Attribute Schema Library
Attribute schemaelectrical distribution

Conduit & Fittings Attributes

Conduit and fittings is the raceway system — EMT, IMC, rigid metal, PVC-coated rigid, PVC Schedule 40 and 80, ENT, HDPE, FMC, LFMC and LFNC — plus the connectors, couplings, elbows, bushings, locknuts and conduit bodies that terminate them. Buyers are contractor purchasing agents working a Division 26 05 33 spec, foremen at the will-call counter, and industrial MRO.

Every SKU is a combination: conduit system × trade size × termination method × body material × finish × location rating, and combination fittings carry two different ends. A dozen raceway types by twelve trade sizes is a matrix nobody enumerates by hand, so catalogs collapse it into the description string and the filter rail goes empty.

Standards moved under the catalog. UL 514B dropped "Raintight" for a "Wet Locations" marking; price files still ship both. The NEC added metric designators, so one 1/2 in connector arrives as "1/2", ".5" and "16". The fields that close the sale — insulated throat, steel versus die-cast body, wet-location listing — sit on the carton marking and in a UL listing, not in the price file.

Core

Every SKU needs these. Without them the record is not a product, it is a row.

Fitting / Raceway Type
enum
EMT set-screw connector

Splits the category before anything else. A set-screw connector and a compression coupling never substitute for each other.

For Conduit Type
enum
LFMC

An EMT connector will not land on rigid. Wrong raceway type is the most common wrong-part return in the category.

Trade Size (Metric Designator)
enum · in / designator
3/4 in (21)

The first facet every buyer clicks. Carry the NEC Table 300.1(C) designator alongside the inch trade size, not instead of it.

Second Trade Size / Reducing Size
enum · in
1 in EMT to 3/4 in FMC

Combination and reducing fittings have two different ends. One size field hides half the SKU and breaks the filter.

Body Material
enum
Zinc die-cast

Division 26 specs routinely permit steel and bar zinc die-cast. Material must be its own field, separate from finish.

Finish / Coating
enum
PVC-coated, 40 mil ext / 2 mil urethane int

Decides corrosion life and whether the part clears the spec. PVC-coated is a coating thickness, not a material.

Termination Method (End 1 / End 2)
enum
Compression x male threaded

Set-screw, compression, threaded, solvent-weld and snap-in are not interchangeable and are priced differently.

Body Style / Configuration
enum
Type LB

Conduit body access geometry. An LB and an LL are not the same part and a buyer cannot infer it from a photo.

Nominal Length / Coil Length
number · ft
10 ft

Conduit sells in 10 ft sticks, PVC in 10 or 20 ft, flex in 25/50/100 ft coils. Drives freight class and cut charges.

Manufacturer Part Number
identifier
290-XS

The number the contractor reads off the submittal and types into search. Must be exact, including suffix.

GTIN-14 / UPC
identifier
GTIN-14 10812345678905

Case and each-level barcode. Required by the industry data pool and by every marketplace listing.

Differentiating

What buyers actually compare on. This is where catalogs win or lose the filter.

Thread Type
enum
NPSM (straight)

Conduit threads are tapered NPT; hubs and locknuts are commonly straight NPSM or NPSL. 'Threaded' alone is not enough.

Insulated Throat
boolean
Yes — nylon insulated throat

Decides whether the installer also needs a bushing. Heavily searched, and it changes the price of the fitting.

Location Rating (UL 514B marking)
enum
Wet Locations

Wet, damp, dry, direct burial or concrete encased. A wet-location listed fitting is also concrete-tight; the reverse is not true.

Temperature Rating
range · °C
-20 °C to 105 °C dry, 60 °C wet

Governs jacket and throat insulation on LFMC/LFNC. Ratings differ between dry, wet and oil-exposed service.

Compliance & identifiers

Standards, regulatory data, and the identifiers channels reject you for missing.

