In trench spacing between electric and gas

G

g-and-h_electric

Senior Member
Location
northern illinois
Occupation
supervising electrician
Hey guys:

I have a job I need to look at and provide an estimate on. The scope of the work (as described on the ticket) is to provide new feed to pool equipment (since this will be new all applicable parts of art. 680 will be complied with, or I am NOT doing the job!) .

My question is this, does the NEC (or what other code) specify the vertical spacing in a tench between electric and gas? I am planning on using either GRC, or PVC, (whichever is allowed by local code). Our shop's plumbing division may not be that familiar with this type of installation, so I am trying to be proactive and have to re-do my electric.

Any ideas????


Howard
 
There is no adopted code that requires gas, water, sewer, data, and/or electric, to have any kind of separation in a joint trench.

There are, however, utility requirements, for example, in my area PG&E has very specific requirements for joint trenches that contain their gas and electric.

And many commercial jobs I bid the engineer specs some kind of separation. One I’m bidding now has some specific requirements for the water and electric lines.

It is unlikely you’ll find a spec of that kind in anything residential, and there is no Code provision addressing it.
 
Seven-Delta-FortyOne said:
There is no adopted code that requires gas, water, sewer, data, and/or electric, to have any kind of separation in a joint trench.

There are, however, utility requirements, for example, in my area PG&E has very specific requirements for joint trenches that contain their gas and electric.

And many commercial jobs I bid the engineer specs some kind of separation. One I’m bidding now has some specific requirements for the water and electric lines.

It is unlikely you’ll find a spec of that kind in anything residential, and there is no Code provision addressing it.
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I wasn't sure if there was anything in gas codes but utilities are usually pretty strict about separation around here.

Might even see communications wanting separation. Placing a foot of fill in trench before the communication line they think is fine. To me is a PITA. not only at installation but should you ever need to excavate it in the future, is a lot easier if they will be found in close proximity to one another. And there is no significant interference at 60 hz and under 1000 volts anyway.
 
All the specs I’ve seen, both from engineers and utilities, are primarily horizontal separation, though they often want some vertical and benching as well.

It’s primarily not a safety or interference issue, as best I understand it, but an access issue for possible future repair.
 
Seven-Delta-FortyOne said:
but an access issue for possible future repair.
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PITA when excavating for any reason in the future. Much easier to have them all in close proximity than to have to find multiple items only 5 or 10 feet apart and at different depths. If you have a hydro-vac isn't so bad, but we don't all have that. Those who pretty much only do excavating tend to be who has those around here particularly the ones that do a lot of directional boring.
 
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