Questions about electricity

RebelDigger · #41 08/04/12, 05:10 PM

If you dig the trench and go ahead an put the 1.5" pvc on it to run the wire through, you can put a 90 degree elbow on each end and bring it up above level so the trench can be backfilled the same day. PVC is easy to glue up, just lay the sections out along the side of the trench then go to one end or the other and start gluing. Use a compressor, like for a nail gun to blow a piece of string through the pvc so the electrician can tie the wire on and pull it through when he gets there. This is exactly how DH did it when he brought the wire in from the transformer pole to the house, a run about 300 feet like yours so I know that I know that I know it is doable cause I helped him do it on ours.

badlander · #42 08/04/12, 08:17 PM

We dug the trench from where our future utility pole is now standing to the circuit breaker box ourselves, 24" deep using a sub soil blade on our tractor and a lot of elbow grease. The temp was near 100 every day we were out in that trench with our shovels clearing out the loose soil and leveling out the bed. We could have rented a trencher but that wouldn't have given us a lot of great memories and toned up our muscles for us. The local electrical co-op sold us 76 feet of 4/0 AWG wire at 1.77 a foot and gave us 2 inch conduit to run it through. My husband has done all the electrical hook ups. (He's amazing!) I have helped pull wires in the basement and attic, cut wall receptacle holes, helped dig out that blasted trench, run the cable and then fill that blasted trench back up again. I wouldn't recommend doing what we have done to anyone who isn't 100% sure of what they are doing. But we have saved a load of money doing this job ourselves.

I have watched my husband in amazement as he worked out the complex wiring in the two load centers we are running. No, he isn't an electrician, he was an electronics specialist in the service many years ago and that knowledge has stuck with him. I could have never done it, BUT! You can get a trench dug, get the heavy wire ran through conduit and filled in to have it ready for hookup and save yourself some bucks. I wouldn't leave a trench open either. We threw a large sheet of plywood over the remaining hole where the conduit was to be hooked into the meter box and covered it with dirt until the Co-0p showed up to plug us in yesterday, (we were more afraid of some meth head jerking our hard work out of the ground for the copper than we were of something falling in and not being able to get out)..... but that is another story....

You have been given a lot of good advice here the only thing I can add is to try and do some of the work yourself and pester the daylights out of the people who have given you estimates. We are planning to transfer out home solar panels and battery to the barn this winter for lighting instead of running electricity out there. Too much invested in them to let them go to waste....

a'ightthen · #43 08/05/12, 01:39 PM

Surely never meant to be confrontational ... just trying to explain why I would not be calling you back daily to see if you have made up your mind. I maintain that this is your project .... but the guy is probably dealing with 20-30 other projects ( each equally of the most importance to them respectively ... but perhaps they too are sitting on the fence ... while others are calling with their most important project).

The guy gave you a price .. yeah or nay is in your court.

Surely you can do it ... but as mentioned by others, it can be a dangerous game and the new barn can become a bonfire without insurance ( which is a cost and also a reason for concern, as a contractor, when it comes to " I'll do...")

I understand about not opening up the ditch until .... but like I said earlier, call him and see if Tuesday???? is good for him .... surely you do not expect him to come out, sit while you bring in the trencher, learn how to use it, clean out the ditch with a shovel for proper depth and hope that you can get it done in 3-4 hrs?

Digging the trench is one thing ... are you also going to back-fill? Compact? Seed/Straw?

Hopefully you are not in Mecklenburg county

I've been all over NC.

I have yet seen a locale that prevents an owner from doing there own stuff .... but permits/inspections may still be required. Have you looked into this? Did the price include $100, $200, $300 in permit fees? If not, have you procured them?

Another side, if permits are required, if he pulls it and you fail for proper depth ... it goes against him. If he pulls the permit ... and you do the work ... he could be fined ( and I'm talking $5k to $50k) and/or lose his license ... his livelihood for "permit pulling" ... not hardly worth ones personal efforts to save you a few hundred bucks.

I'm all for you saving bucks and getting it done ... just offering thoughts as to why it is still sitting in your court