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We want to run water and electricity to our small barn. (about 125′ away) Can they be run in the same trench? I’m thinking the water needs to be below the frost line, which here in Maryland would be 3 or 4 feet, I believe, but the electrical doesn’t. Does the water hook up from the house or directly to the well. Maybe I just need to call a plumber, but if someone could tell me the basics of how this is to be executed, it would be greatly appreciated.
Betsy
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Betsy, Best to check with the Building dept on this one - I don't think a same trench senario would be bad, but would bury the water first then backfill half way and use a conduit for the electrics. The conduit should be wrapped in the red electrical notice tape , then backfilled some more and a strip of notice tape about 6" below final grade, (to prevent future "oops").
Water should be separately valved after the well tank with a vent valve to allow future draining.
Also, size your electrical wiring to allow for future needs.
Enjoy
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Here's a good idea my well installer used:
On top of the UG cable goes a few inches of fill, then lay scrap PT 2x's over this, then backfill the ditch. When someone is planting a tree 15 years from now the shovel will hit the lumber before the UG.
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Darrell, With all due respect , I must say that laying blocks of wood over an electrical cable is not universally known to indicate a buried wire below. The best thing to do is mark the trench with a tape as was suggested above. I have been an excavating contractor for many years and proper marking of cables has saved me many times.
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Is conduit necessary?
*I would follow Tedfrd's specifications. If you have trouble with either in the future, you won't disturb the other when repairing it. I would add that given the fairly short run, that you sleave the water line with ADS solid wall pipe. This will prevent potential damage caused by backfilling and if it ever needs to be replaced, you simply dig up the two ends instead of a wholeditch.
*I never use anything other than conduit anymore. Sure, you can save a little $ in UF, but you are very limited in future work. Plus, the added protection is a little piece of mind.In this case, you can send down 3 conductors for a service, and a few extra #12s for a switch leg for a 3 way light at the barn door! (Of course, an X10 does the same thing)
*When using conduit, seperate runs must be made for low voltage stuff such as phone, intercom, or TV and line voltage. This is to prevent any possible shorts between the line voltage and the low voltage wire that could cause your phone, for example, to become electirically live.
*Betsy, first talk to your bilding official to see what he has to say.I ran the same services about 160', though this was out to my kids' playhouse back in the woods. In my case, the building official said that since the water would be seasonal I dodn't have to go below frost (42"), but I did so anyway.I trenched, used a continous coil of 1 1/2" plastic black pipe for the water. It was placed in a 3" sleeve of conduit. On the other side of the trench I laid an additional run of conduit, 2", for electrical.I backfilled about 18", then ran another 1 1/2" conduit, empty except for a pull rope. Who knows what it'll be used for in the future, but spending another $50 on conduit now is much easier than digging and running another line in the future. Keeping all the conduit runs separate also minimizes interference issues as Mike describes in Post #4.Do run the warning tape between the conduit and the surface of the trench. It's the universal sign for "buried treasure."I personally don't like messing with the well standpipe at all. I'd recommend initiating your water service from inside the house. The elec will have to begin there as well, so you can trench up to your foundation, pop a hole though, run the services out, then plug the hole with hydraulic cement. It is nice to have a water valve both inside the foundation and out at the barn so the water line can be blown out/drained if neccessary.
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This has been very very helpfull, thanks so much
B
*You must check w/ your local or county governing body w/ this one, a simple phone call usually will do. In my county for instance "plastic" pipe is not allowed and of all the alternatives to that they recommend rolled coiling copper. So check by phone for the right and recommended method. Just a thought: don't you want to have a quick shut off at the barn w/ regards to electric. I would recommend a subpanel installation at a location w/in the barn.
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We want to run water and electricity to our small barn. (about 125' away) Can they be run in the same trench? I'm thinking the water needs to be below the frost line, which here in Maryland would be 3 or 4 feet, I believe, but the electrical doesn't. Does the water hook up from the house or directly to the well. Maybe I just need to call a plumber, but if someone could tell me the basics of how this is to be executed, it would be greatly appreciated.
Betsy