Am I gonna have to dig up?

Les White

Les White

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So the old dude who lived in my house before me thought of himself as a handyman. I've seen one or two examples of his work that said "handyman".... But I've seen DOZENS of examples that said "WTF were you thinking old man?!?". This is the latest example...

I'm digging up this half assed drain he installed to try and stop the shop from flooding in a heavy rain (because he built the shop in the worst possible place on the property in relation to drainage) and I find this.

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Seems the pesky electrical conduit feeding the shop was in his way.....so he cut it.

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It's been like this for 10+ years. Do I have to dig up the last 5 feet of this thing and redo the conduit?
 
I decline to answer...
‘cause you wouldn’t like mine. :(
 
I need a friend with a digger. :(
 
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If its rated to be in ground cabling I would say you do not other than for your piece of mind.
 
Jp8819 said:
If its rated to be in ground cabling I would say you do not other than for your piece of mind.
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I can't tell until I get the cover off the breaker panel. Knowing "Mr Handyman"'s work my guess it is the cheapest s#it he could get his hands on.
 
@Brian K
Is there any kind of box that can be buried according to code?
 
Jeppo said:
@Brian K
Is there any kind of box that can be buried according to code?
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You could put a junction box but he still more than likely would have to dig up that remaining part to get it in between both conduits and possible over the wire at that point proably be just as easy to put a coupler in the conduit and fix it without a box.
 
Get you a bandsaw and split a 22° elbow, a coupling, and a short piece of pipe.

Make sure the hole is dry, glue the pieces together around the pipe, holding them until the glue sets up (about a minute). Carefully safe in the conduit with earth and move along to the next project...
 
bigfelipe said:
Get you a bandsaw and split a 22° elbow, a coupling, and a short piece of pipe.

Make sure the hole is dry, glue the pieces together around the pipe, holding them until the glue sets up (about a minute). Carefully safe in the conduit with earth and move along to the next project...
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What he said. Unless the wire is rated for direct bury then don’t worry about it.

Conduit, for the most part, helps prevent cutting the wire while digging with a shovel. And it’s an extra layer of protection against wear.

If it’s not an area that sees heavy vehicle traffic and there’s no rub marks and (as already said) it rated to be in the ground then just cover it back up.
 
We were removing a section of concrete floor at work and pulled up several conduits we did not know were there. The electrician took the wires loose from the breaker box, pulled them back past the break in the conduit, glued in a piece of conduit and then pulled the wire back to the breaker box. WE poured concrete back over them last Thursday.
 
Thanks That saves me some work.

Turns out "Mr Handyman" knew everything there was to know about PVC primer, but nothing about glue. Every coupler is slathered in primer but the pieces just fall apart. No glue whatsoever.

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Got em all out. Now to make it deeper and longer
 
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He knew the next owner would dig it up and wanted to make the pipes salvageable. ;)
 
Jeppo said:
He knew the next owner would dig it up and wanted to make the pipes salvageable. ;)
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Lol, at my old house we had to run the pipe for cable internet to the main road about 770ft. We used papa's 10 year old pvc pipe that he used for irrigation pipe. Had to cut the ends and put new couplers about every 8-9 feet. When the provider came out he was pissed because realized it was old pipe because they would be responsible for replacement when the time came.
 
Needs to be deeper also.
The National Electric Code (NEC) sets the required burial depth of electric wire in rigid, non-metallic conduit, such as PVC, at 18-inches. Cable in any conduit, including PVC, that is buried at this depth is not in danger of being severed or disturbed by normal digging.
 
Don't do that Brian. If it's not exactly 18" or better and it bothers you, replace the standard breaker with a $100 GFI breaker and now you're only required to be 12".

Guys..I love ya..but I've been doing this work for 20 years and the bad electrical advice I see thrown around is worse than the wrong gun laws people recite. If you wanna be an electrician, be an electrician. After about 8 years you'll finally start to get a handle on it.
 
Friday said:
That's u.s.e cable rated for direct burial. We call it tri-plex. It's most common use is mobile homes.
Get some type of physical protection over that exposed section and you'll be fine.
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Friday beat me to it. I used the exact wire to run power to a building from my main panel. I only wish I had put it in conduit the whole way.
 
Hammer21b said:
Needs to be deeper also.
The National Electric Code (NEC) sets the required burial depth of electric wire in rigid, non-metallic conduit, such as PVC, at 18-inches. Cable in any conduit, including PVC, that is buried at this depth is not in danger of being severed or disturbed by normal digging.
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^^^ This is correct. Just goes to show you someone may be digging and cut the wires and get hurt. I guess codes are for good reasons, right?

Having said that I would repair it if it was my customer by digging up from the hole to the building. If in my yard on an out building I would split a bigger pipe of any PVC and place some wire ties around it. Then cover it.
 
Bailey Boat said:
Then in a couple of years someone would post a pic of said repair and ask, "WTF"?? and we could all get another laugh....
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That would probably be me again, after senility has set in nice and strong.
 
Friday said:
Don't do that Brian. If it's not exactly 18" or better and it bothers you, replace the standard breaker with a $100 GFI breaker and now you're only required to be 12".
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Depends upon what sort of load he has in the shed. Inductive loads, like motors, including small ones like refrigerators, often times don't like GFCI breakers. It may be an option that allows a shallower bury depth, but it isn't necessarily the best answer. Nor does it make suggesting 18", which is the standard we've always used where I work for areas where the traffic is minimal, bad advice.

I'm not an electrician and so I don't eat, breathe, and sleep, the NEC, but I am an electrical engineer with >20 years of work experience and deal with code issues, mostly in industrial applications, and electrical inspectors.
 
A fridge is gonna trip a 90 amp GFCI breaker?
Induction will not trip a GFCI breaker. If it does your fridge is on fire and about to burn the place down/you bought a piece of crap fridge/you've fused the conductors incorrectly/you have a problem unrelated to the load.

I've wired in Hospitals and and industrial applications ranging from acres of greenhouses to brewery's to theme parks. My company wired in Carowinds. Not in theory, actually did it you-know.
Inspectors? Seriously? I don't consult them I actually have to work with them and the surprises they come up with under AHJ.
You dig a trench and come across a rock the size of a Volkswagen 4" down and you must go that way. What do you do? You need to run conduit to a gas pump. What do you use? How do you keep fumes from entering the piping system? What's the ampacity of a shared grounded conductor on the same phase? What's the temperature rating of thhn? Where can't you use UF cable? When am I allowed to derate wires? How do you secure a lay-in fixture in a drop-in ceiling? What's the maximum amount of current carrying conductors I can have in 4" pipe? How many romex cables can I have in one hole through a 2x4? What's the take-up on 3/4" emt? What draft stop has a 4 hour fire rating? Where do you place the smoke detector in a sloped ceiling? How do I determine what size service is needed for a 2200 sq ft house? What do I have to do with lighting over a swimming pool? What does the term 'outlet' mean? (hint; it doesn't mean receptacle)
I mean I can go on & on. Everybody wants to be an electrician until it's time to do electrician s--t.
You all are gonna make this poor guy dig up his whole yard for what-if's and kinda maybe's because he might be 2" short on burial depth that he had nothing to do with and has been fine for 10 years at least. In the real world we call this a minor infraction that can easily be dealt with without ripping the property apart.

I'm sorry. I'm cranky. It's 4am and I'm getting ready to go to work because that's what electricians do. I have a job that requires as little EMF as possible and I have to go since I'm one of the few guys that's done it before. But I can promise you this. No longer will I aid folks with simple electrical problems they can do themselves with a bit of guidance.
Aunt Bee...call the man.
 
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