Digging near electric..& near dead!

[podagrower]

I've some pretty amazing mistakes over the years with buried wires from
120v up to 7200v. Did you know it is possible to coat the inside of a galvanized pipe with molten copper? Sure suprised the operator who found that out.
One of the tricks I use when I know I'm digging on top of something is to use the bucket backwards. Start digging like you normally would, then use the bucket to push the dirt (a few inches at a time) back into the hole you create and keep cleaning out the hole. It is a lot easier to not damage the cable or conduit if your bucket is not curling into it. Warmer temps help PVC cope with being bent without shattering. Sand blades on buckets, even though they suck in clay, have saved me a few times.
Always call for a locate, even if they don't come, you tried. It also helps to have a helper in the ditch looking for items.

 

[LBrown59]

This is my stupid action to share so others don't do this!
I was burying a 8" drain line under my drive and cut the electric to my house. Peter

Did you call before you dug??????

 

[dqdave1]

7200v line is not a private line; cable from x former to house is private. Ohio requires "red' tape 12" above power line for safety. You must be careful installing direct burial cable in conduit. 7200 v should not be a problem but secondary cables must be derated do to heat in conduit according to NEC.
Glad all is well and no one got hurt. If bill comes in high, call your homeowners insurance co., some will pay.

 

[horse7]

Bear with me Horse as it's late; but am I reading your post correctly that you buried steel conduit?

When I was with the renewable energy lab in Golden, Colorado; all underground conduit was a minimum of SCH40 PVC, and SCH80 if it ran under a driveway or other roadway.

I don't care how much galvanizing was put on that steel conduit, it will rust in the ground.

The local power company specified 2" galvanized steel for 2 sections underground (about 20' if I remember correctly) then up the pole. They didn't provide any choice. 50' of pigtail was to be left for the connections too. The end near the house is similar, but was a fiberglas pad (they sold a fiberglas pad, or one could follow their instructions for building a concrete setup. I almost made my own concrete setup but it turned out not to be practical to pour the pad when other concrete was being cast, and too expensive to have a short load (this would be a REALLY short load) delivered). Direct bury was OK at the pad per power company, although sch80 plastic was used.

Everywhere else conduit was used was plastic-- 2" sch80, like I said, I never want to see the primary again-- the usual method of failing is rock penetration from what other people told me. One length in some bottomland was in ground essentially rock free and it seemed like a waste to use sch80. Used 4" corrugated black plastic footing drain, 250' section or fractions thereof, ran a steel pig pulling a rope then pulled the wire through (snow on the ground helped ).

Set up the 1400' wire on a spool free turning on a homemade stand, pulled 1/2 to the entrance (and through the footing drain where it was used), the other half laid in the trench then threaded on 10' sections of sch80. Well, there were only 80 or 90 of them! The wire also crosses under a stream... in sch80 48" down (small stream)... Trench also has UF secondary running all the way back to the entrance, and the phone line, and a coax that needs replacing (long story about that!)...

 

[mjncad]

Thanks for the clarification Horse7.

One of the other tricks some of us use here in Colorado is to put a 3" bed of squeegee or pea gravel down in the bottom of the trench, then lay the conduit or pipe in the trench and cover with more squeegee or pea gravel.

With our expanding clay soils (claycrete) in my area, the pea gravel seems to allow the conduit or pipe to move a bit in the trench without being stressed as severely when the soils eventually wiggle around. The other benefit is if you need to dig up the conduit or pipe, the gravel makes it easier to do.

 

[jdmar]

Our line goes from the pole, then is buried for about 800 feet to a transformer just behind our house. The 7200 volts was the number given by the electric repair team...I do NOT plan to test it though....wel at least not again!
Peter

 

[jdmar]

The line was supposed to be at least 36" deep. But in this spot it went over a 6" drain line. The electric company said it should have gone UNDER any drain lines. My gas line does have a yellow plastic 'ribbon" buried just above it...VERY smart idea.

I "did" know were the line was...just never thought it would be so shallow...I got it on the first or second scoup...and a big breaker of some sort blew up on the pole at the street.

 

[Toiyabe]

Who installed the power line? If it was the power company, you may have a good argument for not paying the repair bill.

 

[Red55]

That's the problem with the markout for the lines -no idea on depth. On my sewer injection pump line I used the foam sill seal about 10" above line. Worked great when I had a leak (thks to cable guys) One town employee vaporized his bucket . . . retired shortly after that Ed

 

[riptides]

We did the same thing a few years back. Right after a hurricane came through the power company got us back online.

We called our local miss utility number, they marked "all" the utilities.

We hit the power line in the middle of the yard. Big bang and poof.

The local marker guys had not ground the cable run to the house. So when the cable and power lines split, they were side by side for a while, they did not pick it up.

The power company came back out in a few hours, spliced everything up and filed a report. The line was marked with red tape, but the backhoe was quicker than the eye.

No repair bill for me.

-Mike Z.