how deep to bury conduit?
 

I'm trying to find my local/state building code requirement for depth
of placement of conduit that I'd like to run from my basement to my
detached garage, but my city's online resources aren't telling me
exact depth requirements.

Does anyone have a pointer to this New York State building code
requirement? I'd really appreciate it.

If anyone's interested in this kind of a project, Hammerzone shows how
to do it!
http://www.hammerzone.com/archives/u..._to_garage.htm

how deep to bury conduit?
 

On Tue, 28 Nov 2006 17:35:49 GMT, KLS wrote:
Does anyone have a pointer to this New York State building code
requirement? I'd really appreciate it.

And if you are in a city or other local gov't jurisdiction (county,
district, parish, etc) they might also have adopted code.

Usually it would be in the electrical code, but perhaps NY considers
that to be part of their building code? (Usually building code is
structure, electrical code is wiring, plumbing code is...)

If anyone's interested in this kind of a project, Hammerzone shows how

But yet they don't tell how deep to bury it. Oh well. Sounds like
spam...

sdb

--
Wanted: Omnibook 800 & accessories, cheap, working or not
sdbuse1 on mailhost bigfoot.com

how deep to bury conduit?
 

On Tue, 28 Nov 2006 17:35:49 GMT, KLS wrote:

I'm trying to find my local/state building code requirement for depth
of placement of conduit that I'd like to run from my basement to my
detached garage, but my city's online resources aren't telling me
exact depth requirements.

Does anyone have a pointer to this New York State building code
requirement? I'd really appreciate it.

If anyone's interested in this kind of a project, Hammerzone shows how
to do it!
http://www.hammerzone.com/archives/u..._to_garage.htm

I'm in California so it may be different but I had to bury mine 4
feet. It was fun work also, from the pole to my house required a
trench 330 feet long and 4 feet deep.

--Ben

how deep to bury conduit?
 

On Tue, 28 Nov 2006 15:44:03 -0700, sylvan butler
wrote:

On Tue, 28 Nov 2006 17:35:49 GMT, KLS wrote:

If anyone's interested in this kind of a project, Hammerzone shows how

But yet they don't tell how deep to bury it. Oh well. Sounds like
spam...

It's not spam: they CAN'T tell us how deep to bury the conduit
because this requirement varies from area to area. They specifically
say on the website, "As you can see, this trench is thigh-deep, about
24 to 28 inches deep. Local electrical codes will specify the minimum
depth of a buried conduit, so contact your local building department."
The site is edited by a man who lives in northern Ontario, but he
doesn't indicate his own code, wisely as it might be vastly different
from anyone else's.

I'm still trying to get an answer from my own city building code
dept., and I thought that 48" code requirement in Calif. was
interesting (must be for earthquake reasons).

how deep to bury conduit?
 

how deep to bury conduit?
 

On Wed, 29 Nov 2006 14:29:02 GMT, KLS wrote:

I'm still trying to get an answer from my own city building code
dept., and I thought that 48" code requirement in Calif. was
interesting (must be for earthquake reasons).


I don't think it's for earthquake but could be wrong.
The requirement for the electrical was at 48" but
I was also allowed to bury my phone cable in the same trench.
The phone cable had to be seperated from the electrical by at least
12" so it sits at 36". This is in a rural area so I would not want to
to bury any less of or my tractor implements would be snagging the
cables.

--Ben

how deep to bury conduit?
 

I do know that if you must cross a cemetery with it you have to be more
precise.

how deep to bury conduit?
 

On 2 Dec 2006 10:35:43 -0800, "HeX" wrote:

I do know that if you must cross a cemetery with it you have to be more
precise.

Ha.

I did finally get an answer from my city building code dept. For
circuits up to 20 amps, the conduit must be buried 12" deep. For more
amperage than 20, the conduit must be buried at least 18" deep. Also,
a GFI must be installed on the circuit. This is in western New York.

how deep to bury conduit?
 

"KLS" wrote in message
...
On 2 Dec 2006 10:35:43 -0800, "HeX" wrote:

I do know that if you must cross a cemetery with it you have to be more
precise.

