What's the best way to dig a trench?

DMuldowney · Jul 5, 2005

What\'s the best way to dig a trench?

Does anyone have any tips for the best way to dig a 250' trench 3 ft deep?

I'm fighting with the cable company right now. When they wired our neighborhood, they apparently didn't do a very good job, and didn't prep our lot. After we built, I called them to run the cable and they informed me they wanted $1800 to run a piece of wire up to our box. The excuse for the high cost is that they only do directional boring.

So anyone, without drowning you with details, they offered a comprimise if I can dig part of the run, the cost goes way down.

The problem though, it is has to be three full feet deep. Any suggestions?

LarryRB · Jul 5, 2005

Re: What\'s the best way to dig a trench?

I do this all the time and use a 12" bucket with my hoe... Check the run length also,.. Some cable companies require 3" schedule 40 pipe if your run is over two hundred feet. Other companies aren't so strict. They have their own in house engineers and can show up at your property and tell you face to face what they require. I have mine in writing along with a small packet (COX Cable co) has to offer, This way, there are no questions on either side

Glenn1 · Jul 5, 2005

Re: What\'s the best way to dig a trench?

I needed 300' of underground when I built my house. They initially wanted a 4" conduit. I quickly advised them they were nuts. but agreed that I would dig the ditch, call them and they would install the cable. After two weeks I installed a 1" conduit and covered the ditch. They cried a lot but installed the cable on a deal with free installation. My cable is approxiamtely 18" deep.

jeffinsgf · Jul 5, 2005

Re: What\'s the best way to dig a trench?

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The problem though, it is has to be three full feet deep. Any suggestions? )</font>

But, if they bury it, it would be about 3 inches!! I cut my cable with a core aerator one time...we went round and round on that one. They fixed it.

Yooper3830 · Jul 5, 2005

Re: What\'s the best way to dig a trench?

I put in a new camp last year and needed to trench about 100' for electrical service. I think that needed to be 24" but they would allow 18" if in plastic conduit. 3' seems a bit overkill but if that's what they are saying, I would check into renting a "walk behind" (actually "walk ahead") trencher. They are probably about $80 to $100 for 4 hours. I had a lot of rock so it worked OK but where there wasn't rock you could probably go 1 to 2 ft per minute I would guess. If rocks aren't a major problem, look at a rented trencher. They'll go down the 3' and leave a neat 4" wide trench. "Call before you dig".

DMuldowney · Jul 5, 2005

Re: What\'s the best way to dig a trench?

If they can go down 3 feet, I'll definetly look into that. I was under the impression they couldn't go that deep. The soil is mainly clay, and can be rocky in places, but it's already been torn up by electic and phone, so I don't suppose it'll be that bad.

slowrev · Jul 5, 2005

Re: What\'s the best way to dig a trench?

Dishnetwork or Direct TV ?

Ben

DMuldowney · Jul 5, 2005

Re: What\'s the best way to dig a trench?

DirecTV has been wonderful. I'd give them an A+ in customer service. I just want the hi-speed internet. The problem is that I'm in the IT industry and dial-up just doesn't work for me on days that I work from home. Verizon isn't interested in increasing DSL capacity. there's a minimum of 2.5 acres for each home in my township, so I suppose there isn't enough bang for the buck for them to do it. All you have to do is ask a few people their opinion on DWAY to determine THAT won't work either. I'm really at the mercy of the cable company here. I'd love to tell them to stuff it, but it appears I don't have much choice.

cchoate · Jul 5, 2005

Re: What\'s the best way to dig a trench?

I'm a Time Warner employee and once worked in construction department.

The first thing - when you dig a 3' trench you're probably going to hit other utilities so you will need a stake-out for them.

Putting coax 3' down is very unnecessary, why they want it that deep is beyond me. Is it going under a road, driveway, sidewalk?

The other thing to check is type of coax. Putting flooded coax it in conduit is ideal but unnecessary. It could also be armored cable that is made for direct burial. Once it's in the ground, they maintain / fix it.

Egon · Jul 5, 2005

Re: What\'s the best way to dig a trench?

Trencher! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Egon /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif