Utilities to a new pole barn

[kwahl]

Hello All!

I am building a pole barn approximately 200' from my house and want to run the PVC for conduit while I am putting in the pad. I would appreciate your insight on what conduit I should run for Water, Propane, Electric and Telephone. Should I run one 4", multiple 2", not quite sure what can or should go in the same pipe. I am in the northeast so I am going down 4', plan on running flex for the water, clueless as of this point what to use for the propane and electric. Help very much appreciated!

 

[jdonovan]

Your local zoning rules will dictate what you need to run, materials, depth etc...

Here, they have to have the trench open for inspection, so pre-running them is of no value for anything that needs the inspection.

 

[BeezFun]

Around here they specify what has to be separated from what and by how far. For water we mostly use polyethylene, not sure what flex is. Electric here doesn't have to be in conduit, but generally goes in PVC for protection, I used 3" to go about the same distance. Propane can either go in steel pipe, or there's a special plastic pipe made for carrying gases. Phone can't be too close to electric line, you'll get interference. Here they bury the electric about 3', backfill, then throw the phone line in on top so it's only about 6" below the surface. I'd put the phone in PVC if I were doing it.

 

[Rustyiron]

Are you wanting to run all 4 utilities from the house 200' away?
That would make me consider a seperate new popane tank at the new bldg.
21/2" should be fine for the elec. but it really depends on amps/conductor size and count that you feed your new sub panel with. If you mean that you just want to "stub out" from under the slab until you get the inspectors out of the picture (good idea) then run a seprate conduit for each use. More details needed.

 

[grsthegreat]

Youll have to contact propane company to see what they require for their service. at 200 feet they may require an additional tank, or may let you piggyback off of their existing tank. Here in Idaho they use a poly pipe and run the high pressure to the building. Electrical will have to be in its own conduit or rated burial cable and kept at least 12" from propane, water and phone.

Phone can be direct burial but most put it in conduit to protect the pipes.
Water in its own pipe.
You CANNOT run water,gas,phone and power in one pipe...nope...no way

What we generally do here is dig a 4' deep hole and first run the water. then fill in 12" of clean dirt, then run power and gas, each to one side of the 18" wide trench. Then fill in 12" dirt, then run the phone . fill trench.

 

[kwahl]

Thanks for all the great insight. I will follow-up with the propane company and building dept. in my area.

 

[rmk700]

The color of the conduit should be considered for what utility will run in it as well.

 

[Kyle241]

Are you running any of this under a driveway or road? There may be additional code for that compared to just running it under sod.

 

[LarryD]

What we generally do here is dig a 4' deep hole and first run the water. then fill in 12" of clean dirt, then run power and gas, each to one side of the 18" wide trench. Then fill in 12" dirt, then run the phone . fill trench.

I sure would hate to chase a water leak in that trench.

 

[Redneck in training]

I just faced similar issue. I run power in separate trench two feet deep.
Then I run water 6ft deep filled the trench to two feet and added propane and two 1 1/2" low pressure (sprinkler) hoses as conduits for Ethernet, phone, intercom and other low voltage stuff. I used a vacuum to thread a rope trough the pipes. I put a piece of Styrofoam on the end of the rope and sucked it trough the pipe.
When running a phone line use CAT5 or CAT6 wire instead of phone wire.