Ha.

I did finally get an answer from my city building code dept. For
circuits up to 20 amps, the conduit must be buried 12" deep. For more
amperage than 20, the conduit must be buried at least 18" deep. Also,
a GFI must be installed on the circuit. This is in western New York.

One thing that I did when I buried an outside line some time ago (and it was
18 inches down here in NJ with an electric and a cable line [cable while I
was at it]) was to put a pressure treated 1x4 on top of the wires so that if
anyone ever dug down they would hit the wood instead of cutting through the
wire. I also laid the wire on a few inches of sand down there for drainage.
This all might have been required (it was about 15 years ago...).
Tomes

how deep to bury conduit?
 

On Mon, 04 Dec 2006 03:05:48 GMT, "Tomes" wrote:

"KLS" wrote in message
I did finally get an answer from my city building code dept. For
circuits up to 20 amps, the conduit must be buried 12" deep. For more
amperage than 20, the conduit must be buried at least 18" deep. Also,
a GFI must be installed on the circuit. This is in western New York.

One thing that I did when I buried an outside line some time ago (and it was
18 inches down here in NJ with an electric and a cable line [cable while I
was at it]) was to put a pressure treated 1x4 on top of the wires so that if
anyone ever dug down they would hit the wood instead of cutting through the
wire. I also laid the wire on a few inches of sand down there for drainage.
This all might have been required (it was about 15 years ago...).

Great suggestion, and I may yet take it even though I plan to run the
cable through the grey PVC pipe. On the other hand, if I'm spending
all that money on the pipe, getting enough 1x4 pt wood for this job
(30 ft worth) might be an unnecessary expense.

how deep to bury conduit?
 

On Mon, 04 Dec 2006 03:05:48 GMT, "Tomes" wrote:

One thing that I did when I buried an outside line some time ago (and it was
18 inches down here in NJ with an electric and a cable line [cable while I
was at it]) was to put a pressure treated 1x4 on top of the wires so that if
anyone ever dug down they would hit the wood instead of cutting through the
wire. I also laid the wire on a few inches of sand down there for drainage.
This all might have been required (it was about 15 years ago...).

I did something similar with my buried electrical line. I put a few
inches of some decorative gravel (I wanted to get rid of it) above the
conduit containing the wires. Digging down to it will alert you, but
won't prevent you from getting to the wire. It also provides drainage
around the conduit.

Putting my underground-rated cable inside conduit at the local
code-required 24-inch depth and placing the gravel above it was going
well beyond what was required, but I plan to be here a while, and I
think it will prevent some future heartache.

JT

how deep to bury conduit?
 

"KLS" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 04 Dec 2006 03:05:48 GMT, "Tomes" wrote:
"KLS" wrote in message
I did finally get an answer from my city building code dept. For
circuits up to 20 amps, the conduit must be buried 12" deep. For more
amperage than 20, the conduit must be buried at least 18" deep. Also,
a GFI must be installed on the circuit. This is in western New York.

One thing that I did when I buried an outside line some time ago (and it
was
18 inches down here in NJ with an electric and a cable line [cable while I
was at it]) was to put a pressure treated 1x4 on top of the wires so that
if
anyone ever dug down they would hit the wood instead of cutting through
the
wire. I also laid the wire on a few inches of sand down there for
drainage.
This all might have been required (it was about 15 years ago...).

Great suggestion, and I may yet take it even though I plan to run the
cable through the grey PVC pipe. On the other hand, if I'm spending
all that money on the pipe, getting enough 1x4 pt wood for this job
(30 ft worth) might be an unnecessary expense.

Yep, the pipe might be enough; I just had the exterior grade wire running by
itself on top of the sand and under the wood. I only had pipe vertically
where it sprouted up out of the ground out by the above ground pool. Good
luck with this.
Tomes

how deep to bury conduit?
 

