Making it easier to pull cable?

I have to pull around 80' of cable from a 3rd floor apartment to a basement to connect to a new water heater.
is there anyway to make this easier as there are a few 90 degree bends along the way...
I was going to put a spool at the top and just start pulling from the floor below before going across a suspended roof and then straight down. I fear I'm going to be running up and down stairs all afternoon just feeding it through when it gets stuck.

 

With that many bends you are going to be doing segmented pulls.

 

Get a friend to help.
-------------------------------

 

Best to measure the full 80' first and unravel it then or leave it on the spool and keep running it in segments. Probably 3 X 90 degree bends and then some joists in the crawl space after that.

 

Is it best to measure the full 80' first and unravel it then or leave it on the spool and keep running it in segments? Probably 3 X 90 degree bends and then some joists in the crawl space after that.

 

What size conductors are you pulling?
Geo

 

The waste stack is probably a straight run. Is it against code to run it along side that?

 

In older houses the waste stack is usually a good place to get a chase from bottom to top of the house. Newer houses it doesn't work because the penetrations between floors are sealed up better.

 

There are some cupboards also used for pex pipe. I was thinking of using the same cupboards as it's a sort of cavity between floors. 10/2 cable.
it's not the where so much as the method of pulling segments.

 

As Tolyn suggested, you need a helper. Don't try to do it alone.

 

If you have to do it by yourself, it will help to build some jig to straighten cable entering the conduit. You can probably build one using 2x4 and suspend the cable on 2x4.
Using stranded THHN wires will help to. Pulling solid 10-2 NM-b in conduit with many bends will be very difficult.

If some part of the run is outside conduit, you can install junction box at the end of the conduit and change over to NM.

 

A junction box halfway might help?

 

I wasn't planning on using conduit at all... just fishing NM through the ceiling and floors. Any benefit to using conduit? Won't it be much harder to install?

 

What is this suspended roof you are pullin across?

 

Suspended ceiling. Tiles can be lifted and moved.

 

I thought you had a existing conduit because you mentioned 90 bends. If there is no conduit, yes it will be more work and there will be no benefit.

You will have to cut drywall in multiple location and pull cable in multiple steps. Making drywall cuts bigger will make pulling wire easier. Pull wire all the way at each 90 bends then feed it. Having a helper will make things much easier.

If you can and don't mind conduit along outside wall, it might be easier to install conduit at outside wall and pull cable in the conduit. This will make vertical runs much easier and possibly no need to cut drywall if you have suspended ceiling.
Hardest part here probably is that you will need long ladder and not afraid of the height.