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 | Alan L. Lewis
Join Date: Posts: 1 
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2000-03-09 13608
I am planning to build and have no electric service yet at my building site on 24 acres. It is about 900 feet from the service to the site. I don't wish to have ugly power poles/lines showing above ground. Instead I want to bury my power cable all the way if possible.I have a Kubota 2710 but no backhoe so it looks like I should rent a trencher. How deep would such a large wire have to be buried, and should it bee inside a conduit? Too expensive to mess with?
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| Doug Huebner
Join Date: Posts: 1
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2000-03-09 13609
I am not sure what the situation is where ever you are, but in our area of Wisconsin, it is the electric company that takes care of bringing in the service, at least to a point. In our case they want the transformer with-in 200 feet of the house. You can have a temporary service point there until the house is built. There was something like $1.5 to $2.00 more per foot to go underground than arial. I was not there at the time but I think they used a stinger as the ground was not disturbed very much. ....
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| Tucker Herbold
Join Date: Posts: 1
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2000-03-09 13610
I was in a similar situation last summer. 600' from the road and had to bring in the service. The way it works in New England (at least with Northeast Utilities who for all intents supplies all of New England), you are responsible for the trench and the conduit.
They pull their lines through and keep responsibility for the upkeep and maintenance of the lines. The conduit is still yours. (Gets confusing after a while who owns what but they supply a full spec sheet on the installation and what is supplied by each party.)
Additionally, if the distances are less than 500', they generally recommend the transformer at the street and pull the "knocked-down" lines through the conduit. If the distance is more than 500', they generally like to have the transformer closer to the house and pull the "high-voltage" lines through to the transformer. Dollar-wise, 500' is pretty much break-even between the different wires (high-voltage is actually cheaper to install but you incur the cost of the transformer and concrete pad. Knock-down lines cost more but you don't have to pay the transformer costs.)
Finally, in Connecticut, the power company now requires that all buried supply lines to a house be installed in 3" minimum conduit -- no more direct bury.
Hope this helps. If you would like more, let me know and I can send you the spec sheets they use here. ....
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| JJT
Join Date: Jun 1999 Posts: 93 Upstate NY, USA
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2000-03-09 13614
5 years ago I built a house ~1000 feet from the road/power, all under ground. Overhead is cheaper under 200 feet, under ground is cheaper over 200 feet, (but who wants to look at those ugly poles anyway?). I used a backhoe to dig a 30 inch trench, laid 6 inches of sand in the bottom of the trench, laid the wire and barrier tape and backfilled with another 6 inches of sand. The high voltage cable is armored and ran 800 feet in to a transformer, mounted on a fiberglass tub, (not a concrete pad). My meter was spotted about 150 feet from the transformer and the house is another 150 feet from the meter. In upstate NY you are responsible for the trench, placing the transformer tub, and backfilling. You also buy the armored high voltage cable from the electric company, (~$2/foot). You are also responsible from the meter to the house.... If you don't backfill with sand they want you to use conduit, (sand is much cheaper!). All told I paid over $5,0000 for a 1000 foot run and did all the labor my self. Run your phone line at the same time, I buried a 6 in 1 phone line, I don't have to run anymore wire and can upgrade to 6 phone #'s if the need ever arises.... Where were the power cells 5 years ago? - check out Plug Power Inc if you need to run power more than 1000 feet. At $10,000 you can live grid free! They run off propane or natural gas, the price is expected to be under $5K within 5 years. ....
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 | DennisCTB
Join Date: Nov 1998 Posts: 2709 NorthWest NJ 
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2000-03-09 13620
In NJ I built a house on land I owned with 1000 feet of underground power and Telco to the House. The Telco digs the trench for free, the powerco pops their wire in and buries in sand. All at no labor or cost to me, although I am sure the cost is amortized into the rate, I was a happy camper when I got no bill from anyone!
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| TomG
Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 5406 Upper Ottawa Valley
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2000-03-10 13627
In Ontario, the utility used to bring power to your house. Now, the homeowner has to supply the trench, conduit and meter base.
Several reasons to go underground other than appearance are: Trees grow up and they fall on overhead lines. I was up a ladder with a chain saw (not a good idea) this summer because a limb of a tree on our property was rubbing on my neighbour's overhead.
Another reason is that overheads can require extensive masts on a house to meet minimum ground clearance requirements. The minimum clearance here is 15 foot. If the house has no gables for anchor attachment, then a mast must bolted through the walls, cut through the eaves, and guy wired. A mast can be a pain, but it was explained to me: The service line and anchor is expected to be stronger than a house's wall. If a tree comes down on the line, the wall is expected to pull off before the line parts.
Don't know if the explanation is completely accurate, but I realized that one of the white pines could reach an overhead line. We decided that going underground would be a real good idea. And that is the story of how I got a tractor with a backhoe.
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| TomG
Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 5406 Upper Ottawa Valley
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2000-03-10 13628
Tidbit: Check before you cancel electrical service. We're rebuilding at our other place and need a demolition permit. I figured that part of the permit would be canceling electrical service, and I almost did.
In Ontario at least, cancellation would be a bad idea. Administrative rules were recently changed. If I had cancelled service, a disconnect order would have been issued, and line crews would have removed all equipment owned by the utility. In our case, the equipment includes a pole and anchors. The disconnect also would cancel the easement where our line crosses a neighbour's property. To reconnect the service, we'd pay for a new pole and installation as well as a new easement survey.
Having found that out, we're doing a service upgrade, not a disconnect. I may end up putting 200A into a 10x10 shed and then run sub-panels when permanent buildings are finished. However, that's better than paying for a pole and survey.
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