Trenching for Utilities...

[Larry Caldwell]

I'm in the county in Washington State.

As some here know I have been unsuccessful in getting Comcast to run 500' from the pole to the rent home I have...

Also, the direct bury electric cable installed by the utility has been repaired twice at no charge by the utility and I have been told it is at the end of its useful life and they no longer direct bury and require the owner to provide conduit.

Third... I've been thinking it might be nice to have a camera/intercom and a hose bib at the start of the driveway.

Comcast is supposed to be sending the requirements and a sketch... from what I can tell they really only care that I install 2" conduit.

Thinking about doing my own trenching and would like to kill all birds with one trench/excavation...

The previous owner told me they had trouble with a trench that went straight to the house channeling water and suggested I not go down the driveway and instead go down the property line and make a 90 sweep to the house with a concrete vault because water doesn't flow uphill...

I realize utilities often don't play nice when it comes to sharing... on the other hand adding a couple of empty conduits seems like a win/win for me even.

There are code considerations for running low voltage and high voltage in the same trench. It's been a while, but IIRC it's a separation issue. Yes, your buried power line should be in conduit. I installed one in the late '70s and never considered not putting it in conduit. You can only fill the conduit so full with power cable, so you probably will need 3" or 4" for the power company. For the phone company I would suggest installing your own wire and using the best direct burial twisted pair you can buy. You definitely need a couple concrete water stops in the trench to keep surface water from following the conduit.

 

[ultrarunner]

Comcast may be the end of me yet...

The Doc I'm renting to would love to stay but not having high speed Internet is a deal breaker.

So far Comcast has backed out twice after I signed the papers...

The latest suggestion from Comcast is I run my own conduit and call them when ready...

So it got me thinking about how I could maximize my return if I were to take on the trenching be adding some extra empty ones at the same time in my 500' run from the pole to the house.

 

[LittleBill21]

Comcast may be the end of me yet...

The Doc I'm renting to would love to stay but not having high speed Internet is a deal breaker.

So far Comcast has backed out twice after I signed the papers...


The latest suggestion from Comcast is I run my own conduit and call them when ready...

So it got me thinking about how I could maximize my return if I were to take on the trenching be adding some extra empty ones at the same time in my 500' run from the pole to the house.

if you can get them to the house, thats half the battle, when the cash comes out, things start happening, i got over 350 feet of wire replaced on the pole, and i got the guy to run it through my roof, instead of through the side like they normally do. if you have everything set to go when they get there and "help" the "standard" install goes out the window

 

[Tractor Seabee]

Thanks Seabee...

Do you have underground electric from PSE?

Any thoughts how PSE handles a situation where the direct bury line they installed goes bad after 40 years?

So far they have made repairs twice I know of without cost.

If I have the chance, I still plan on adding a couple of smaller spare conduits for intercom/hose bib/security... no reason to add a 120 line as there is already one there for the gate.

I will plan NOT to run primary voltage in my Comcast trench.

Also thinking it would be good to know exactly where this 12,470 volt buried line runs...

I would hate to dig into it!!!

I Have Puget Energy as a provider. I have only been here 5 years and the place was totally rebuilt in 2000 with all new power. Secondary Overhead to a pole 40' from the house; meter is there and a big junction box. Two feeders out a 200A and a 100A underground to the garage. The 100 is the panel for the generator/utility w/transfer breakers. The gist of that code is to separate the utilities. I built a house back in in the 80s and they put gas, water, comm, and secondary power in a 4' wide trench. Power and comm was direct bury but only a 50' run. They did not cross anywhere. During my Navy time we did many new entrances but they encase power and comm in concrete along side each other. Again 12470V was the power circuit. Up here for your house I would do a 4' X 2' trench and put it all in there. One against each wall and one down the middle. 4" PVC for the power and 2" PVC for the Comm. TV, Tele, Internet will all fit in the 2". Handhole at end and in the middle for power and comm. Remember the pull tension problem. Power company may want one every 200' as that is the standard. Hope that helps. I am not an electrical engimeer or licensed anything so bear that in mind.

Ron

 

[ultrarunner]

Comcast promised to provide a spec sheet and sketch this week... nothing yet.

Looks like I will by losing my tenant... they said they never would have rented knowing Comcast was not available and even checked with Comcast prior to confirm it was...

I'm curious as to what size conductor Puget requires for a 500' underground run at 12,470 to end up with a 400 amp house service...

At the Hospital in California I had to run 4" conduit for the phone and it sure does look like overkill for a single fiber line the size of my pinky finger.

 

[Pilot]

Our local phone company has a plow. Power & phone people showed up at 0700, had a little delay while power guys sorted out if they could work with non-union phone guys. Pole was across the road, they brought line it down, pushed under the road, plowed wires in thru conduit, 4' deep and 1,200 ft. to box & were done by noon. Conduit & wires (as I recall) were mounted high in front of a large Cat, plow was behind it. Total cost was about $4,400 in 1992. Bid I had for digging a trench was $2.50 per foot, plus $1.00 to bury plus power & phone company charges.

 

[Streetcar]

In Cincinnati the power company, duke leases spare conduit to the cable company. The conduit are encased in concrete, but that is a city requirement.
If privately installing conduit for primary electric, duke requires two foot separation from another utility.
Secondary electric can be installed with four inch separation between conduit

 

[ultrarunner]

No updates.... the last 10 days Comcast county representative has gone missing in action.

Tenants plan to move in April after I said I don't want to make promises and not be able to keep them.

Not ready to quite throw in the towel and have one more avenue of approach.

I don't like to mixed personal and business... I'm involved with several nearby projects... one is a 200+ unit condo/townhome development and Comcast wants very much to be a part... put a call out to my project manager and will see what comes of it.

 

[Streetcar]

No updates.... the last 10 days Comcast county representative has gone missing in action.

Tenants plan to move in April after I said I don't want to make promises and not be able to keep them.

Not ready to quite throw in the towel and have one more avenue of approach.

I don't like to mixed personal and business... I'm involved with several nearby projects... one is a 200+ unit condo/townhome development and Comcast wants very much to be a part... put a call out to my project manager and will see what comes of it.

Ultrarunner call the project manager and see what they can do.
It is amazing what a call from the right person can do.

 

[ultrarunner]

I'm thinking I need to tie all these projects together this one time...

Between the 200+ townhome/condo development in progress and the 800 acre master planned community there should be enough on the table to at least get a firm commitment.

My brother oversees a billion dollar real estate portfolio and the subject of Comcast came up yesterday when I took Mom out to the ranch... he was surprised I'm back to square one and said he would make a few calls.

If I was currently living at the property, I would just rent a ride on trencher and install the 2" myself... and be done with it.

A couple of weeks back Comcast said I would have the engineering specs for the property the next day so I could contract locally.

Can't emphasize the value of competition... without it... so is the incentive to be responsive.