Might be dumb questions, but I'm looking for some info regarding getting
electricity and gas out to my garage. I've posted this elswhere, but still
looking for some feedback.

I'm located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. My garage is 24feet by 32feet, with
three bays. I'm considering closing one bay off from the other to for use as
a workshop. The other two bays will have minimal power needs. My house has a
100amp feed.

Run from breaker box in basement to garage is about 70 feet. I want to be
able to use 120v and 240v tools. I'll be the only one using the workshop, so
most tools will be 120v with a tablesaw being the most power hungry, BUT I'm
hoping to get a low power (30amp?) mig welder at some point.

Run from gas meter to basement is about 80 feet. This is going to be used to
heat the garage.

I'm also considering some method of running a waterline out to the garage
for an outside faucet to water the garden. It can get VERY cold (-40
degrees) here. It can get below freezing almost any time of the year so I'd
rather avoid something that needs to be manually purged. I'm considering
running a 3/4" rubber hose inside a conduit. The rubber will allow for
expansion if there is a freeze and the conduit will keep the hose from being
crushed. This would be at the same depth as the gas and power lines.

About 30' from the garage I will be making a 30 degree bend. Other than
that, the path will be straight.

I will also be running one RG6 cable, two Cat5e cables for alarm & phone and
two Cat5e cables for networking.

What I'd like to know is...

- How deep and wide of a trench do I need to bury all of this safely? I
don't think there is a minimum distance between gas and power here in
Calgary, but I haven't looked into that.
- What gauge wiring do I need to use and what size breaker in my basement? I
figure an Edison circuit from two 30amp breakers on my main panel.
- Do I need to tie the ground from my main panel in the basement to my panel
in the garage, or do I need a separate ground stake at the garage?
- Should I just get the a gas contractor to come out and dig the trench for
the gas line and leave it open to drop the other lines in? (ie, should I try
and dig the trench to save some costs?)
- Will my ideas for the water line work?

Any thoughts or comments are welcome!

Thanks!

"Noozer" wrote in message
What I'd like to know is...

- How deep and wide of a trench do I need to bury all of this safely? I
don't think there is a minimum distance between gas and power here in
Calgary, but I haven't looked into that.
- What gauge wiring do I need to use and what size breaker in my basement?
I
figure an Edison circuit from two 30amp breakers on my main panel.
- Do I need to tie the ground from my main panel in the basement to my
panel
in the garage, or do I need a separate ground stake at the garage?
- Should I just get the a gas contractor to come out and dig the trench
for
the gas line and leave it open to drop the other lines in? (ie, should I
try
and dig the trench to save some costs?)
- Will my ideas for the water line work?

There are codes that tell you exactly how deep and how far apart they must
be. Codes in your area may be different than in my area. Call the
utilities and your local building inspector to get the FACTs, not
supposition from a bunch of us that have no clue what your town may want.

You can rent a Ditch Witch for some of the trenching though.

"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote in message
m...

"Noozer" wrote in message
What I'd like to know is...

- How deep and wide of a trench do I need to bury all of this safely? I
don't think there is a minimum distance between gas and power here in
Calgary, but I haven't looked into that.
- What gauge wiring do I need to use and what size breaker in my
basement?
I
figure an Edison circuit from two 30amp breakers on my main panel.
- Do I need to tie the ground from my main panel in the basement to my
panel
in the garage, or do I need a separate ground stake at the garage?
- Should I just get the a gas contractor to come out and dig the trench
for
the gas line and leave it open to drop the other lines in? (ie, should I
try
and dig the trench to save some costs?)
- Will my ideas for the water line work?

There are codes that tell you exactly how deep and how far apart they must
be. Codes in your area may be different than in my area. Call the
utilities and your local building inspector to get the FACTs, not
supposition from a bunch of us that have no clue what your town may want.

I will, but I was looking for general thoughts on how this should be done.
City code is not always the best way to do things, so I might want to go
"better" than code.

You can rent a Ditch Witch for some of the trenching though.

I called around... $250 to rent for four hours!

"Noozer" wrote in message
I called around... $250 to rent for four hours!


Teenagers that need gas money may be cheaper.

Noozer,

When I lived in Pennsylvania, we needed to bury water lines at least 5
feet deep to prevent freezing in normal winters. A couple of years it
got down to -20, and five feet deep was not deep enough. I would
suggest 7-feet deep for the water line, but ask your local water
company.

The electrical will need (2) #10 hots, (1) # 10 neutral and 1 # 10
ground if you are going to a subpanel in the garage. If you are
putting GFCIs in the house, they cannot share a neutral, so you will
need 2 neutrals then.

I do not know how far apart to separate the gas and electric, but I
would not bury them together without permission from the gas company.
Keep the phone lines and cat-5 away from the power, use separate
conduits.

Stretch

On 4 Aug 2005 17:45:17 -0700, "Stretch" wrote:

Noozer,

When I lived in Pennsylvania, we needed to bury water lines at least 5
feet deep to prevent freezing in normal winters. A couple of years it
got down to -20, and five feet deep was not deep enough. I would
suggest 7-feet deep for the water line, but ask your local water
company.


I ran my lines as per OP's post some 10 years ago but had gotten
around just this summer to hooking them up.

1. I buried them at least 5 feet deep to be below the frost line.
The cable was to code but I no longer remember what the code
requirements were. The 240V cable is the same gauge as the one from
the Electric company to my main panel. The cable was manufactured for
direct burial and didn't need to be buried in a conduit although the
code required that the ends emerging from and above the ground be
protected inside a conduit.

2. The breaker from my main panel is 40 amp 240V. It is hooked up to
a sub panel in the garage. There I have a 30 amp 240V breaker for my
240 outlets and separate regular 15 amp 115V breakers for the 115V
outlets and the lights.

3. I ran a gas line from the house to garage. The gas line had been
tested for gas pressure integrity after burial and certified. It is
not connected to any gas supply or appliance. I don't think I will
ever use this gas line as I don't think it is worth the cost of
installing a garage furnace and heating the garage. A garage costs
too much money and trouble to insulate. In any case it has a bare
concrete floor that will really absorb the heat and therefore waste
fuel. It will be a lot easier to wear warm clothes or don't use the
garage workshop if it is too cold (at times it gets down to minus 20
to minus 40 celcius here.). After all its a hobby thing.

The Provincial code allows the electrical cable to run in the same
trench so long as the electric cable and the gas line are separated by
a 2 x 4 stud along its buried length.

The electrical will need (2) #10 hots, (1) # 10 neutral and 1 # 10
ground if you are going to a subpanel in the garage. If you are
putting GFCIs in the house, they cannot share a neutral, so you will
need 2 neutrals then.

I do not know how far apart to separate the gas and electric, but I
would not bury them together without permission from the gas company.


Keep the phone lines and cat-5 away from the power, use separate
conduits.


I ran a TV coax cable as well as many phone gauge wired from the house
to the garage. These are protected inside a 3/4 inch PVC conduit
along the whole length, parallel with the buried electric cable and
gas line. I now have a working landline phone extension to the
garage. The Coax is cable TV ready. I have at least half a dozen
pairs of twisted wire spares. I can't recall what I had intended them
for other than one pair will be connected to the door chime to let me
know someone is at the house door.