olly
Senior Member
- Location
- Berthoud, Colorado
- Occupation
- Master Electrician
I have a barn / garage a few hundred feet away from th home. The customer wants to put a water line in the same trench. Is that against any codes?
Good point.Water lines and well feeds are in the same trench in just about every home with a well with no separation.
Not a problem
Around here water lines require 48in burial depth for frost depth. You don't need the electrical that deep. So to put the water and electrical in same trench could be asking for trouble if need to re-excavate the water line unless a fair distance horizontally from each other, or both to same depth. Not saying you can't do it but I think that should be a consideration.
In Colorado water lines are required to be buried, I believe, 54" for for frost protection.If you’re saying a deeper trench, in your case 48”, makes shared use of the trench a bigger problem, I’m not sure I agree. Can you expand on why the depth is a factor?
In my area 24" burial for water and power. Thats why I suggested 12" separation, for a backhoe trench.In Colorado water lines are required to be buried, I believe, 54" for for frost protection.
So, lay the water line, backfill a foot or so, then lay the feeder.
Works fine as long as the water line does not need repair. It makes digging down to the water pipe a lot harder.So, lay the water line, backfill a foot or so, then lay the feeder.
A bigger problem than if both were only 24" deep. It is more likely to have to dig up a water line than electrical. So if you have dig it up and trench down past the electrical that is run in the same ditch it would need to be hand dug to the 48", I wouldn't want to have to do that much hand digging. It would also leave the electrical unsupported as you excavate to the water line below. I suppose there is nothing in code that would prohibit putting the electrical as deep as the waterline running it side by side. But I also imagine the next guy to have to dig up that electrical wouldn't be very happy with that depth though.If you’re saying a deeper trench, in your case 48”, makes shared use of the trench a bigger problem, I’m not sure I agree. Can you expand on why the depth is a factor?
A bigger problem than if both were only 24" deep. It is more likely to have to dig up a water line than electrical. So if you have dig it up and trench down past the electrical that is run in the same ditch it would need to be hand dug to the 48", I wouldn't want to have to do that much hand digging. It would also leave the electrical unsupported as you excavate to the water line below. I suppose there is nothing in code that would prohibit putting the electrical as deep as the waterline running it side by side. But I also imagine the next guy to have to dig up that electrical wouldn't be very happy with that depth though.