Underground utilities. Pros and cons

[mdjohn1427]

Ok. Land clearing has begun. Road has been roughed in (still some work there). Planning to start work soon and a Pole Barn with living space. So Utilities. I really would rather have underground utilities. I know the cost is higher but I'd like to hear from others that have had the task of running utilities underground. I've got about 1200 ft of distance between source and site. The site appears to be free of large rocks. One creek to cross. Thoughts

 

[BobRip]

Pros.: Falling trees are less likely to damage them. Although sometime an uprooted tree root will damage lines. The pulled up roots will grab the lines.
If above ground lines are damaged on the run to the house, all the other lines in the area will be fixed first, since your lines only affect one customer. Hence underground is much less affect by storms and outages will be typically shorter.

Cons: If underground lines are damaged then they can take longer to repair.
More expensive of course.
Sometimes they just fail for no apparent reason. They can be damaged by the chemicals in the soil and rocks.

 

[Wnc3]

I like underground because:
No overhead wires to hit or see.
No worry of trees falling into them
No tree trimming
No ice issues
No poles to back into
No poles to replace, ever

The cons are:
Cost
Flood or tidal erosion extends repair time considerably as in Hurricane Ike for us.

 

[Mendonsy]

That creek to cross is the part that would worry me. If you try to go under it the lines would probably get washed away by the first big rainstorm because burying them would loosen the soil. About the only alternative is to go over the creek in conduit (possibly fastened to a bridge) and hope the water never gets high enough to bother it.

 

[WM75Guy]

Plan for your current use plus any foreseeable expansion. Five years ago I ran overhead from the street 800' down the side of our property to save cost. Aerial primary was half the cost of underground. That saved me about $4000. There are no trees so little chance of a problem. At the last pole I went underground to a pad mounted transformer by the shop that feeds the house. I used a 400 amp meter base, 225 amps to the house and split 175 amps off to the stables, as my provider charges $20/month for each meter. Just remember there is a limit to the length of the feed from the pad transformer to the meter base. Mine was just over 100' which was at the limit for my provider.

I like not having any poles in the yard or an aerial drop to the house. Much nicer and cleaner look. I wanted all my utilities to come in through the garage. Going underground allowed my to put my meter base on the garage wall with the 220 breaker box on the inside wall. Otherwise it would have been on the opposite side of the house in the master bedroom or I could have had poles across my back yard. The phone company requires their demarc within 5' of the meter base. First of the month I am having a 200 amp meter set for the shop. This time the only thing I will have to pay for is about 75' of underground from the pad to the meter base.

 

[BHD]

make a detailed map, YOU will forget, and run some the metallic marker tape just under the surface,
DO things in and orderly fashion, and do things consistently, if you go besides a building and say your 6 feet way from that building, and you have a second building to go by do another 6 footer out,

If you put in plastic pipe run a tracer wire, (one that can be hooked on to for locating), even your sewer lines,

take pictures with land marks in them that are reasonable perment,

I like straight lines if possible, but if you have water going this way and electrical going that way and gas another, with telephone another, you will have a lot of fun if you need to work on or change things,

yes the natural gas company will locate, if you have propane that is your problem, and so will telephone and some times power, but some will only go to there transfer box, and after that your on your own, (not all the time but some times),

some perement markers are not a bad Idea either, (just a coffie can filled with cement, color the concrete to locating code) at surface level,

 

[ace10]

Is there underground public utility service to your property? If so, then IMO you *always* go underground on your property. If it's aerial, then it's a decision subject to many listed previously.

 

[whistlepig]

We have have had underground electric for 15 years here with no problems. Not much help is it?

 

[ultrarunner]

I have underground that was put in back in 1978 and it was direct burial... so far there have been 3 breaks in the line the last 3 years... utility company installed it and so far has repaired it.

Last time they said they no longer service direct buried cable even if they installed it.

This is the same place that Comcast wants 14k to install cable and it would be free if I had poles like my neighbor.

On the other hand... my brother had not been in his place a week when a delivery truck backing up took out his 10 x 10 power pole in the yard serving the shop and tractor shed... right now it is propped up with 2 x 4's... thinking of going underground but there are lots of unmarked lines there now...

