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I would like to run a power circuit from my basement about 12 feet underground to my detached garage, via an buried conduit. While I could trench it, it would mean destroying the existing patio. I’d much rather figure out a way to bore a horizontal hole from below grade in my basement to a hole dug out in the garage floor. I know that plumbers do this all the time for new supply lines or whatever. Does anyone have any tricks they’ve seen for jigging up a makeshift rig for this? My soil should be fairly easy to get through-loam and gravel. Perhaps a length of pipe flattened on one end and ground to a point? Anyway, any insight would be of great help.
Thanks
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If you really want to go through the trouble, and I am not sure how far you need to go, hook up a galvanized pipe to a garden hose and water-blast your way.
Sortof like a horizontal well drilling.
Keep adding more sections of galvanized piping as you make progress.
Need to rig up a coupler so the waterhose can be screwed on and off the ends of the pipe sections. And ofcourse the pipe sections would have to be threaded together as well as they are added.
For a single cable to be fed through you may even be able do to this with PVC conduit.
When you reach your destination flush out the lines.
I believe no matter how this is done there will have to be a deep pit dug at the point where the work gets started.
But the water and mud mess may be a major hinderance to your application ?
*b TVMDCWhat is the existing patio? If cement, it's a piece of cake to saw-cut, trench, then put a row of brick back in the opening.Another much easier way would be to bring conduit out of the basement, up the outside wall, then go overhead.By the way, how much power are you planning to put out there? two 20 amp circuits, 220volts, etc. With overhead wires, three #8 could heat-up a pretty good sized sub panel.
*Let's think about this for a second Lane, do you really want to bore a large hole through your basement wall below grade ? Where I live, that's against code, you have to pass the wire, in conduit, through a hole well above grade and go back down. Next, use cable that's certified to be buried and forget runing conduit the entire distance, just a waste of money and you'll proably be required to use "underground" cable anyway. If there's no way to trench around the patio, then your only real choices are to rent a pneumatic torpedo (aka: probably a dozen other names) and a 250cfm compressor and go to it, or hire a guy to do it for you. $$ for $$, unless you really know how to work one of those gizmos, you're ahead to hire the guy.
*Phil:How do you keep your plumbing supply and waste lines from freezing if they enter your house above grade?Lane: Easier to find another way to route the conduit other than going under the slab. I've used a hose attached to a length of pipe to pore under sidewalks but that's only a couple of feet. I'd be afraid that if it was 12', I'd lose control and end up undermining the patio to have it sink or crack later.
*They come through the footings and up through the basement slab Ryan. I've seen waste pipes going out at just above grade out in the sticks where they still have septic tanks, but I don't know how/why they're approved or if freezing is a problem, we'll have to get one of the plumbers to tell us that. I do know that when we worked on spinkler systems (water + power), lighting for decks, garden lights, or pool cabanas; the code here is that you can't bore a new hole through the basement wall anywhere between the slab and grade and pass the wire through it, it has to go up, then down the outside wall in conduit, then be buried. In any case, I see that we agree that either Lane trenches around the patio or avoids using the home-made hydro bore for that long a run under the patio.
*I've had a friend get 15' under a driveway with a length of galvinized pipe and a garden hose, but I would worry about the gravel in Lane's soils. Ideally, it would be sand and smaller with enough fines to hold the surrounding soils together. Although an open end pipe may work with enough flow and pressure, I'd hammer the end flat and drill a few small (1/8" or 3/16") at angles about 5-10 degrees off of straight ahead. And throw a booster pump between city water pressure and the nozzle, if possible. It's that kind of a set-up that the big boys use and they can go over a thousand feet and stay within a foot of the desired path. (But they have RF transmitters and the ability to selective squirt cutting fluid to one side in order to turn up/down or right/left). If covered by concrete in a non-vehicle-traffic area, some very shalow electric cable installations are allowed in some areas (6" or less). Working the saw cut in the pattern of the patio like Bill suggested is appealling. -David
*Use PVC pipe the size ofthe hole or a little larger . Cut teeth on the end and drill a hole on the other end to put a bar through for a handle . Now you have a long hole saw cut your hole . Dump the dirt out often . line your hole with pvc conduit seal around with hydolic cement run the wires .
*FERCHRISSAKES hire a boring contractor!
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I agree with Bill P. Just cut the section of concrete wide enough for a reasonable pattern of bricks and dig the trench. If you bore from the garage to a pit cut into the slab by the foundation, you've had to dig at least an minium 16' trench inside the garage to make the bore machine work. Sounds like more money and work to me, and if the garage already has a concrete floor its a foregone conclusion. It is nice to bring a little color, pattern, and even texture, to an otherwise drab slab.
On another note, those boring machines are dangerous, as a volunteer firefighter I responded to an entanglement situation with a gopher(as a gas driven one is locally know), I tell you now, all appendages are at risk. This person lost a little of this and a little of that, so be carefull out there
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Why not go AROUND the patio? Sure, it'll take the electricity a little longer to get there...
No concrete boring, no overhead lines, just dig a trench alongside the patio, go through the rim joist. The shortest distance between two points is not necessarily a straight line. Hire Ryan C., because he had the best idea first.
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Shortly after we poured some sidewalks, I had to get conduit under it. Not bad planning in this case, rather a contractor stuck a backhoe fork through the cable TV line. At their suggestion I laid metal conduit on the ground level w/ the gravel/dirt line beneath the concrete and smacked it w/ a sledge hammer. Went through easily. The end filled w/ dirt and I had to grind off about 1 foot of it to get to clean pipe.
This was only a few feet, not the 12 you have, and there are many reasons it might not work here, but it's a relatively simple thing to try. Maybe go 4' w/ a 1 1/2" pipe, clean that out, go 4 beyond that w/ a 1", and finish it w/ a 3/4". Just a whacko thought.
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I would like to run a power circuit from my basement about 12 feet underground to my detached garage, via an buried conduit. While I could trench it, it would mean destroying the existing patio. I'd much rather figure out a way to bore a horizontal hole from below grade in my basement to a hole dug out in the garage floor. I know that plumbers do this all the time for new supply lines or whatever. Does anyone have any tricks they've seen for jigging up a makeshift rig for this? My soil should be fairly easy to get through-loam and gravel. Perhaps a length of pipe flattened on one end and ground to a point? Anyway, any insight would be of great help.
Thanks