Plowing Pipe in Pictures

[wrooster]

Your post got me thinking. I need to bury electric wire 18" deep minimum for about a 200 foot run. Does anyone bury wire this way? or would it tear up the insulation? I don't remember the exact wire spec, but it is buriable 4-8 wire.

Note that NEC is 18" deep to top of NM conduit, or 24" when direct buried. Hence if you are going DB I believe you are looking at 24".

That said, you can't pull DB wire with a plow, it has to be trenched in. And if you are opening a trench, I'd advise you put schedule 40 non-metallic conduit in the hole, and then pull wire through it. The added cost is minimal, you don't have to dig as deep, it affords more protection, and if anything ever happens you can just pull a new line through the conduit.

Wrooster

 

[gabby]

I think you are overlooking one thing -- the advantage with pulling rolled poly pipe off of a large reel is that there are no joints, except at the ends. If you put glued-up PVC in the ground, there is a joint every 10, 12, or 15 feet -- and two solvent welds at each joint.

Wrooster

Wrooster, do you sell roll pipe? haha

Get 20 foot pvc sticks with bell ends and there is only one glue joint, takes about 10 seconds to glue each one up.

I've pulled roll pipe before but I won't do it again.

Ever tried to patch a leak in roll pipe? Compare it to patching a pvc leak with a telescoping union. Telescoping pvc union is much easier to install and it won't leak.

 

[gabby]

That said, you can't pull DB wire with a plow . . .

Wrooster

Says who? I've done it many times!

 

[hawkeye08]

I think you are overlooking one thing -- the advantage with pulling rolled poly pipe off of a large reel is that there are no joints, except at the ends. If you put glued-up PVC in the ground, there is a joint every 10, 12, or 15 feet -- and two solvent welds at each joint.

Wrooster

I plan on using 20' sticks when I put it in, have not figured out how close the sprinklers will be, but you are right, there are certainly more joints with PVC, but consider this, the joints on PVC are outside the working diameter of the pipe. On poly pipe, each connection (tees or elbows or each connection) are inside the working diameter of the pipe. To get the same flow and pressures from poly pipe, you need to use bigger size than you do with PVC.

I need to quit being so lazy and get my sprinkler system designed and get the pipe in... no reason to delay it (other than finding time).

 

[Little_Grizzly]

You guys all make me jealous. We've got so many rocks up here in New England, I wouldn't get 2 feet with a subsoiler!

:laughing:

I was thinking the same thing. If i tried it out here I'd end up with a field of broken off subsoilers. :laughing:

 

[dieselscout80]

:laughing:

I was thinking the same thing. If i tried it out here I'd end up with a field of broken off subsoilers. :laughing:

Thanks for I spit my coffee all over the place.

 

[EMB5530]

Your post got me thinking. I need to bury electric wire 18" deep minimum for about a 200 foot run. Does anyone bury wire this way? or would it tear up the insulation?

I don't remember the exact wire spec, but it is buriable 4-8 wire.

Never done it before but I am getting ready to try it. I was planning on running the sub-soiler 1 time to clear the hole of roots and rocks and then connect wire and lay it in on the 2nd pass.

Ill let ya know after I do it. But it may be a few weeks out!

 

[GPintheMitten]

We aren't doing it until next spring. I think we will just rent a ditcher. The electrician that we hunt with says it is against code to put cables runs in conduit. He said it would have to be separate wires.

 

[milkman636]

The ground will get pretty hard for some of us in the next few weeks. Doesn't Kansas have frost to worry about?

 

[wrooster]

Says who? I've done it many times!

You doing it, and it being the *correct* way to do it, might be two different things.

Pulling cable requires introduction of the cable into the slice at the plow, and not pulling the cable underground via the plow like one does with pipe. Otherwise, you are tensioning the cable as you pull it, which (once you have enough in the ground) will damage the cable.

In general, with pipe the roll can be at the start point; but with cable it MUST be fed at the plow point.

See, for example,
Ditch Witch RT115 Plowing Fiber Optic Cable - YouTube

Wrooster