Code: Underground cables in yard

Hello Glen,

Yeah, I might just do that. Or go LV right away.

Don't know if code still allows Romex or UF inside conduit when underground. Above ground you can't, AFAIK.

Hello Colin,

AFAIK he had helpers and hoisted the dirt up in buckets. Scary. The authorities ordered them to get the heck out of there.

Even landscape contractors do that nowadays. But not much out here. You might get 80% done and then hit that huge rock. Been there :-(

it

Seems like the OP might know this already, but it never hurts to say it: the second most important thing to do, after making sure the inspector is happy, is to put an extra pipe in the trench. Compared to the digging and backfilling, an extra pipe run is almost free, especially PVC. You'll think of a use for it. Wade H

It's small for sure. Was designed for deep sea research and rescue, intelligence gathering, etc. AFAIK it's still in service. The last thing I remember hearing about it was its use in finding the Titanic.

Heck of a useful tool if it started life as Rickover's toy!

Kevin

On our brand new house, about a week after we moved in, my wife to a nice, long luxurious shower I walked in to go to the bathroom, and found about an inch of water on the floor! She had noticed that the shower wasn't draining very fast, but hadn't thought it was overflowing.

I started bailing with a towel, and suddenly noticed something. Even though the water lever in the shower wasn't overflowing, I still had flowing water... it was coming from underneath the toilet! The wax seal had blown out due to pressure. I called the builder's panic line, and kept bailing. Finally, after about an hour, the water level finally went down enough to drain.

The builder called out the plumber, and he started snaking the lines. He finally found the problem, the line was full of dirt, rock, wood and who knows what else about 10 feet from the tie to the sewer in front of my house. Took him about 3 hours to finally clear it.

He spent the next two days going to all the other new houses on the street and clearing them. They were ALL blocked! The construction crew had evidently been working with the clear outs all open while grading for the landscaping.

Charlie

This is usually indicative of a break in the drain pipe and -- I'm told -- not at all uncommon, and something that will tend to require occasional clearing if not actually fixed. Rather than digging up the pipe, though, there are some cool technologies where a hot dog-shaped "balloon" is towed down the line by a little robot, inflated, and then has some sort of polymer coating pumped to the outside of the balloon that hardens in place, forming a patch.

I was told that a lot of the business the guys who do this get comes would-be home purchasers who have the current owners perform the patch after an inspection discovers the breach!

Why wouldn't you dig this up and do it right? I certainly would not accept this in a new house.

The idea is that the "formed in place" patch is supposed to be at least as good as the material the pipes themselves are made from and is a lot cheaper.

Given that many homes are sold without *any* sewer pipe inspection or repairs, a patch is at least a step in the right direction.

That is a great sales pitch but the fact is you have reduced the pipe diameter at best and at worst, have created a ledge that will hang up lint and other stuff, ensuring a clog pretty fast. That is why any plumber who isn't a hack will deburr the cuts on his PVC drain pipe.