Product Standard(s) & UL File Number
text
UL 514B; NEMA FB 1; File E23018

What the submittal reviewer checks. EMT is UL 797 / ANSI C80.3; IMC is UL 1242 / ANSI C80.6; fittings are UL 514B.

Hazardous Location Rating
enum
Class I, Div 1, Groups B, C, D

Class, Division and Group for explosionproof fittings, seals and unions listed to UL 886. Not inferable from the body style.

Country of Origin / Domestic Content
identifier
United States

Federally funded work is bid against Build America, Buy America. No origin field means no bid.

The fields that aren't in the schema at all

What most conduit & fittings catalogs are missing.

The table above is the schema most catalogs already have. These are the attributes that usually aren't in it — each one surfaced by a signal from the live market rather than by an audit of what's already there. This is what Anglera's Schema Foundry does on a real catalog, in this category.

Supplier signal
+ Location Rating (UL 514B marking)

UL 514B replaced 'Raintight' with a 'Wet Locations' marking that lives on the fitting or its smallest shipping carton. Most distributor catalogs carry it only as prose in the description.

Buyer filtering for wet-location fittings sees an empty rail and leaves. Worse, a dry-location fitting gets poured into concrete and fails inspection.

Competitor signal
+ Insulated Throat

Competitor rails expose insulated throat as a yes/no facet on connectors. Most catalogs bury it in the description, where 'insulated' also matches insulated bushings.

Two SKUs that look identical and differ in price by real margin. Buyer picks the cheap one, then buys bushings separately or comes back to return it.

Search signal
+ Second Trade Size (combination and reducing fittings)

A combination coupling is 1 in EMT to 3/4 in flex. Catalogs carry one Trade Size field, so the part indexes under one size and disappears from the other.

Half the demand for the SKU never finds it. The buyer filters 3/4 in, sees no transition fitting, and calls a competitor who indexes both ends.

Competitor signal
+ Thread Type (NPT / NPSM / NPSL)

McMaster exposes Thread Type as a facet with NPT, NPSM, NPSL, PG and metric values. Most distributor records say 'threaded' and stop there.

Wrong part shipped. A tapered NPT nipple into a straight NPSM hub either will not seat or damages the hub, and the return comes back unsellable.

Supplier signal
+ Body Material split from Finish

Supplier files ship one string like 'Zinc Plated Steel' or 'Steel/Zinc' that conflates casting alloy with plating. Zinc die-cast and zinc-plated steel collapse into one facet value.

Specs that permit steel and exclude die-cast cannot be filtered. The quote goes out with non-conforming parts and gets rejected at submittal.

How Schema Foundry finds these

Messy in, governed out.

The same value, spelled every way electrical distribution suppliers spell it. A filter only works once they agree.

Trade Size
1/2"1/2 IN.516DN15
1/2 in (metric designator 16)

NEC Table 300.1(C) designators are identifiers, not dimensions. Sorting them as numbers next to inch values scrambles the rail.

Location Rating
RaintightRain TightConcrete-tightConcrete TightWet LocationSuitable for wet locations
Wet Locations

UL 514B removed 'Raintight'. Wet-location listed fittings are also concrete-tight, so six strings collapse to one governed value.

For Conduit Type
SealtiteSealtightLiquidtightLiquid-Tight FlexLT
LFMC

Sealtite is a brand. LFNC-B is frequently mislabeled as LFMC — different construction, different NEC article (356 vs 350).

Body Material
Die CastZinc Die-CastZamakSteel/ZincZinc Plated Steel
Zinc die-cast + zinc electroplate finish

'Zinc Plated Steel' is steel with a zinc finish, not die-cast zinc. One string cannot carry both; specs turn on the difference.

What buyers ask

Every one of these should be answerable from the attributes above. If it isn't, that's a gap.

