On Monday, June 29, 2015 at 9:14:50 PM UTC-5, wrote:
On Mon, 29 Jun 2015 21:08:01 -0400, "EXT"
wrote:


"HerHusband" wrote in message
. ..
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.

For underground work where you have to weave around rocks, use polyethylene
water pipe to pull the wires through, it will bend around obstructions and
keep the water out. Use shark bite type exterior fittings to connect and
join the pipe to avoid reducing the internal diameter that push-in fittings
will do. You won't have to dig so deep either.

If you are not getting this inspected you just have to dig it deep
enough to avoid being hit by the lawn mower but it isn't "legal" (nor
is the water pipe)

The last time I ran an underground conduit, it was Schedule 80 PVC electrical conduit. It was for a friend who had a garage apartment behind his home and we buried 2" Schedule 80 one foot deep and glued elbows plus LB's on both ends. We ran cat 5, 75 ohm coax, alarm and telephone wires in the conduit. I was across a driveway area in his yard and had vehicles rolling over and parked on top of it. The conduit has never leaked. Oh yea, it was a 35 foot run. ^_^

[8~{} Uncle PVC Monster