Dig a new trench or bury pipe/conduit in the ditch?

[sixdogs]

The pasture is fine as long as no one ever farms it and finds those wires and pipes with a ripper.

 

[moparrob]

Thanks for your input folks!

 

[FTG-05]

What those last couple guys said is all good. I would like to give you an idea that the electrician who was just putting in the services for our new shop gave us. This guy has been doing this for 25+ years and he had us dig the trench, lay in a bed of sand, lay in the electrical and other lines, lay more sand a few inches thick, lay pressure treated 2x4, a layer of backfill on that and then the warning tape and the rest of the back fill. He said he has done this for years and if you ever need to dig up a section you dig till you get to the warning tape then you gently dig along the top of the 2x4 and the rest is sand and easy to dig with a shovel.

Question: what's the purpose of the treated 2x4? And does it have to go along the entire length of the pipe burial? That could get expensive.

Thanks,

 

[farmer2009]

Question: what's the purpose of the treated 2x4? And does it have to go along the entire length of the pipe burial? That could get expensive. Thanks,

Have used the 2x4 when crossing driveways and didn't want large trucks to press tock into the electrical conduit. Anytime I cross a drive or under concrete with water I always use a larger pipe as a casing.

 

[BKBoiss]

Question: what's the purpose of the treated 2x4? And does it have to go along the entire length of the pipe burial? That could get expensive.

Thanks,

What he said was the 2x4 was so if you ever needed to dig it up for what ever reason you could dig down to the boards and gently scrape the hoe bucket along them with no worry of damage to the line, you then lift the boards and in 6 to 8 inches you have reached the line with a shovel. I had never heard of this before but it seemed like a good idea. I can remember digging down 5 to 6 feet with a shovel because the gas line was supposed to be only a foot below where the hoe dug. Turns out the yard had been filled after the gas line was put in. And yes you run it one end to the other, that being said ours was only a 100' run or so.