"Tomes" wrote in
ink.net:

"KLS" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 04 Dec 2006 03:05:48 GMT, "Tomes"
wrote:
"KLS" wrote in message
I did finally get an answer from my city building code dept.
For circuits up to 20 amps, the conduit must be buried 12"
deep. For more amperage than 20, the conduit must be buried
at least 18" deep. Also, a GFI must be installed on the
circuit. This is in western New York.

One thing that I did when I buried an outside line some time
ago (and it was
18 inches down here in NJ with an electric and a cable line
[cable while I was at it]) was to put a pressure treated 1x4 on
top of the wires so that if
anyone ever dug down they would hit the wood instead of cutting
through the
wire. I also laid the wire on a few inches of sand down there
for drainage.
This all might have been required (it was about 15 years
ago...).

Great suggestion, and I may yet take it even though I plan to
run the cable through the grey PVC pipe. On the other hand, if
I'm spending all that money on the pipe, getting enough 1x4 pt
wood for this job (30 ft worth) might be an unnecessary
expense.

Yep, the pipe might be enough; I just had the exterior grade
wire running by itself on top of the sand and under the wood. I
only had pipe vertically where it sprouted up out of the ground
out by the above ground pool. Good luck with this.
Tomes




Sand is good - it cuts down on abrasion during frost heaving, etc.
One suggestion I have seen is rather than using the pt 1x4 is put
in some of that yellow construction tape about 6 in above the wire
or conduit. Doesn't thunk like wood when you hit it, but it lasts
forever and is really visible when you uncover it. If you can find
the kind that has the metal foil in it, it works well for being
findable by a metal detecter (although with all that wire close by
I can't see the benefit[now I remember - the foil tape was for
burying plastic water pipe!]}

Also, might be a good idea to make a map of the area involved with
measurements from known locations and stick it in one of those
brown kraft envelopes and tack it to the wall of the outbuilding
and maybe next to the fuse box as well.

how deep to bury conduit?
 

On Wed, 06 Dec 2006 00:09:37 GMT, tim wrote:

"Tomes" wrote in
link.net:

"KLS" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 04 Dec 2006 03:05:48 GMT, "Tomes"
wrote:
"KLS" wrote in message
I did finally get an answer from my city building code dept.
For circuits up to 20 amps, the conduit must be buried 12"
deep. For more amperage than 20, the conduit must be buried
at least 18" deep. Also, a GFI must be installed on the
circuit. This is in western New York.

One thing that I did when I buried an outside line some time
ago (and it was
18 inches down here in NJ with an electric and a cable line
[cable while I was at it]) was to put a pressure treated 1x4 on
top of the wires so that if
anyone ever dug down they would hit the wood instead of cutting
through the
wire. I also laid the wire on a few inches of sand down there
for drainage.
This all might have been required (it was about 15 years
ago...).

Great suggestion, and I may yet take it even though I plan to
run the cable through the grey PVC pipe. On the other hand, if
I'm spending all that money on the pipe, getting enough 1x4 pt
wood for this job (30 ft worth) might be an unnecessary
expense.

Yep, the pipe might be enough; I just had the exterior grade
wire running by itself on top of the sand and under the wood. I
only had pipe vertically where it sprouted up out of the ground
out by the above ground pool. Good luck with this.
Tomes

Sand is good - it cuts down on abrasion during frost heaving, etc.
One suggestion I have seen is rather than using the pt 1x4 is put
in some of that yellow construction tape about 6 in above the wire
or conduit. Doesn't thunk like wood when you hit it, but it lasts
forever and is really visible when you uncover it. If you can find
the kind that has the metal foil in it, it works well for being
findable by a metal detecter (although with all that wire close by
I can't see the benefit[now I remember - the foil tape was for
burying plastic water pipe!]}

Also, might be a good idea to make a map of the area involved with
measurements from known locations and stick it in one of those
brown kraft envelopes and tack it to the wall of the outbuilding
and maybe next to the fuse box as well.

These suggestions are all sheer brilliance, and I am planning to use
the sand for sure and at least the yellow tape if not the metal foil
type. Thanks to all for this thread!