What all should I put in a trench?

[Kyle_in_Tex]

I'm going to move to the country soon. My gate is about 600-700 ft from where my home will be. The county has water available at my gate which I'm going to hook up to. Also, the phone line is there also. The electric poles are down the middle of the property.
Thinking about the future, what all should I put in the trench while it is open??? What size water line is recommended? 1 1/2", 2", 3"??? I want an electric gate, should I run wire up to it? What about extra phone, cable, or other lines? Intercom?
Any advice will be appreciated.
Thank you,
Kyle

 

[alco141]

i would put a couple extra wires in, intercom/phone wire, and a wire for some type of gate sentry that would tell you when the gate was opened. and another plastic pipe, which you could use for conduit or for water. its a lot cheaper now than redigging and replacing. i would use at least 1 1/2 inch pipe.

alex

 

[Egon]

Perhaps some sand in the bottom of the trench would be the first item. Remember Neil, from down under, and his waterline problem.

If you run a couple of empty plastic lines you may be able to pull wire through or use as future needs dictate.

And cover the pipes/lines with sand. Electrical lines may require special provisions for covering depending on your local codes.

Egon

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Thanks for the input guys!
Someday I might want to put some lighting around the gate, I'm not sure how heavy of wire I'll need. I don't want to have to run real heavy wire because of costs. I'll ask an electrician friend of mine and reprt back what he recommends.
Kyle

 

[techman]

Kyle:

Plastic conduit is cheap, but even cheaper is 150 PSI black plastic poly tube used for submerged wells. It comes in long lengths, it's waterproof, and has a very smooth shiny finish that makes future wire pulls easy. I ran it to my shed (about 100') and used PVC barbed fittings to convert to PVC conduit above surface.

Chech with a plumbing/well supplier. You can get 1" or 1 1/2" for a good price and have lots of room for whatever happens in the future.

Paul

 

[Bird]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( What size water line is recommended? 1 1/2", 2", 3"??? )</font>

Kyle, I'd recommend you talk to the water company about that. What size line do they use to connect from the water main to the meter? And what size meter do they use? I know our country water company used 3/4" meters for residential use and 1" meters for commercial (at a considerably higher base rate). When we built my brother's home, even though the meter outlet was 3/4", we used 1" line to the house (only about 100 feet), but one of my neighbors who had over 1,000 feet from his meter to his house said he just used 1" line and it was quite adequate. Anecdotal evidence only; I don't know what's best.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

How about using some solar powered lights,thus save having to buy all of the wire.

 

[thcri]

Kyle,

I agree with Bird. The size of the water line has a lot to do with distance and water pressure. I know of places where the water line is 2" and they don't have as much pressure as a place with 1" due in fact of the original pressure and the distance it has to go. We install a lot of booster tanks because on the longer runs the utility can't maintain enough water and the pressure at the same time.

Talk to the utility that supplies your water.

Murph

 

[diggerjim]

Kyle
First house I had I run 3/4 inch black plastic water line 1475 feet. Added another house on a T-hookup at my end later. This was all run off the main well on the farm. We had no unusal problems with pressure or volume. IMO your volume available will be controlled by your smallest restriction such as a valve or fitting. Add as many lines as you think you need to the trench now as it is much easier than later. You may want to add lights along the drive, gate sensors, etc.

Or buy a trencher attachment like I have and you can cut what you want when you want. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Jim

 

[njrqs]

Yeah I have had ANOTHER leak in the pipe after spending $350 fixing the last leak.

Well this time I am replacing the whole section of pipe upto where the good house yard starts. I don't want to dig that bit up yet.

I have 9m3 of sand coming on Wednesday. So yes, I'd sure say start with SAND in that trench before you put anythign else in there !!

(I too am wondering if I should throw in a conduit in my new trench and think I just might)

Cheers