Under ground cable

[RobS]

<font color=blue>I'm sure you mean "low voltage" like malibiu lights. </font color=blue>

Yes, that and phone/cable are about all I would trust myself to bury. Maybe a short length of 110 for a post light or something, but I'd hand trench that (until I get that backhoe). I haven't yet approached the phone company about service to the new house but if they operate like the service here in our subdivision the wire will be about 2" below the surface. I'm thinking I can do better than that with a home made cable plow /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[beenthere]

I wonder what size the circuit breaker was to keep it 'hot'?

 

[chim]

Guess it depended a lot on the weather /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif. Hopefully we talked him out of it. In good conscience, you need to try to help people avoid doing something that would result in "serious death or injury" as my one kid used to say.............chim

 

[runeare]

I don't know why you couldn't put the UF inside a coil of 1/2" black plastic water pipe and bury it together then. Any animal that chews through both of those and 8-12 inches of dirt well....
Cost for the black plastic pipe for 1/2" was $11.99 per/100'
It still wouldn't be code but....

 

[Inspector507]

There may have been some damage to the cable that caused some leakage. Best to install cables at the proper depth for safety. 24" with direct burial cable or 12" if it's Ground Fault protected. 18" for electric PVC not black poly tubing.

 

[rockyridgefarm]

<font color=blue>12" if it's Ground Fault protected. 18" for electric PVC [.blue]
Thanks for the answer. I always GFCI outdoor circuits, and didn't realize those could go 12" Am I correct to assume that electric pvc that has gfci could also go 12"?

I would like to find a good refernce for property owners that covers the NEC requirements? Is there any website, or is the NEC book/CD the only way to go?

 

[Ozarker]

I'll second that.

The cable to my well house was direct bury and supposed to be at 24". A couple of years ago my son was tilling around the well house at about 6" for my wife (she wanted to plant lots of flowers there) and he hit that cable. The tiller won and the cable was cut in two.

 

[Inspector507]

Mike,
The NEC requirements even for residential wiring is quite extensive when trying to read it all. You can get some info in books at home center stores, etc. But I have seen some that had direct code violations in them too. The way the NEC is laid out and written can be confusing for some people that don't use it daily.

 

[bmabe]

Inspector507,
I'll ditto that! I refer to the code in my business, but only infrequently. Even the index is is difficult for us non-sparkies to use. Having said that, it remains THE source and worth the investment if you want to keep your electrical work safe (which is what the code is really all about).

Barry

 

[bgott]

http://electrical-contractor.net/

They have a pretty good forum at this site. I don't know if they answer questions for folks that aren't professionals, though. You might, however, find a thread with the info you need.

 

[ChuckinVA]

Hey Jerry,

Do you know Sonny Lam ? He used to be the chief electrical inspector in Charlottesville, VA and has served on several NFPA Committees. He now works for a large electrical contractor ( retired from the city ) and does a lot of fishing.

 

[Inspector507]

No Chuck,
Can't say I have ever met him

 

[Phred]

When I ran power to my well I ran the UF in condiut (the gray palstic stuff) at a depth of 24"+. This way your sure that you do not have a problem although its more work and a little more money.

I think the other guys are right about using the sub-soiler only for low voltage or water lines (summer use only).

Use a ditch witch or backhoe and do the high voltage right.
Also if you use conduit then you may be able to repair / change the run by pulling the wire back through the conduit. Of course this assumes that you don't overstuff the conduit or try to pull it back through a mile of conduit.

Fred

 

[MrP]

Instructions from the back of the package of 50' of Outdoor Wire 14-2 UF-B:

<font color=blue>Installing:
Type UF-B cable should be buried at least 12" deep when used without conduit. Conduit should be used whenever there is danger of mechanical damage to the cable or whenever the cable rises above ground. The National Electrical Code and most local codes require the use of Ground-fault Interrupter with outdoor circuits to prevent serious electrical shock."</font color=blue>

I had planned to use my sub-soiler to install the cable 12" to 14". I only have a run of about 20 feet to the flagpole.

Do you all think I will have an issue?

 

[Inspector507]

Mike,
It could meet the NEC requirements, if it is Ground Fault protected and 20 amps or less, 12" of cover is fine. If not GFCI protected, NEC requires 24" of cover. But think of it this way also.....if I could hit it at 12", I'd probably hit it with the same equipment at 24" /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

 

[MrP]

Jerry,

Thanks for the info. I am only running two lights to illuminate the flag pole at night. I will replace the current electrical socket with a GCFI (is this a complicated procedure or just like any other socket change?).

 

[Inspector507]

An easy job. Just replace it with the power off. There are markings on the back side of the GFCI labeling each screw. The power coming in goes on the "LINE" screws, and the power going out to your lights ( and method of controlling them) goes on the "LOAD" screws. Black side for the black wire, white side for the white wire.
Just an FYI for everyone reading these posts, the NEC is the MINIMUM requirements. Feel free to exceed them, but that is the minimum you should do for safety sake.We all want to wake up for another day and enjoy our kids, and their kids.
Electricity and the human body don't get along real well.

 

[Kevin_in_Mi]

Now thats a big garden. Looks like you could feed all the critters in the county and still have some left to harvest for yourself. Your efforts sure took the work out of that job and actually made it look like fun.