Electrical PVC verse Regular PVC

[sparkkky]

Sparkkky,

Thank you for the reply.

Putting wire in thinwall may be a code violation, but it's not illegal here. It's also not a code violation where there is no code.


Granted you may not be in a city but the code remains the code.


I use it because it's dirt cheap and it protects the wire from rodents. My biggest concern is that gophers will chew through it, which is a very common problem here. I don't have rocks, just clay, so if it wasn't for them, I would just bury it and be done with it. I'm even thinking that if I go deep enough, I might be safe from gophers, but that's taking a risk I want to avoid.

My problem with water in pipe with direct bury wire is that the water is there forever. In the ground, it dries out, or if deep enough, rarely gets wet. Constant imersion in water may cause it to fail in time. I could be wrong the wire failing, but I've heard it happens, so I thought the expanding foam was good insurance.


Most all pipe has water in it with just single THHN wires.


I'm aware of heat issues with high voltage lines, but never heard of 12/2 with 15 or 20 amps ever having heating issues. Is this true?


Anytime there is a current draw there is heat thats why the code book has so many tables and in fact the jacket on the wire can melt down if it can't get rid of the heat. Would rather have the water to cool.


As for adding or replacing wires in pipe, your right. My method doesn't allow for this. It's strictly use it until it fails and then redo the entire line. New trench, new wire and new pipe. If it fails, it can be pricey.

I'm gambleing that it wont fail. I'm also perfectly willing to redo it if it does. Hopefully those who read my posts realize that my suggestions may be unorthodoxed with certain drawbacks. But I wouldn't offer my opinion if I didn't think it was a viable option.

I also wouldn't do this for a client. I will do it on my own place, but when somebody pays me to do a job, than I have to cover my butt. It's cheaper and more profitable for me to walk away from almost all electrical jobs. It's not that I can't do most residential work, it's that the liablity factor is just too big. If there is a fire, than I have to prove that it wasn't my fault. Too much effort, time and expense involved in that. I know a guy who did that and it cost him tens of thousands of dollars to prove it wasn't his fault.

Take care,
Eddie

I gave up on saving the world along time ago!

 

[MarEng]

Forgive the above rant. Not only do I have my personal expereince to draw on but I worked as a building superintendent for a builder in the CoH. The stuff above happens repeatedly in both commercial and residential with any number of companies. You can't complain to CoH becuase it's their inspectors that will have to investigate each other. I have called in the State re: plumbers before and only I suffered. My job got shut down for a week. The lead plumber got $2000 in tickets, which his company paid, and nothing changed - he stopped work long enough to sign the citations.

For the year I did this, I finaled each structure for plumbing, electrical and structural - but I was prevented from being licensed.

 

[sparkkky]

The worst rigs I have had to redo have been done by engineers, the reason you can't test is all you have been trained to do is draw not do(methods)! Why do you think there are so many jokes about engineers and a lack of respect?

Texas is a whole different country all right, you can use smaller wire than any place else and spyder wire in the attic!

Sure I go behind electricans all the time even have refused to believe people that said a electrican did it until I saw the bill with a Lic.# thats why I don't have employee's any more.

I AM A WORKING CONTRACTOR AND I NOT PERFECT BUT AT LEAST I TRY TO DO THINGS RIGHT AND AROUND HERE THE OKLAHOMA CITY INSPECTORS ARE IN MOST PART VERY CAPABLE AND UP ON CODES!

And I guess if you want your house to fall down around your ears so you can be free, more power to ya.


Edited to add that bumper sticker is the only thing the unions and I agree on.

 

[dirtworksequip]

Sorry to disagree with a lot of DIY's, but Sparkyyy is right. Use the correct material for the job even if it cost more. Its all color coded for a reason. WATER-BLUE or WHITE,
SEWER-GREEN, GAS LINE-YELLOW and ELECTRIC-GRAY. Believe it or not, one of these days you are not going to be here! And someone will be trying to figure out what the heck you did. Hopefully no one will get hurt.

 

[Highbeam]

Sorry to disagree with a lot of DIY's, but Sparkyyy is right. Use the correct material for the job even if it cost more. Its all color coded for a reason. WATER-BLUE or WHITE,
SEWER-GREEN, GAS LINE-YELLOW and ELECTRIC-GRAY. Believe it or not, one of these days you are not going to be here! And someone will be trying to figure out what the heck you did. Hopefully no one will get hurt.

Funny guy, our WATER is black poly, Sewer is white PVC, Gas lines are gray poly, and electric is gray if it is in conduit at all. You can not depend on color to decide which line you are cutting.

 

[GaryBDavis]

I put in over a thousand feet of buried conduit this weekend. Water lines, gas lines, electrical service, and communication lines. I have a lot of conduits in the ground:

Electrical
Power Pole to House
Power Pole to Shop
Power Pole to Septic Tank
Power Pole to Front Gate
Shop to Well Head

Water
Well Head to Shop (well room is in the shop)
Shop to House
Shop to Front Gate
Shop to Livestock Troughs

Gas
Propane Tank to Shop
Propane Tank to House

Communications
Satellite Pad to House
House to Shop
House to Front Gate
Exit Detector for Front Gate

Plus there’s the septic tank…

I need a site plan to remember where everything is.

One thing that convinced me to stick to the color coding was I had to locate some of the conduit I buried a few months back. Finding white or gray PVC made it a lot easier to know what it was. Ten years from now, I won't remember exactly where everything is and I'll be glad I used gray for electrical, etc.

Now I need to go take some pictures of the covered up trenches and measure everything before the grass grows and I can't tell where everything is anymore!

 

[dirtworksequip]

Highbeam, I was talking in general about mainlines. Yes, black poly would be water. How about if someone uses it as conduit for electric?

 

[schmism]

im an engineer.

Assume nothing.

Electricians are the one group of people i can always count on to say whatever you did wasnt right because your not a liecened electrician and you should always call his union budy to do the work. (saves lives you know)

overbuilt is never bad.

if direct bury is good
direct bury in conduit is better
direct bury in conduit in RCP is better still

i dont see how you can go wrong....

 

[EddieWalker]

Sorry to disagree with a lot of DIY's, but Sparkyyy is right. Use the correct material for the job even if it cost more. Its all color coded for a reason. WATER-BLUE or WHITE,
SEWER-GREEN, GAS LINE-YELLOW and ELECTRIC-GRAY. Believe it or not, one of these days you are not going to be here! And someone will be trying to figure out what the heck you did. Hopefully no one will get hurt.

I think I keep digging myself in deeper here, but my thinwall conduit is purple. I got it half price because nobody wants one inch thin wall in purple.

I also agree that one day I wont be here and somebody else will have the land. Just like I bought it after somebody else had it. I'm not real sure what that all means, but I have absolutly no expectations that anybody will be able to figure out what I've done. I'm not sure what I'm doing and the more I do it, the more confusing it gets.

Eddie

 

[MarEng]

Around here (East Texas) purple thin wall would be septic spray line for an aerobic septic system. 20' lengths with belled ends?