Ditchwitch capability

[daveinnh]

Not sure if this the right category, but I need to rent a trencher to run an electrical conduit from house to run-in, and a separate water line w/ frost -free spigot.

Distance is ~ 120 ft; soil is glacial till w/ cobbles. I'd like to bury each line about 3 ft. below grade.

Thoughts / recomendation?

 

[davkir]

The ones that I have rented make a 6" wide trench and will go 36" deep.
At full depth they go very slow so allow plenty of time. Last time I rented one we did about 400' in heavy clay and averaged about 24" deep. It took ALL day. Roots also slow them down.
I don't know about other types, but the ones I've rented dig a trench 36" deep, but some of the loose dirt remains. The depth is closer to 32" unless you remove the loose dirt by hand.
Good luck.

 

[montejw]

Not sure if this the right category, but I need to rent a trencher to run an electrical conduit from house to run-in, and a separate water line w/ frost -free spigot.

Distance is ~ 120 ft; soil is glacial till w/ cobbles. I'd like to bury each line about 3 ft. below grade.

Thoughts / recomendation?

My experience with these and rocks hasn't been good. 3' is a long ways to try and bring up a good sized rock. If you're running 2 lines and are thinking of keeping them separated, dig a trench with a backhoe or small excavator and bury them both on the opposite sides of the same wider trench.

 

[bigballer]

I rented a 24" ditchwitch for 200ft of water line and was only able to get it effectively to dig 18". Once it's down all the way it is pretty much vertical. At that point any little rock can get in the way and bog it down. As davkir mentioned it will take a long time to get through it at full depth. Around my place there are several golfball to softball size rocks (and a few bigger) and the chain was constantly getting hung up on anything bigger than a baseball.

I'll be honest, it was the worst peice of equipment I have ever had to use.

Good Luck!
-bigballer

 

[jsborn]

I
I'll be honest, it was the worst piece of equipment I have ever had to use.
Good Luck!
-bigballer

AMEN To this .

I have been trying to trench 600 ft for a sprinkler system for over a week now. first it was hyd fluid low , then pump belt broke ,then chain belt broke , and finally chain bearings came apart.

I am going to rent a small BH tomorrow and be done with it. You can have all the trenchers I am done with them.

By the way I did get approx 150 dug but I also drove 120 miles back and forth to the rental place.

The owner was a nice guy he only charged me for the hour it actually worked .

 

[tommu56]

I have uses both the ride on ones and the walk behing ones and the ride ones win hand down I could go faster in the same soil.
Alot has to do with the rental yard and machine maintenance and abuse for these machines.
the other thing is keep the engine at full speed and vari the ground speed to compensate for the toughnessof the soil.

tom

 

[mikim]

I've rented those things time and again over the years for elect, water, & septic ....they'll work ya to death, it's a hassle transporting them, you're paying for the time even not in use(during transport, lunch etc) ..... I now own a small BH ......YEAH!!!! .... Now the trenching I do is easy, downright relaxing, no time worries, I love it. It was a big $$ layout right up front, but it has paid for itself in just the few months I've owned it. (vs. rent payments)

 

[LoneCowboy]

Old sprinkler guy here, I've trenched more than you ever want to know.
The walk behinds are good in tight spaces, that's it.
Get a ride on, a 3200 series or so, they will go 5' plus deep and crank things out.
3' deep is going to require that style of trencher. It will be $40 to $50 more a day, but you'll finish in a 1/3 or less of the time with way less work.

If you have that many rocks, see if they have one with rock teeth on it. (doesn't clean out the trench as well, but cuts thru rock better)

Electrical only needs to be 18" down. Water of course, needs to be below frost line in your area.

 

[Ford850]

LoneCowboy is right on. Rent the largest you can, no less than a 4' bar. A 4' bar will have a DIFFICULT time keeping a ditch at 42". I did 1100' at 42" and it took 2 full days running at full throttle. I went through a LOT of diesel. You run them at full throttle and they do beat you to death if you have a lot of rocks. The last time I only had to run less than 200' to my barn for water and electric. I ditched the water in first (40") and then the electric at 24"ish (18" is code). Plan to get the lines in immediately so you can back fill with the blade. This last one also had a backhoe on it so I did some extra digging while I had it. The backhoe made it great to dig trenches ahead of time (at my ending points) so I could finish the runs into an open ditch rather than up against a building. I even trenched all around my barn and out to a waterway to run downspouts while I had it for the weekend. Plan ahead and think of all the projects you can do while you have one. Think things through before you start. It's difficult to stop and start a trench without cave-ins etc. Overall I like them once I got the larger ones and got used to them.

 

[SkunkWerX]

Consider renting a mini-X for a day.
I rented a mini-excavator, I think it ran about $250, and that thing ROCKS!

I finished my digging in record time, then spent the rest of the day "playing" , digging out some tree stumps and such.

For trenching, if the rental center has several buckets for it, ask for the narrow bucket.

In sandy soil, the trenchers are the way to go. Rocks and tree roots can really be show-stoppers, especially for the smaller trenchers.

Mini-X, it rocks!