Best Implement For Laying Electric Conduit Line ??

[D2Cat]

If you have a big enough tractor and heavy enough equipment hooked to it you can drag just about anything within reason in the ground. If you don't care how deep you bury, how many times you have to go over the same path to loosen the soil and find/remove rocks, or how long it all takes...have at it. Only then will you know if it is worth it or not. But I'd still start with a trencher!

 

[bigcut]

If you have a big enough tractor and heavy enough equipment hooked to it you can drag just about anything within reason in the ground. If you don't care how deep you bury, how many times you have to go over the same path to loosen the soil and find/remove rocks, or how long it all takes...have at it. Only then will you know if it is worth it or not. But I'd still start with a trencher!

D2, a few questions I could use your thoughts on:
How deep can the trencher run ?
What happens when the trencher hits a rock or obstruction ?
What' your estimate as to the time to trench 150' and est. rental cost ?
I could use your help in defining the path forward.
Thanks

 

[D2Cat]

Bigcut, there are a lot of variables only you know. For rental cost contact whoever you'd rent from and ask. Probably a 3 hr min. cost varies by location.

A trencher can did as deep as the digging bar allows, but I'd suggest you bury an electrical line in conduit and 24-30" deep. Then you have no worries in the future of hitting it. The conduit is an additional cost at installation, but you never have to dig up the line to fix something. So that saves time, cost and grief in the future. At the ends of your conduit use a "sweep". That's a long curved 90 deg. bent (thus called a sweep).

Always dig a couple of inches deeper than you want the line then you just leave the crumbs in the ditch and lay your conduit/line. If you have a code you have to follow and it states a particular depth of bury, that measurement is from ground level (lay a shove across the ditch and measure down to dirt) to TOP of pipe, not bottom of ditch.

When a trencher hits rock, once again, lots of variables. How big is the rock, how many of what size? Rocks the size of a softball, the trencher will remove pretty easily (although it will bounce it a few times until it clears). Large rocks that are wider than the trench you need to raise the boom and take a rock bar to crack it and remove with your hands.

I'm describing a ride on trencher, not a bicycle handle bar'd dirt scratcher! A trencher (the size I'm describing) is easy to operate, has a "creep" hyd. motor for movement and digging. You can line the machine up from your starting point to your target area (if it's a straight line) and start digging a foot away from where you want to actually have the line come up into the panel and then use the creep it inch back as slow as you choose to get closer. You can get off the machine and use a sharp shooter (spade) to knock the crumbs off by the pole or conc. wall to eliminate all other digging. ALWAYS have the digging chain out of gear (not turning) when doing any hand work.

A ride on trencher will have a backfill blade. Always a 4-way, sometimes a 6-way. A 30HP trencher has a backfill blade with a small lip curled to the front. This allows the operator to put the blade all the way down to original level, angle and push the material back into the ditch and not dig into the undisturbed ground. With the machine I'm describing to you, you can backfill a 150' trench in a few minutes. Like up and back and use the weight of the machine to go over with the tires to make it look almost undisturbed except of about 5". Total time backfilling is minimal.

Oh, when you're digging, at about the middle of your run (or where ever it's convenient) dig a few inches deeper for about 10'. Then pull up and go to the other end (where you were going to finish) and do just as you started before. Then move toward the cut you already made. Just line up and go right over where you dug the extra depth. Continue digging in the previous dug trench for 8-9'. Now pull the digging boom up, pull forward a foot or so, and back over the ditch you just dug. Get all the way across the ditch and out of the way.

If the trencher has a backhoe you can use that to clean out the loose crumbs, if not use a spade to get it out. This is the most work you'll do digging a trench with a trencher!

You'll increase your competence and confidence in operating any machine and have a nice, long lasting installation!!

 

[plowhog]

I have a Ditch Witch walk behind trencher. I have dug about 200 feet of 24" trench in a couple of hours using it. I was going through very nice topsoil with a few rocks here and there. I have arthritis and back issues, so if I can do it most people can. But again, I have some pretty good dirt to dig in.

The nice thing about a trencher is that it makes a very nice pile of dirt along the entire edge of the trench. Really easy to backfill.

 

[flusher]

For a short 150 ft trench like you're planning, rent a trencher and finish the job in an hour.
In 2005 when I was laying electrical line for my new place, I dug 1100 ft of trench 24" deep with a rented trencher in about 8 hours.

Good luck.

 

[crazyal]

I put some phone line in using the sub soiler trick. But I used PVC water pipe vs conduit. It would go around the sweep just fine. My problem is the rocks. A trencher is pretty much a waste of time and even the sub soiler would only put it about a foot down. I used a vacuum to pull a pull string through the pipe and then pulled the phone line. If I need to go down further it's a backhoe or excavator around here.

