trenching 8 feet deep?

[FlaDon]

We owned a Cleveland Model 110 trencher. It would have done the job. One thing to remember is that even if the plows only turn the soil 18-24" deep, you still have to go below the frost line with the cable.

 

[MtnViewRanch]

The guy that we bought our Parsons Trencher from had a Vermeer that would dig a 36" wide trench and I think that he said that it would dig 10' deep. He also offered to sell it to us for $1, all we had to do was pay off the balance of what he owed on it. The balance was a tad bit more than what we wanted to pay for a trencher though.

Anyway, our trencher old and wore out as it is, has dug over a mile of 9" wide trench, 54 inches deep for us. The carbide teeth cut through solid granite, only have to drop down one gear for speed.

 

[DANOCHEESE]

They will probably directional bore in a piece for you. You can go as deep as you want. I have never heard of a requirement that you can't be too deep.

The reason it will be additional for the longer route is that you will pay for the additional equipment such as amplifiers. Pedestals, connectors. Signal will only go so far. THis is 2 way RF

Farmers tile fields all the time. We have a piece of fiber bored under a river that is so deep we have issues locating it.

If they really want to plow it in scrape off the top 2 foot. Windrow it. Plow it 40 inchs deep put the windrow back and you will be 60 inchs deep.

 

[RadarTech]

Ok...
I have seen this a number of times at work for our customers pulling fiber..

Trench cost-
Track-hoe- rental- + your labor + diesal = $300-$500 (well if you get a mini for a single day)
Add extra time for a cavein...

directional Bore with conduit..
Varies by the bore-$3 to $30 per foot..


If it was me and I really wanted it underground, I would ask the cable company for the name of the boring sub..

He could actually start at the pole on the other side of the road, and pop up at your house...
We have one customer with a 2500 foot bore.
crosses under 2 driveways, a small parking lot and a private road..
The rig operator asked the customer to put a shovel in the ground where he wanted it to come up. then from 2500 feet away, he used the rig to push the shovel out of the ground with the directional bore head...

If you do the bore, they can put a pull rope and conduit in the bore and not have to worry about bad cable....

anyway, give that a thought....


J

 

[Sonny580]

I had the chance to watch a dir. bore at work and that operator was GOOD! these things are awesome to watch!---Around here at the wind turbine area they put ALL high volt lines in conduit and exactly 4' deep!----We have 2 petroleum pipes crossing our farm that have been hit many times by my homemade ripper, so they are less than 2' deep!---I thought they were 10 feet!--but not the case here!

4' is plenty for any type cable! just my 02 and thanks for reading! sonny 580

 

[Jeepnford]

When my company buried fiber about 20 years ago it was buried at 4 ft. pretty much everywhere. It's never been cut in our area by conventional farm work. The contractor used two big (D9?) Cat dozers,one with a cable plow blade being pulled by the other. They used two Cats since fiber can't be vibrator plowed into the ground.

 

[MNBobcat]

You guys are the best. Thanks so much for all of the great info and suggestions.

A couple of months ago I installed an outdoor wood boiler and trenched in the Thermopex tubing using a rented trencher attachment for my Bobcat. I trenched 4 feet deep in an area where I knew I would be driving over the thermopex. Our frost here goes about 45 inches deep.

From what I'm hearing here, if I trench 4 feet deep I shouldn't have to worry about farming the field and hitting the cable. It would have been nice to go deeper just because I don't know what else I might decide to do in the field some day. For example, if I ever decide to put a pole building in the field where I might want to set the poles deep enough to get below the frost, I'd never have to worry about where this cable is located if it was deeper than 4 feet.

My theory is that going too deep with the cable I can't go wrong whereas too shallow...

I'll trench it at 4 feet. Down the road if I'm doing something other than farming where I need to find the cable, I'll have it located.

Thanks guys!

 

[Treemonkey1000]

Geez a 45" frost line! You need to find a warmer climate Take pictures of the trench and some measurements from reference points so that you know where the cable is later on. I did that when I had to replace a plastic waterline to my house several years ago.

 

[Pops15]

8' is ridiculous and unnecessary. You might call your state's utility commission. They may not let you go that deep. Utilities are supposed to be within a certain depth. Beyond that depth is usually reserved for oil and gas transfer lines. They don't even run high voltage lines that deep. You can also ruin someones well digging that deep. 900' to get around a field is nothing compared to the cost of machinery trenching that deep. Down here, they use a huge machine that has what looks like a large circular saw blade but they still don't go down more than 3-4'. You're talking $200 per hour equipment. Probably with an 8-hour minimum and transit costs. 2-3' is plenty and you can rent a trencher for $200 a day to do that.