  • Is this connector listed for wet locations, or only concrete-tight?
  • Is the body steel or die-cast zinc? The spec says no die-cast.
  • Does this have an insulated throat, or do I need a bushing too?
  • Will a 3/4 in fitting thread into an NPSM hub, or do I need NPT?
  • Which fitting takes 1 in EMT on one end and 3/4 in flex on the other?
  • Is this LFMC or LFNC-B? The submittal calls out NEC Article 350.
  • What's the temperature rating on the liquidtight jacket in a wet location?
  • Is it made in the USA? This job is Build America, Buy America.

What channels require

The same SKU, different mandatory fields per destination.

IDEA Connector / Industry Data Warehouse (IDW)
GTIN-14UNSPSC code (mandatory)IDEA Category Attribute Schema (CAS)Manufacturer Part NumberSelling UOM and package hierarchyCountry of Origin
Distributor site search and filter rail
Trade Size, normalizedFor Conduit TypeFitting / Raceway TypeTermination MethodLocation RatingBody Material
Amazon Business
GTIN / UPCBrand and Manufacturer Part NumberItem type keyword / browse nodeTrade SizeBody MaterialCountry of Origin
Division 26 05 33 submittal package
Product Standard and UL file numberBody Material and FinishLocation RatingTrade SizeManufacturer Part Number

Conduit & Fittings data, in practice

Raintight, concrete-tight, wet location — which one do we govern on?

Govern on "Wet Locations." UL 514B removed the term "Raintight" after the NEC dropped it in reference to EMT and rigid fittings, and threadless fittings intended for wet locations are now marked "Wet Locations" on the fitting or its smallest unit shipping container. A fitting listed for wet locations is also concrete-tight, so the two legacy terms collapse into one value without losing information. Keep "Raintight" and "Concrete-tight" as synonyms in the mapping table — supplier price files and older catalog pages still send them, and you need the inbound strings to resolve rather than fall through to null.

Do we need the metric designator if every buyer orders in inches?

Yes, as a second field on the same attribute. NEC Table 300.1(C) assigns metric designators (16, 21, 27, 35, 41, 53, 63, 78, 91, 103, 129, 155) to trade sizes 1/2 through 6, and manufacturer submittal sheets print both. Import suppliers send the designator alone. If you only store the inch string, "16" arrives and either lands in the wrong bucket or gets dropped. Store the governed inch trade size as the display and facet value, carry the designator as an alias so inbound data resolves, and never sort the two in one numeric column — the designators are identifiers, not measurements.

Why split Body Material and Finish into two fields?

Because the spec turns on the difference and one string cannot express it. "Zinc Plated Steel" is a steel body with a zinc electroplate. "Zinc Die-Cast" is a zinc alloy casting. Division 26 specifications commonly permit steel set-screw and compression connectors while excluding die-cast, and a buyer working that spec has to be able to filter it. When both arrive in one field you get facet values like "Steel/Zinc" that satisfy nobody. Split them: Body Material carries steel, malleable iron, zinc die-cast, aluminum, 316 stainless, PVC or nylon; Finish carries electro-galvanized, hot-dip galvanized, PVC-coated or epoxy.

How many trade-size fields does a fitting record need?

Two, plus the raceway type for each end. A combination coupling that joins 1 in EMT to 3/4 in flexible metallic conduit is a single SKU with four facts: End 1 size, End 1 conduit type, End 2 size, End 2 conduit type. Catalogs that carry one Trade Size field index the part under one size and it vanishes from the other size's filter results, so the buyers who approach it from the other end never see it. The same structure covers reducers, reducing bushings and chase nipples. Termination method also belongs per end — compression on one side and male threaded on the other is a normal fitting, not an edge case.

More electrical distribution schemas

Circuit BreakersDry-Type TransformersPanelboards & Load CentersSafety Switches & DisconnectsWire & CableWiring Devices

Run this against your own conduit & fittings.

Bring the category. We'll show you which of these attributes your catalog is missing — and the ones we find that aren't on this page yet.

Book a demo