Help on how to bury an electrical service line.

Started by Jimmy C., April 20, 2006, 01:45:24 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Jimmy C.

The electric company came out and marked the trees that will be remove to get service to my lot.
I will be responsible for getting the service from the front of my lot to the house, (about 100+ feet).
I have chosen to go underground to keep an unobstructed view of the land and house.
The electric company said I would need to use 4-o triplex and bury it 24" deep.
The soil is sandy and I am sure I will encounter lots of roots.

Any tips or suggestions? Dig by hand? Ditch witch? Something else?
You guys have always helped me in the past and saved me money! Thanks
The hardest part is getting past the mental blocks about what you are capable of doing.
Cason 2-Story Project MY PROGRESS PHOTOS

Amanda_931

Not sure if the Ditch Witch we rented--better than a hundred bucks for half a day--really went down two feet--at least 18 inches.  But it sure did go fast. down the lane that a bulldozer had pushed a couple of months before.  

Rental place was almost 18 miles off, the guy I had working for me then drove the trailer very carefully, we took it off, ran it down the 200 or so feet  we had to go, put it back on the trailer, took it to the car wash (sigh, that was my contribution to that job--that and money--N.B. my wrists may not have tolerated a ditch witch, and I've never driven a trailer so I may mostly be whining  ;) ), got back to the rental place in about two and a half hours.  

The rental people gave us a pretty thorough walk-through on how to use it, swore that the ones that they rent around there could handle random rocks of almost any size and at least a shale shelf.  I think we even closed up our trench before we took it back.

My neighbors here hired somebody with what may have been a bigger Ditch Witch to do theirs.  They went many hundreds of feet through the woods, found it cost less total (including wire) than paying our utility company for one pole past the one they "give" us for free.  But utility companies vary greatly on how they charge for that kind of thing.  I don't know how the trees are faring.  Probably their youngish mixed hardwoods--where you have a lot of trees starting that don't make it anyway--are just fine.

and it does look better than utility poles.


cre90602

just a little hint i am not real fond of just ditch witching and tossing a cable in the ground i like to trench and backfill with sand we just did ours and i only had to go down 12" but went doen 24" put in a condoiut for the elect and also put in a spare to use as a chese for telephone or cable we did ours with a mini back hoe

Jimmy C.

Quotejust a little hint i am not real fond of just ditch witching and tossing a cable in the ground i like to trench and backfill with sand we just did ours and i only had to go down 12" but went doen 24" put in a condoiut for the elect and also put in a spare to use as a chese for telephone or cable we did ours with a mini back hoe
Oh Yea,  I forgot..... I must place it in 2" pvc pipe.
The hardest part is getting past the mental blocks about what you are capable of doing.
Cason 2-Story Project MY PROGRESS PHOTOS

Amanda_931

You're probably right.  Probably a lot more trouble.   ;D

We could also have rented something called a Mini-Mite.  Lord those things have low horsepower.  But it's a baby backhoe.  


glenn kangiser

How many feet, Jimmy.  I've used both a Ditch Witch - riding kind - or a backhoe.  Sometimes it is as cheap to get a backhoe with an experienced operator to just do it.  Price it both ways.  If your septic is not in yet you may be able to combine the septic digging with the trench digging if using a backhoe.  The same hoe for two different purposes at the same time.  Sounds like fun. :-/
"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

Please put your area in your sig line so we can assist with location specific answers.

railroad bob

However you do it, make sure you place some type of bright flagging tape continuously about 6 inches down from the surface as you backfill the trench. Purpose is to let anyone excavating in the vicinity know they should use caution.

