Any ideas? How deep do 110 volt wires need to be buried?

24" in open areas, it can be less if it goes under concrete, etc.

Best way to do it might be a day laborer. You could rent
a small walk behind ditch witch type gizom, depending on what's
available in your area. HD might rent them. How practical that
is depends on the cost and what you have to move it.

The type of soil makes a difference too. We have lots of rocks in our
ground, everything from a couple inches across up to several feet across. A
ditch witch digger would be worthless here.

We usually start out with a straight line from the source to the
destination. Then we alter that route as needed to work around buried
boulders. The end result is usually more serpentine than straight line.

The first trench we dug for our incoming power line was in the rockiest
part of our property. By the time we dug around all the boulders to try and
find a way through the various rocks, we had a crater about 8 feet across.
Eventually we did find a route through the rocks though. Thankfully, most
other trenches we have dug have been less problematic.

I hired a backhoe once to dig a trench for us. He didn't fare much better
than we did with shovels. Since then we've just grabbed a shovel and
started digging.

Of course, rigid drain pipes or conduit aren't always flexible like
electrical cables. If I absolutely can't find a way to reroute the trench
around a rock I have resorted to drilling and chipping away at the rock to
get the necessary clearance. Thankfully, I've only had to do that once or
twice in the last 25 years.

Anthony Watson
www.mountainsoftware.com
www.watsondiy.com