Never heard of a max depth regulation, or utilities having assigned depths. One subdivision we were building in had power and phone lines 13' deep.........DIRECTLY OVER the sewer which was 18' deep!
Conversely there was another subdivision where a contractor hit a 44,000 volt power line that was only 2' deep and not where Com-Ed located it.
Also know of a high pressure petroleum pipeline near here that's less than 6' deep. Pipeline company was doing a fly over and saw the land owner digging a pond. They got him stopped before things got ugly....he was at 4'.

The OP said he was in sand. He'll have trouble with cave ins at 4'. I agree that 2-3' is plenty deep for the cable. I like the directional boring and conduit that was suggested.

 

[D7E]

I'd want it 6ft deep if it was any of my fields..you never know what you will do with that land in the future ..Land drainage..Sub soiling..fence posts..??

 

[MNBobcat]

I'd want it 6ft deep if it was any of my fields..you never know what you will do with that land in the future ..Land drainage..Sub soiling..fence posts..??

I ended up renting an excavator and dug it 5 foot deep. It may be overkill but its sure nice not to have to worry about it. The cable they ran up to my house is a mainline that normally runs to a pedestal. The stuff looked to be about a 1/2 or more in diameter. Can't be cheap. Not something I'd want to pay for if I had hooked it in the field!

 

[wedge40]

I know what you're dealing with. I'm a long way off the road and couldn't get cable here, so I had satellite for TV. After about 12 years I contacted the cable company again to see what could be done. I really wanted high speed internet and we will never get DSL out here. They said they would send an engineer out and get back with me. The engineer on the phone said it should be do able. I did have one huge advantage. I have a neighbor who works for the cable company as an installer. I ended up calling him, he measured from a pole and had some of his guys run from there to the house about 300' of the heavy duty stuff to keep losses low. They layed the cable on the ground and buried it later. I'm not even sure where the cable is, but I will need to find it so I can run electrical for the pole barn. I'm hoping a metal detector will find the cable for me.

Wedge

 

[Vern2]

I Think the only reason to go 8 ft is if you build a mother-in-law house with a basement on the lot. Other then that 3 ft would be fine.

Vern

 

[greggh]

I Think the only reason to go 8 ft is if you build a mother-in-law house with a basement on the lot. Other then that 3 ft would be fine.

Vern

Is that for the cable or the mother-in-law? :>)

 

[Brad_Blazer]

When my company buried fiber about 20 years ago it was buried at 4 ft. pretty much everywhere. It's never been cut in our area by conventional farm work. The contractor used two big (D9?) Cat dozers,one with a cable plow blade being pulled by the other. They used two Cats since fiber can't be vibrator plowed into the ground.

It's a myth that you can't use a vibratory plow for fiber optic cable. Of course 20 years ago it was very new and expensive and I'm sure they didn't want to take any chances. Vibration/shock will not "shatter" the fibers. Of course severe crushing, tension overload, etc. can cause damage. Some of our newer cables can be stapled to the wall with wire staples. The staple gun comes out about 5:30 into this video.
YouTube - Corning's ClearCurve? flexible fiber

 

[FlaDon]

I ended up renting an excavator and dug it 5 foot deep. It may be overkill but its sure nice not to have to worry about it. The cable they ran up to my house is a mainline that normally runs to a pedestal. The stuff looked to be about a 1/2 or more in diameter. Can't be cheap. Not something I'd want to pay for if I had hooked it in the field!

5' on a 45" frostline should be good to go. What people fail to think about when they bury shallow is that wire, pipes, cables can be forced up by frost heaves if not below the frostline. You might put it in at 2' but with a 45" line, you could see it come out of the ground in a few years. All by itself.

 

[Botabill]

Is that for the cable or the mother-in-law? :>)

That's too funny!!!

 

[uphill]

My local water utility ran a 3 inch pvc water line 750 feet across a field to my house and buried it exactly 6 foot deep. They used a 50 hp Ford tractor with a rear 3 pth trencher. It was slow digging.

 

[dave1949]

5' on a 45" frostline should be good to go. What people fail to think about when they bury shallow is that wire, pipes, cables can be forced up by frost heaves if not below the frostline. You might put it in at 2' but with a 45" line, you could see it come out of the ground in a few years. All by itself.

The electrician that did our house says that too. He thinks conduit comes up worse than bare cable also.
Dave.