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Electrical ConduitIn the electrical trade, when the word conduit is used it usually refers to EMT, PVC, Rigid Metallic or Flexible Non-Metallic conduit.
These are used primarily to carry, enclose and protect the wiring that runs inside it. Conduit comes in various sizes to accommodate the different number and size of the individual conductors (wires). Most conduit comes in 10ft sections, and is coupled to additional pieces and adaptors to complete the run. Some of these adaptors are 45 and 90 degree bends, offsets, etc.
EMT is a thin-walled metal tubing used primarily for electrical circuits and raceways, both indoors and outdoors but never underground. Very often, instead of running an additional conductor the EMT conduit itself is used as the ground. It's light, strong and easy to bend.
PVC is a Plastic (varied walled thickness) tubing that comes in schedule 40 and 80. Although you can buy 45 and 90 degree bends, many electricians use a PVC heating blanket or box to manually bend it to the exact shape they want. Rigid Metallic conduit is used for hazardous or hard use and locations and is often threaded at the ends to acommondate a connector or coupling. Flexible conduit is used very often where bending the conduit is not convenient or possible. In other words, the particular run is not a straight one, but has numerous bends and twists and physically bending the conduit is not possible. The NEC specifies how many overall degrees of bends you can have on a conduit run without installing a pull box. You can't just keep bending the conduit, because at a certain point you'll never be able to pull the wire through, or at least, not without damaging it.
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