Triplex

[dwellselectric]

Okay question for you guys I dont know if this is true or a myth. But I heard that you dont need to put triplex in conduit if your using it for an underground service. My question is can you do this? I can't find it in the nec. Also has anyone of you guys done this before?

 

[mdshunk]

What are you calling "triplex"? Aerial triplex can't be used underground, but URD certainly can be direct buried. Matter of fact, most of it is.

 

[stickboy1375]

URD is listed to be direct buried.... I have it at my house, & I've actually never seen URD installed in conduit..

 

[480sparky]

I've seen it installed in underground raceways, but I sure wouldn't want to have been the poor sap who had to pull it in.

 

[dwellselectric]

I really dont know what else to call it. Everyone around here just calls it triplex. Two solid black conductors and one with a yellow line going down the entire side of it

 

[mdshunk]

I really dont know what else to call it. Everyone around here just calls it triplex. Two solid black conductors and one with a yellow line going down the entire side of it

Yup, that's URD, and it's actually pretty easy to pull in pipe.

 

[stickboy1375]

I really dont know what else to call it. Everyone around here just calls it triplex. Two solid black conductors and one with a yellow line going down the entire side of it

Its called triplex, but they make an aerial and a underground version, URD is rated for underground, hence the insulated neutral.

 

[480sparky]

Triplex, aerial, or messenger-supported wiring:

URD:

 

[dwellselectric]

Yes we always install it in pipe. But has any of you just buried it? I heard you can not that I ever would but I guess some people really do

 

[mdshunk]

Yes we always install it in pipe. But has any of you just buried it? I heard you can not that I ever would but I guess some people really do

It's intended to be buried, and I suspect that the lion's share of it is. Almost every underground feed from the padmounts to the home is done in direct bury URD in the older developments around here. Newer one's are sleeved in pipe.

 

[ItsHot]

triplex

triplex

I am bad about calling direct burial rated cable "triplex.Which this is overheads "drop" cable. Compact aluminum (Alumaflex) is what you are talking about for direct burial. I guess you could run it in conduit for added protection.??

 

[mdshunk]

For completeness sake, some URD is not an NEC conductor type, and can't really be run in a compliant manner by the electrician. A lot of the URD sold at electrical supply houses has additional ratings, like XHHW and RHW, etc. If you snag some from the utility, or get some off the wrong master reel at a larger supply house, it'll be straight URD, which isn't really a code conductor.

 

[dwellselectric]

That is the common term around here for it. Perhaps it is not the right term I'm just saying what we go by here:roll:

 

[mdshunk]

That is the common term around here for it. Perhaps it is not the right term I'm just saying what we go by here:roll:

Sometimes I call my lineman's pliers my "moss-covered three-handled family gredunza", and nobody seems to know what I'm talking about either.

 

[dwellselectric]

wow now that is an interesting name lol

 

[480sparky]

I am bad about calling direct burial rated cable "triplex.Which this is overheads "drop" cable. Compact aluminum (Alumaflex) is what you are talking about for direct burial. I guess you could run it in conduit for added protection.??

I sleeve it when it comes up to a meter socket. POCOs here requires a sleeve for any runs under a sidewalk or driveway as well, which is just common sense. But I've never installed a complete raceway from, say, the pole or pad to the meter.

 

[dwellselectric]

That is the way we do it sleeve it in either sch 40 or sch 80 pvc I have never seen it not sleeved and I was just curious if anyone really installed it without being sleeved

 

[Minuteman]

Sometimes I call my lineman's pliers my "moss-covered three-handled family gredunza", and nobody seems to know what I'm talking about either.

Oh, but I do.

 

[480sparky]

That is the way we do it sleeve it in either sch 40 or sch 80 pvc I have never seen it not sleeved and I was just curious if anyone really installed it without being sleeved

I use it only for services and feeders, so I sleeve it whenever it emerges above grade. At that point, it's 'subject to physical damage.'Depending on the location, it may be PVC, but sometimes RMC.

 

[Minuteman]

I ran about 400' of 2-2-2-4 URD from a house to a barn for two 20-amp circuits. Only the part coming out of the ground was sleeved with PVC.