supported by the conduit.

For a more beefy setup, I guess one could use pipe as conduit, and thread it into an exterior grade box using a threaded NPT connection.

-Jeff :)