trenching utilities to barn

[Qapla]

See, if you had bought a BH to go with that B3200 you wouldn't have to ask about trenching - sounds like a good reason (excuse) to buy one

 

[check]

See, if you had bought a BH to go with that B3200 you wouldn't have to ask about trenching - sounds like a good reason (excuse) to buy one

Yup. Nothing like a backhoe on the back of the tractor when you need it. I have a BX25, and tomorrow morning I'm digging a 4 foot deep trench about 70 feet long for a cottage neighbor. Shouldn't take long at all!

 

[grsthegreat]

My jurisdiction allowed common trench with separation. I used an excavator to dig about 300 feet of trench with a 24" bucket. Placed water at bottom of 48" deep trench to one side. Filled in 12" soil then placed power and twin cat 5 cables (16 years ago) in CONDUIT with power to one side and com to the other. Buried with twin runs of marking tape.

Run ethernet and phones to shop plasma cutter and computer. Never been an issue. With conduit ive never had any issues. You wouldnt believe the number of times ive had to dig up direct burial to repair damages. Ill never use that cra*.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Yup. Nothing like a backhoe on the back of the tractor when you need it. I have a BX25, and tomorrow morning I'm digging a 4 foot deep trench about 70 feet long for a cottage neighbor. Shouldn't take long at all!��

Yeah, shouldn't take long at all, until you hit a rock, that is. Even something bread box size can put a real crimp in your day with those little three point backhoes. Roots tend to give 'em a real workout, too. Forget about digging out a good size root ball, unless you've got all day to do it.

If you live where the soil is miles deep, a little 'hoe might be fine. But where I live, it's much easier to find a neighbor with a real backhoe and give 'em a few bucks to take care of it for you.

 

[EddieWalker]

I'm a contractor and I own a riding trencher. Code is that you never put electric and water in the same trench. The reason is that if the water line ever breaks and you have to dig it up, you don't want power in there with water all over the place. The dirt between the trenches needs to be undisturbed so water can not get from one trench to the other if there is a break.

Depending on your soil and how deep you go, a walk behind trencher should be fine. Before buying the riding trencher, I always rented walk behind ones and I'm in an area of all red clay that gets very hard in summer. I feel the big advantage to a riding trencher is the blade in front for filling in the trenches. That's where the real work is!!!! Worse job ever was a 1,200 foot trench and filling it back in with a shovel.

 

[Snobdds]

I agree, never put electric and water in the same trench. Also, their should be at least 3 feet distance between the two trenches.

 

[dalroo]

Good points Eddie.

When we did our water/power project I dug two trenches - one for power and one for water, and yards apart. And unfortunately for me, I picked up the ride-on trencher in the late afternoon and it was booked on a different rental the following morning. I only had it for the evening, and had to return early the next morning, so did not get the benefit of using the blade to fill in the trench. Instead I did it by hand with a shovel and hoe. That was a lot of shoveling! In hindsight, as soon as we had the trenches dug, we should have laid the cable and pipe with excess on the ends, and immediately back-filled. This would have saved me hours of labor, but I didn't think about it until after the fact.

 

[widefat]

I rented one of these: Trenchers - EZ-TrenchEZ-Trench to do a 2000ft dog fence. I only wanted to go 4 inches deep. It was a major PITA - it was not powerful enough to do the job, kept stalling even with the gentlest treatment.
I ended up hooking a sub-soiler to the tractor, doing a pass over the whole perimeter, then going through with the trencher. Saved myself hours of struggling to break up the
hard ground.

 

[Deere Dude]

Separate trenches for electric and water. I hope it is local. I cannot imagine separate trenches for water and electric in Wisconsin. You would have a mountain of dirt with no place to go with it. If the powerline or waterline goes out, just dig a new trench for a new line.

 

[rhunt]

I read this subject but see no mention of permits or inspections. You can not backfill until inspector see's the trench depth and sand fill around electric run. Not trying to stir up any trouble here but there are very good reasons for permits and inspections when it comes to electric. Best regards, Bob