Expansion fittings for underground services

[Cow]

Yes I do what needs to be done correctly. On new construction, on the side of a house with rock landscaping, you would put some type of sleeve on the conduit? Who really does that?

You've never seen a plumber or concrete contractor wrap a pipe with sill foam before a slab gets poured against it?

 

[Sierrasparky]

Well for the most part we do not use those tiny meter sockets. We use meter mains. Those have sufficient pull sections for some slack.

 

[Ohms law]

You've never seen a plumber or concrete contractor wrap a pipe with sill foam before a slab gets poured against it?

Of course I've seen it. What iam saying is after the fact, the house is done and I'm gone 5 years later the homeowner pours a slab of concrete, I get a call to fix the conduit that broke because some moron did not put a sleeve around my conduit. So.....that's where I would like to have the expansion fitting inforced reguardless of demographic, frost line, etc...., whatever the case may be.

 

[kwired]

Of course I've seen it. What iam saying is after the fact, the house is done and I'm gone 5 years later the homeowner pours a slab of concrete, I get a call to fix the conduit that broke because some moron did not put a sleeve around my conduit. So.....that's where I would like to have the expansion fitting inforced reguardless of demographic, frost line, etc...., whatever the case may be.

That was not the situation I described earlier. I said "if you know there will be a slab poured", or something similar.

A slab poured 5 years later will not be subject to as much settling as it has already had 5 years to settle, frost heave is still a potential problem though.

 

[kwired]

Well for the most part we do not use those tiny meter sockets. We use meter mains. Those have sufficient pull sections for some slack.

More room to pull from an underground feed yes, but they just have a narrow channel allowing room for that, the bending space at the meter section is still similar to a stand alone meter socket on most of what I have seen. The cabinet may be a little wider than stand alone meter socket.

One case that I recall where I did have a dirt settling problem - and did have an expansion fitting on the raceway was with a meter main.

It was the fact that the expansion coupling had obviously moved while still working on this new building that caught my attention and got me to looking at things. Conductors were pulled really tight and putting strain on the meter lugs. POCO did not leave any slack at the pole so nothing to give there either. Expansion fitting did save the raceway, but had there been much more settling, or maybe just more time and tension on the lug something would have broke there.

 

[A/A Fuel GTX]

Of course I've seen it. What iam saying is after the fact, the house is done and I'm gone 5 years later the homeowner pours a slab of concrete, I get a call to fix the conduit that broke because some moron did not put a sleeve around my conduit. So.....that's where I would like to have the expansion fitting inforced reguardless of demographic, frost line, etc...., whatever the case may be.

I seriously doubt anyone would attempt to sleeve an existing conduit given there would be a considerable amount of disassembly required to do so. Sleeving at the time of original installation is the way to go. That being said, the only time I sleeve or use an expansion coupling is were I have a horizontal underground conduit that turns vertical or I'm positive there will be concrete poured around the vertical conduit.

 

[kwired]

I seriously doubt anyone would attempt to sleeve an existing conduit given there would be a considerable amount of disassembly required to do so. Sleeving at the time of original installation is the way to go. That being said, the only time I sleeve or use an expansion coupling is were I have a horizontal underground conduit that turns vertical or I'm positive there will be concrete poured around the vertical conduit.

Not that hard to sleeve an existing conduit. Take a larger PVC pipe, rip it in half (table saw works great for this) place each half around the pipe to be sleeved and secure with cable ties.

 

[A/A Fuel GTX]

Not that hard to sleeve an existing conduit. Take a larger PVC pipe, rip it in half (table saw works great for this) place each half around the pipe to be sleeved and secure with cable ties.

Great idea but you and I know that aint gonna happen in the field unless the guy pouring the concrete is an electrician who read this thread

 

[gndrod]

I personally would like to see underground services be required to have an expansion fitting. To many times I have ran across people pouring concrete patios and the slab settles which pulls the conduit out of the meter socket. Or I've even seen on new construction, the ground will just simply settle and do the same thing. Any thoughts?

On one thought, it depends on the AHJ requirement in the local area. On an installation in the Sierra high country, the meter panel or combo is semi-flush installed with the u/g riser up through the stem-wall from trench hard pan at frost level. Expansion not required. Hope this helps.

 

[Fulthrotl]

Not that hard to sleeve an existing conduit. Take a larger PVC pipe, rip it in half (table saw works great for this) place each half around the pipe to be sleeved and secure with cable ties.

i had to sleeve some 2" feeders coming up for an oil well recently,
so i took 2' long pieces of 4" schedule 80, slit them with a track saw,
then spread them with a little porta power i have, and put a piece of
wood in there to hold them open till i could get them started over the
pipe. then you drive them over the pipe till the block of wood gets
kicked out.

note: watch fingers. pinches hurt bunches.