 

[bigcut]

I put some phone line in using the sub soiler trick. But I used PVC water pipe vs conduit. It would go around the sweep just fine. My problem is the rocks. A trencher is pretty much a waste of time and even the sub soiler would only put it about a foot down. I used a vacuum to pull a pull string through the pipe and then pulled the phone line. If I need to go down further it's a backhoe or excavator around here.

crazyal, Thanks....many here felt that the trencher was the way to go. However, it sounds like hitting rocks is just as big a problem whether with tractor or trencher. If you already own the tractor and maybe have a ripper, then that would be the least costly way to go.

Here in PA, the soil is loaded with shale, in addition to the occasional boulder. While it would be nice to go deeper than 12 inches, unless you're going to plant/dig over the line, things should be alright.

I like your idea of using the vacuum to pull the line thru.

 

[RPW]

Our place in central Texas I used a ride on trencher to lay about 350ft of 200amp service for the new house and barn plus about 150ft of water line. Took most of the weekend as having to work though a layer of rock 18in below the surface. In some places needed the neighbors BH and my breaker hammer. That was rough. Out take is it depends on your soil as to the method used.

 

[quicksandfarmer]

I've done small trenching jobs with a middle buster -- 70-80 feet, maybe a foot down. One job was black poly pipe, I drove back and forth with the middle buster, then used a 4" trenching shovel to clear the loose soil and buried the pipe. Another was 1" PVC conduit. I welded a 1/2" nut to the back of the middle buster. I glued all of the conduit together in a line, then put a cap on one end, drilled two holes in it and wired it to the nut. Then I just plowed it into place. I drove the route with the middle buster first to make sure there were no obstacles. I couldn't drive all the way to the end point, so when I got to the last few feet I unhooked the middle buster while it was still in the ground, turned the tractor around, attached the middle buster backwards, and backed in.

Elapsed time was less than it would have taken me to go to the rental store and get a trencher.

I had less luck doing a 300 foot section of poly pipe that way. I did eventually get it buried but not as deep as I would have liked, the path I chose was full of rocks that stopped the middle buster. Big rocks are going to be a problem no matter what tool you have.

 

[oosik]

The only buried electrical cable and conduit I have is the 85 foot section from the yard power pole to the house. We dug that with an industrial backhoe. Four feet deep and two feet wide. Standard plastic burial conduit with the big 'ol copper cable inside the conduit.

And since I do not own a backhoe - the conduit being down four feet is well beyond any of my ground engagement implements.

 

[JerryK]

Keep in mind that the trenching is the hard part. And you should think hard about maybe installing more than one conduit in the trench when you get it dug for future wires. Plastic conduit is fairly cheap. In case you want to install alarm wires, phone, Cat-5, etc in the future. Just my $.02 I've burried quite a few conduits in my lifetime with just a long skinny shovel... down about 18". I think they are called a drain spade. The one I have came with a short handle which I replaced for a longer one. Use a flat shovel to remove the grass and set it aside. Dig down with the drain spade for X feet. Install pipe, fill, pack, replace grass. Then do another X feet.

PS: if you want to do it in sections, X feet at a time, glue that length of pipe and cover the end with a plastic bag held on with a little electrical tape. Then when you get time to do the next section of X feet, the end of the pipe you had put in earlier is still clean/ready to be sanded and have the new section glued on. Don't have to do all 150' at one time...

 

[oosik]

Excellent point - JerryK. That is exactly what my contractor recommended when we dug the ditch. So I put 4" heavy wall plastic pipe from under the foundation to a capped riser out ~60 feet from the house. Its there - identifiable by the capped riser and can be used or extended should the need ever arise.

 

[Oldoak]

If I were to use three point hitch attachment like a sub-soiler or ripper, I would make two passes. The first pass to break through possible hardpan or tree roots and hook and pull up any rocks that may be in the path. The the second pass while installing the wire or conduit.

 

[crazyal]

When I did the electrical service for the house, over 300 feet, I had to use 350 MCM. The stuff doesn't like to flex much so what I did was dug a trench with the backhoe and then laid out the cable. I slid one piece of conduit after another onto the cable and then glued it together in the trench. I just had to be careful because the PVC glue would try to glue the insulation to the conduit.

 

[Oldoak]

crazyal, that is the same procedure I used when I ran a 100' electrical conduit and coax cable from our satellite dish to our house.

 

[RSKY]

I buried over 220 feet of half inch pipe making two small curves. Attach the pipe to the subsoiler and start pulling. Pull until three or four feet remaining and attach more. Keep going until all underground.

 

[Diggin It]

After today, I can say it works IF you want it shallow. I got down maybe 3-4" at most which was enough for my purposes. It would be far better to dig a real trench though.