Lot is trenched for irrigation - any ideas for running direct bury wire now?

[Todd Burch]

I'm irrigating my property - a big rectangle, 3.25 acres. The main loop is about 15' inside the property boundary all the way around the lot, and then perpendicular feeders go to the trees.

My irrigation guy suggested that, if I wanted, to go ahead and run any direct bury wire I might want to run now while his trench is open. I think this is a great idea, but I'm having trouble coming up with a good reason to do that.

I'm not planning on putting in any kind of a gate or fancy entrance off the road.

All my trees are too small to light up at night.

I do have a pond way in the back of the lot, but no fish yet. I'll be reforming the pond in the next couple of years to broaden it and fix the big leak.

Anyone got any ideas for good justification for running any wire now for future use?

Thanks, Todd

[Kev Williams]

Have you priced out electric wiring lately? If you don't have a real good reason for it, save your money!

[Chuck Wintle]

it ssounds like your irrigation guy is thinking ahead to what might be, i.e. lighting or a workshop etc. a lot of outdoor wiring has to be run inside a plastic pipe for protection, maybe not done anymore, but you could put this plastic pipe in the ground without wire in anticipation of some future need.

[Dan Hintz]

it ssounds like your irrigation guy is thinking ahead to what might be, i.e. lighting or a workshop etc. a lot of outdoor wiring has to be run inside a plastic pipe for protection, maybe not done anymore, but you could put this plastic pipe in the ground without wire in anticipation of some future need.

This ^^^^^. Put in taps at every turn so you can pull straight sections of line. Getting conduit in the ground now means you only have to re-dig at the corners... you'll thank yourself later.

[Tom M King]

Maybe not in the irrigation trenches, but since the yard is dug up anyway, you might want trenches somewhere else. For instance, path lights. We have some going from our house to our barn. I like 110v, versus low voltage, since there is no transformer to have to deal with. I put ours in in 1980, when I built the place, and it's been trouble free ever since. 3-way switches on each end turn them on with a flip of a switch in the house or the barn.

When I built new houses, I ran a trench from near the road to the house, and put a couple of runs of black polyethylene pipe in it. A mason's line sucked through them with a vacuum cleaner allowed the phone and TV cable to be pulled after the yard was finished, and easy replacement in the future for trouble or something new.

[George Bokros]

I wouldn't put direct bury electric in the same trenches with the irrigation. If you have issues in the future with the irrigation you will be putting your electric at risk when digging to fix the irrigation. If you bury pipe for the electric then you would be safer. Truth be told if you don't know where you want / need electric you may be wasting your money now.

George

[Myk Rian]

If you have any intention of doing this, go for it now.

[Wayne Lovell]

Darkness is your friend!

[Phil Thien]

Darkness is your friend!

Yep, and it is cheap, too!

A well-lit exterior can be a deterrent to crime. But high-powered motion-detecting floods are even better, and they don't cost a fortune to operate.

[Todd Burch]

Thanks for all the feedback. I think I will just buy some pipe and put in a short run (200') where I may decide to saw logs in the future and cap it off for now. Good idea. Maybe for a future gazebo too.

[Erik Loza]

This ^^^^^. Put in taps at every turn so you can pull straight sections of line. Getting conduit in the ground now means you only have to re-dig at the corners... you'll thank yourself later.

+1 for putting in the wiring now. I'm getting ready to do some major landscaping in the back yard and wish I had the foresight to run more power back there when I had the chance earlier. It just costs 2X as much to do it later.

Good luck,

Erik Loza
Minimax USA

[Chris Padilla]

Run the pipe and irrigation line as far from each other as possible within the trench so that potential future work on either pipe won't disturb the other or get in your way.

[Todd Burch]

Run the pipe and irrigation line as far from each other as possible within the trench so that potential future work on either pipe won't disturb the other or get in your way.

Not possible. The trench is only about 6" wide, and curvy, and change in height with the terrain. The main pipe is 1.25" class 200, and for certain sections, also has 2 or 3 1" zone pipes sitting beside it, along with valve wiring.

[Erik Loza]

Assuming you ran the electrical through some PVC conduit, it would be at least as strong as the water line and new construction shouldn't be un-reliable, so I wouldn't personally lose any sleep over it. Just my opinion.

Erik Loza
Minimax USA

[Pat Barry]

I would opt out for now