Electrician or lineman: Advice needed

willness33

willness33

Here for the memes
Joined
May 3, 2005
Location
Alexis,NC
Ok, I have this 4ga. alum wire that I want to bury. Does it have to be in conduit or can I just trench and bury. I know that it has to be in conduit above ground. Here's a pic of the wire.
ai31.photobucket.com_albums_c391_willness33_wire.jpg
 
Ok, all wires have: PIRELLI CABLE X SUPERTUF 4 AWG AL 600V 1998

After that, the 3 different wires have different 3's. They are: 00008994, 00008996, 00008998.

That's all they have on them.
 
raleighjeepguy said:
says ok for direct buried. I put everything in conduit regardless. Pvc is too dirty cheap not to
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Wonderful. I'd use pvc but the turns I have to make and the elevation change would make it kind of a pain in the ass. Not as much of a pain as having to rewire later though. Hmmm, gonna think a little on this. Still gotta finish the trench. Thanks for everyone's help.:beer:
 
If you can swing burying a nice big conduit/PVC, then that'll be waaaay easier later if you have to fish teh wire out or add a new one.
 
pvc is relatively easy to handle turns/elevation changes...heat boxes FTW
 
Just bury it. It'll last forever underground, so what if 40-50 years from now your son/grandson/new owner of your home has to bury another one. I'm an electrician by trade, and in Lincolnton. Since you're so close, holler if you need some help with anything. I'll swing by and lend a hand.
 
I work for an electrical supply company and what you have looks like #4USE, it is direct burial. Yes, it will last forever underground, you're good to go. If you're not planning on running any other power out to what you're running to, then you don't need to put it in conduit. Good luck!
 
just bury it deep...im not saying must follow code blah blah blah but suckss to cut through one with a mexican back hoe....ask me how I know.
 
SkyHiK5 said:
just bury it deep...im not saying must follow code blah blah blah but suckss to cut through one with a mexican back hoe....ask me how I know.
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I'm digging as deep as my mexican backhoe and my back will allow. Yeah, I'm at about 12-18". Easy digging right now through the nice damp clay. Suprisingly, I'm not running into much rock even though less than 100' away stands a beautiful granite outcropping. As for code, I try to do things the right and safe way as much as possible. The wire may be shallow per code, but the wiring will be done correctly. The previous owner of my house was a lineman and this wire was just sitting out back. I just built a garage that needs power sooooo. I'm only running 30 amps to the building so I'm pretty confident the 4ga can handle it.:rolleyes: Oh, one more thing. Since this is 3 wire, 2 hot one neutral, I should add a ground stake outside the building running to the neutral bus, correct?
 
are you setting a sub panel in the garage?
 
I always cringe at the thought of direct burried wires when pvc conduit is so cheap.
Wait till you hit one with a shovel
 
You need two ground rods at the subpanel and they have to be 10-15ft apart. Somebody with an NEC book may be able to get you the exact number.

You also need to run a ground wire from your subpanel back to the meter base (or wherever your neutral and ground are bonded). The ground and neutral buses in the subpanel have to remain separate.
 
I always cringe at the thought of direct burried wires when pvc conduit is so cheap.
Wait till you hit one with a shovel
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My thoughts exactly. I do heavy commercial and industrial electrical. I've seen too many picked up. At THE LEAST put down some warning tape on top. Theres just too much at risk imho when it comes to electrical. If you are worried about bends etc just buy a cheap heat gun.
 
saf-t scissors said:
You need two ground rods at the subpanel and they have to be 10-15ft apart. Somebody with an NEC book may be able to get you the exact number.

You also need to run a ground wire from your subpanel back to the meter base (or wherever your neutral and ground are bonded). The ground and neutral buses in the subpanel have to remain separate.
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I think 6' is the magic number an inspector would look for, but I don't know that that applies to sub panels. May be since it's in a separate structure? I work for the utility now, it's been a long time since I've dealt with services, and I haven't done residential electrical work since I was a green helper, 10+ years.

The 2nd part is incorrect. You don't need to bond the sub panel back to the meter base. But it does need a 4 wire supply to be legal, 3 wire won't cut it.

None of this matters if it isn't going to be inspected. Unless it burns down, of course.
 
13bullets said:
I think 6' is the magic number an inspector would look for, but I don't know that that applies to sub panels. May be since it's in a separate structure? I work for the utility now, it's been a long time since I've dealt with services, and I haven't done residential electrical work since I was a green helper, 10+ years.

The 2nd part is incorrect. You don't need to bond the sub panel back to the meter base. But it does need a 4 wire supply to be legal, 3 wire won't cut it.

None of this matters if it isn't going to be inspected. Unless it burns down, of course.
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6' deep....12' apart (I think...damn its been too long since I have fawked with resi, I take that back never again will be too soon)

You dont have to bond the sub panel to the meter base but you have to complete the neutral and ground (grounded and grounding) the loops. This can be back to the main panel or back to the bond point. (basically saying yes I agree with you 4 wire not 3, but shawn is essentially saying the same thing just another way around it)

Do not bond the sub panel.
 
6' apart on the ground rods with #4 solid copper bonding between them continuous. And if this is a sub panel, you will need to take out the tie bar where the grounds and neutral connect to the panel. So that the grounds and neutrals are seperate. You will need to run a 4th wire for the grounding also from your house panel. Make sure to tape your neutral white, and your ground green. Also with or without conduit it needs to be a minimum of 24" deep on the trench. Spend a few more bucks and run the conduit, for a little peace of mind. Hope this helps some.
 
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