Daddymem

Better yet, metallic tape so you can locate it with a metal detector.
Où sont passées toutes nos nuits de rêve?
Aide-moi à les retrouver.
" I'm an engineer Cap'n, not a miracle worker"

http://littlehouseonthesandpit.wordpress.com/

rwalter

Jimmy,

I rented a Ditch witch this fall for exactly the same reason. If your soil has a lot of rocks in it avoid a ditch witch. We trenched about 130 feet and ran into a layer of slate down about 12-18" on the back half. The first half took only a few hours to trench but the last half took a full day to trench and a lot lof work with a landscape bar and pickax. Needless to sayit was a major pain. I had to run mine cable through gray schedule 40 conduit on the horizontal runs and schedule 80 on the vertical runs. I also had to bury 4" wide yellow Caution Tape 6 inches above the conduit. I check with your local town for what code they want followed. Good luck


dail(Guest)

I work in a planning & development dept for a county gov. Running that 4" caution tape along the length of the run slightly above it, is a pretty good idea. I'll have to see if the guys require that in inspections here....d

Mike A

Jimmy, I agree with Glenn. I own 4 ditch witch trenchers, 3 walk behinds and a rider. If you use the witch, get a rider with at least a 6" cut. That machine should have a blade in the front for back filling the trench. Lot easier on the back. If the roots or rock are too severe use the back hoe. A experienced operator can do a lot of work in a short period of time and you don't have to mess with the rental.

Amanda_931

#11
Our local rental guys have apparently gotten tired of people tearing up chains and teeth and gone with D-W's really stout, heavy-duty teeth, even for their walk-behinds, which is what we used.

It had no trouble churning up 6" long hunks of flint.  I think the rental guy said it wouldn't object to soft shale.

(what they use in the Northern Marianas (CNMI) are these huge machines that can cut almost a foot wide and four--I think--feet deep in coral rock.  It's not as hard as limestone shelf, but it is rock most or all the way down--now, if they'd only learn how to fill those trenches so that the wet season rains didn't wash all the looser fill out of them as it comes down a hill.)

The good thing about the walk-behind ditch-witches is that they are much less likely to leave a definite road through the woods.

glenn kangiser

Hey, Mike - I owned two R65's and did trenching for a while.  I used their regular teeth most of the time - added rock teeth too.  On the regular teeth, they will last about 5 times as long if you put a bead of hard facing on the top narrow edge, about the same depth as that on the side .  It keeps the softer tooth from eating away under the side hard facing and allowing it to break.  Maybe they do that now - I haven't used mine in years.- Repairing it some day - maybe. :-/
"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

Please put your area in your sig line so we can assist with location specific answers.

Mike A

Glenn, we use those trenchers every day, hard faced teeth are the only way to go. Saves time and money in the long run. You still up in Napa?


glenn kangiser

#14
Yes,  still in Napa, two of us 8 to 14 hours per day 5 days per week with paid drive time, so being the little camp follower that I am, I continue to go there.  Maybe 3 or 4 more weeks.  Here's a picture of the project.



The walls are about 35 feet tall - we are standing the columns and welding the ledger on and splicing it at about 30 feet elevation.  There is about 2000 feet of ledger weighing up to about 1000 lbs per 30' section.  Columns are 50 feet apart.


The point I was making on the teeth was that the Ditch Witch factory hardfacing itself is fair but if you carefully add (so as not to burn off the point -and not too thick)  hardfacing to the thin top edge they will last 4 or 5 times longer than factory hard facing alone.  The factory at that time only hard faced the curved side to the tip but not on top of the tip.  I used to save them after the tips wore off and rebuild them also welding a piece of spring steel or plow steel to the tip to look like original -trim it with a torch and re-hard face it.  I didn't have to buy new teeth very often.  I did drip irrigation of vineyards and a sprinkler system for an almond orchard so miles of trenching.
"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

Please put your area in your sig line so we can assist with location specific answers.

Okie_Bob

Hey Jimmy, don't know which electric company you have but, I have TXO. If your electric company is like TXO AND, if you are planning to have your meter on your house, they will do an inspection of the ditch before you fill it in. If you are placing the meter on the pole, you can do whatever you feel comfortable with. I had to use a licensed electrician and after they dug the trench they sat around waiting on the inspector who came out with a tape and measured every dang inch of the trench to ensure it was at least 24" deep! I hated to pay the electrician for a job I could have easily done but, TXO won't allow that. So, just be sure before you start.

I also saw your photo album in another post and want to offer my acolades for a job well done!! Didn't know you had progressed so far since last time I looked and am quite impressed. Keep up the good work!

Okie Bob