Underground electric/drainage question
- Thread starter yanmars
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KillerBeagle
New member
There is also a free Android app from Southwire called Conduit Fill Calculator that is very handy.
Gord Baker
Platinum Member
It is useless to add another drain device. Your trench, properly dug with stone above and below approved conduit and hazard tape laid on is sufficient. Most local codes require an Electrical Inspector to view the tape before backfill. Don't try to fool him!
Being in Refinery and Chemical plants for over 40 years as Inspector I have never seen 3 or 5" pipe.
Being in Refinery and Chemical plants for over 40 years as Inspector I have never seen 3 or 5" pipe.
Tony H
Platinum Member
I have hard clay issues.. I bought Direct Bury wire. Ran it in schedule 40 electrical gray. Glued each belled end. Direct Bury alone should be good bit with all the shale in soil, I wanted extra protection.
Bentrim
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Interesting how different municipalities set up different requirements. Here in SE pa there are two electric companies that serve the same area, one a co-op and the other a "city" electric company. The co-op requires 4" pvc from pole to meter base. The city electric wants the wire buried direct with 4" of screenings over and below, they claim if conduit is used the wire may overheat! By the way they also require horns on the meter socket. When we were setting homes always had to know which electric serviced the area.
Lineman North Florida
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Every power company be it co-op, IOU, or municipality will have standards that they go by and usually will be different with the exception of co-op's, most of their specs are the same about everywhere you go from pole framing to underground service specs, around here it's pretty standard for a single phase residential service under 100' to be pulled in to 2&1/2" schedule 40 PVC, anything over 100' goes in 3". They make conduit sealing kits that can be used to help keep the water the gets into conduit at the joints from spilling into your meter can if it's downhill from the transformer. I also realize a lot of this was not the OP's question but since it came up I figured I would add a little information. To the OP as long as the power company has no objection to what goes in their ROW there should be no reason for you to be able to do what you want.
LD1
Epic Contributor
"Another" drain device?
Are you implying the conduit is a drain device that is gonna dry his soggy ground on the surface?
WHY is everyone reading this as an electrical service install thread and trying to answer questions that were not asked?
This is a thread with a question about drainage. Not electric.
I wonder if the OP said this was gonna be a waterline install.....and asked if he could lay drainage tile in the same trench....if this would have turned into a pex vs pvc vs PE pipe thread....or whether copper pipe can be direct buried? And what the best way to connect PE pipe is, barb fittings and clamps? Sharkbite type? Compression? Socket welded?
JRH02
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I haven't read through 5 pages on this....
All I have to say is gravity wins. The moisture/water will go to whatever void it can find to gather. Why the heck would you have a tile above what you are trying to protect? You go under what you are trying to protect to drain off excess and saturation. That still doesn't solve a moisture problem. You are seriously going to use a corrosive material in a saturated condition? Maybe you should run the metal conduit through the PVC? And that in a continuous culvert? Maybe then fill the whole run with concrete? Run forced air through the conduit to evaporate any water?
I don't want to be mean but if you are asking these questions you aren't the one to be making the decisions regardless of codes, inspections and best practices.
All I have to say is gravity wins. The moisture/water will go to whatever void it can find to gather. Why the heck would you have a tile above what you are trying to protect? You go under what you are trying to protect to drain off excess and saturation. That still doesn't solve a moisture problem. You are seriously going to use a corrosive material in a saturated condition? Maybe you should run the metal conduit through the PVC? And that in a continuous culvert? Maybe then fill the whole run with concrete? Run forced air through the conduit to evaporate any water?
I don't want to be mean but if you are asking these questions you aren't the one to be making the decisions regardless of codes, inspections and best practices.
LD1
Epic Contributor
Perhaps the time it took you to type the reply would have been better spent reading the posts you chose not to read. He never mentioned metal conduit. In fact he said he already has 4" pvc. You would also know that he is not concerned with moisture in the conduit so your silly comment about blowing air thru it has no merit.
He is simply trying to dry a wet area of ground that ALSO happens to be having electric service ran thru it. And wondering the feasibility of using the same trench to kill two birds with one stone....and if feasible....the ideal location within the trench for said drainage tile.
If you didn't want to be mean....you would have read the thread and understood what the op was asking....rather than make snide and irrelevant comments.