500 Foot Trench

[scuvnut]

Had to cut a 500 foot trench so I can run water and electric back to a 1/2 acre pond I have as I want to run an aerator and light the pond. Decided the best piece of equipment to do the job would be a ride on trencher (the walk behinds bounce around an awful lot). Here is a couple of pictures of me going at it.

Cut the 500 feet in less than 50 minutes. As I rented it for a full day, I drove around the neighborhood to see if anyone else needed trenches!

[Barneyhunts]

I have some shorter trenches to dig, so, how did it handle rocks? roots? How deep did you dig? How deep would the machine dig? Have you had much experience with the walk behind type?
Thanks for posting the pictures. Looks like you had a good day!

[scuvnut]

This particular unit handled the rocks without any problem. Roots are a mere afterthough. You can see that I went by a large ceder and it chowed up the roots like nothing. I dug 2 feet deep, but these units generally can go up to 4 feet deep (below the frost line). If you look at the second picture, you'll see the trench is not perfectly straight (and I did use a rope and a can of spray paint to give me a straight line). When you hit a really big rock, it shifts a little, but its pretty inconsequential.

I have rented a trencher three times in the last four years. The first time, I used a walk behind unit and trenched 200 feet. Again, it took down roots and handled rocks quite well, but bounced around alot.

The second time, I rented a ditch witch unit the was a bit bigger - it had tracks instead of wheels and was significantly heavier than the walk behind with wheels (another brand with this setup is a Toro Dingo). This was a great unit, barely bounced around and encountered lots of roots/rocks.

However, I was able to rent the driveable Vermeer unit this time for the same price as the one with tracks. The only differential is that the drive on unit may not work in close quarters.

Hope this info is of some value to you.

[Barneyhunts]

Thank you for the info. I t is helpful.
Barney

[weldingisfun]

Originally Posted by scuvnut

Had to cut a 500 foot trench so I can run water and electric back to a 1/2 acre pond I have as I want to run an aerator and light the pond. Decided the best piece of equipment to do the job would be a ride on trencher (the walk behinds bounce around an awful lot). Here is a couple of pictures of me going at it.

Cut the 500 feet in less than 50 minutes. As I rented it for a full day, I drove around the neighborhood to see if anyone else needed trenches!

You are a good neighbor. Be careful, you are on the endangered species list.

[AndyMA]

It's amazing how fast they can trench. Also how neat they are. I have an old walk behind unit that is so heavy that it barely bounces.

Andy

[daBear]

Man I wish you lived near me. I am installing a sprinkler system on about 2 acres of grass in my back yard and making the trenches with a sub soiler and middle buster. Works fine, but the trencher would have been perfect. Looks good.

[scuvnut]

Wish I could have been there for all of you. This thing was a blast to work with!

[sandman2234]

DaBear needs to do what I did, and build a trencher for his tractor. It saved me $40 in rental fees, so I figured it was worth it. The unit you rented for the 500 foot trench probably cost more than the one I would have rented, since spinkler systems usually only go a few inches down, rather than feet.
Rental of a "spinning wheel" type trencher for spinkler systems is probably all that is needed.
Nice of you to offer to trench up the neighborhood!!
David from jax

[scuvnut]

Sandman...I did not trench for a sprinkler....this was a trench for water and electric.

I put in a one inch water line, a 1 1/2 inch conduit for 3, #2 aluminum wires and a copper ground (so I can have 30 amp service) and a 1 inch conduit for "future expansion" (maybe a cable line if I put a gazebo back by the pond and want to watch a ballgame).