 

[aczlan]

If you do go underground, run everything in conduit and leave 1-2 extra conduits for future expansion (one sized so that you can pull power through it and one for telephone, cable, etc). MUCH easier to fix down the road that way and running 4 conduits wont be that much more work than running 2.

Aaron Z

 

[dave1949]

I like repowell's solution, run above ground until you get within a pole or two of your house, then go underground from there. I wish I had done that in hindsight.

The service easement agreements here allow the util to control vegetation as necessary under and near the lines--including spraying. I keep things cleaned up and mowable with the bush hog under the lines. Also here, if the util does the install themselves, they will maintain the line to the transformer. If a third-party contractor does the install, line maintenance is on the owner. It will pay to read the fine print in making your choices if it is like here.

 

[k0ua]

Underground utilities have many pro's. One con is that if the utilities are using metallic conductors the risk for lightning damage is slightly higher. Lightning is both an aerial and a ground phenomenon. Lightning is of far more concern in some parts of the country than others.

 

[Wnc3]

In your case, thinking about the creek, I would run aerial across the creek and then go underground.
That will:
Save money
Eliminate the complications crossing the creek.


If you end up going all overhead with overhead transformer, you can still run your private "drops" underground to your building.
Not sure on the max distance, but somebody here does....

 

[mdjohn1427]

Thanks all for the input. Never thought about the lighting and issue underground.

 

[LD1]

Not sure the max distance, but 1200' is likely too far for running secondary underground.

If it were mine, I like the suggestion of running the primary overhead to a transformer that is within a few hundred feet of the structure. THen drop to the meter and go underground for the secondary.

Contact your electric company. They will have an engineer on staff (usually) that can come out and give you your options, prices, and pros and cons of YOUR area.

And not sure how it works in your area, but my electric company owns everything up to the meter. So that means any issues up to that point is their responsibility and their $$$ to fix. Anything after the meter is on me. If that is how it is for you, you want the meter as close to your house as you can.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Here, Above ground is provided by utility at no charge. Connection point must be less than 100 feet from transformer or a pole is required and that is at owners cost. There is a power pole set about 20 feet inside my property line with xformer by previous owner and overhead lines ran to his house which is about a 500 foot run with 3 poles, two of which are on my property and I have to be careful when mowing to not hang the pole or guy wire.
Since I was powering from the same transformer, I just ran the underground pipe conduit per the Arkansas Power and Light (APL) size requirement to the base of the pole, power company pulled in their wire when I was ready to disconnect the temp. pole for house construction. For my shop which I had build a couple of years prior to the house, APL ran the line from the transformer to my pecker head above the roof of my shop free of charge. My contractor wired up the circuit breaker box, meter box and pecker head so the utility company (APL) could tie on. It is high enough, at least 20 feet, that I don't even notice it being overhead.

Note: APL cost to install the UG wiring was cheaper than I could have my contractor buy the wire, IIRC $4 per foot linear from the pole to the meter and no charge for vertical riser lengths. I think the wanted $8 per foot if they dug the trench and put in direct burial cable. My house contractor did it for free with conduit and his backhoe.

 

[k0ua]

Owl's head Gary, Owl's Head...:laughing:

 

[oosik]

My house is only 70 feet from the power companies last pole. I hand dug (last time I'll do that) a trench and put the the wire in a 4" heavy duty conduit. That was 32 years ago and, of course, I've never had a reason to pull or replace this line. They say pocket gophers & mice can chew on a buried unprotected service line, so maybe I've been saved from that.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

As others have stated it will be cosiderably cheaper for you to come in overhead to say within 100' of your site at that point the poco will usually hang an overhead transformer on the deadend pole and run you an underground service from there, most will allow you to install your own conduit as long as it is installed to local code. Whatever you do don't let anyone talk you into direct burial, the small amount of $ and labor will more than save in the headache and aggravation of having to deal with it being dug up to be repaired x number of years from now. Good luck.Charlie.

 

[Paul Thornton]

I ran two poles of above ground and then went underground from last pole to the house. Saved some money and don't have to worry about wires over the driveway. Plan for the future and run extra conduit.

L2800 w/FEL - 72" Land Pride rake