electrical and gas-same trench?
alwaysoverbudget
| Posted in Construction Techniques on
going to bury my 100 amp elec. in 3″ pvc 20″ deep about 120′. i got to thinking about running a 2″ pvc in trench about 18″ deep and someday pulling 1″ plastic gas line thru it so i wouldn’t have to dig up the yard again. i would put the tracer wire in with gas line. is it against code for both to be in same trench? if you was doing this would you make the 2″ white pvc or use electrical?thought about spray painting it yellow. let me know what you think.thanks larry
hand me the chainsaw, i need to trim the casing just a hair.
Replies
It's not against code for them both to be in the same trench. However most utility companies I have dealt with like to see some horizontal seperation (usually 24") which means a wider trench than normal.
I don't know where you are but here (WA) I think electrical has to be 36" deep. As was stated before should have some seperation side by side.
Jeff,
Local WA code is 36" for feeder to transformer then 24" for feeders to residences.Wood is Good
Adam Greisz<!----><!----><!---->
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my service conductors are required to be 36 in. deep in sch 80 pvc. Individual circuits may be 24 in deep in conduit.
A gas service guy told me not to run conduit for his gas line,he said that if there were a failure it might manifest itself at the end of the conduit at your meter.Yet I have seen them slide their high pressure yellow plastic gas line inside of their old steel gas pipes.I dont know what gives.
Ask your utility company about the depth of a service entry conduit. Different areas of the country have different requirements, according to frost depth. Here we must be 30" with schedule 40 PVC conduit under ground and sched. 80 for the sweeping ells and above ground parts to the meter base and up the pole 4'. The higher strength sched. 80 points are because that is where the major stress occurs when pulling in the service entry cable with a tugger.
Here you can share the trench with a gas line, but I am unsure of the separation. Check with the utility company for that requirement also.
Why bother with addition pipe for the gas line? Cost wise, it will be about the same to just purchase and install the gas line. By the time you factor in fittings and labor for plumbing PVC, the roll of gas line spooled into the trench may even be less $$.
Running a tracer wire is a good idea. Backfill the first foot or so of the trench with sand is another good idea, and adding a run of "caution buried cable" on top of the sand is even better. Any excavators working in the area in the future will dig up the caution tape before they get to the buried lines, and the sand bed makes hand digging that last foot so much easier.
Dave