DrVlikhell
Active member
First off I'll say that you guys are amazing and this forum is a fantastic resource. I've gotten an incredible amount of information and answers here without even having to post any questions. But now I do have some questions about some special aspects of my project.
Second off, my apologies, I'm long winded and don't know how to write short questions. I've tried, but every time it just feels like I'm leaving out important information.
I need to install a sub panel for some mini split AC units. My meter is on a pole behind the house and it has a small section for breakers on it which I was going to use to feed the sub panel. I dug a trench from the pole to the house about seven feet long and 22" deep. However, there are some things which cross the trench that I'm afraid could become a problem if an inspector sees them.
#1 There is a septic pipe that was just peeking through the dirt even before I started to dig. It was permitted and installed in 1984, but I'm guessing it was never inspected. It can't go any deeper because of the distance and angle it needs to reach the septic tank. It goes into the shed for a previous washing machine hookup and I plan to use it for a water softener drain. I'm afraid it could cause an inspector to have a fit and demand that it be set deeper in the ground with a lift pump, or be removed. Both of which are undesirable and expensive. It's been fine for 40 years, I'd prefer to leave it alone and just cover it up with some dirt and grass like it used to have.
#2 There is a wire going from the panel on the pole to an in-ground well pump. I'm guessing it's a direct burial cable because there is no conduit for it except for where it goes down the pole. It's also nowhere near 18" deep. I'd guess maybe 6 to 8", there's some erosion going on there so maybe it was originally 12". It's been there since the 60s so there may not have been code for it back then. I'm afraid an inspector could require me to re-run that wire, which would be very expensive since there are four very large trees in that area between the pole and well and I'd have to hire a power trencher/excavator to get through the roots. I believe it currently goes under the length of the concrete driveway and concrete shed foundation so I can't just dig it up and set it deeper where it sits, it would have to be all new.
#3 There are some wires in conduit that's also going to the shed. It was permitted in 1984 along with the septic and water going into the shed. It's not at 18" depth either, it sits just on top of the conduit for the feeder cable that goes into the house... which also isn't 18" deep. I'm guessing these won't be an issue since they're probably grandfathered in and I'm not even sure that Florida had adopted the NEC in the 80s, or the 60s. But if they are an issue, having to do anything to the main house feed would be terribly expensive.
Do you guys think these issues could turn into massive problems by an inspector requiring them to be changed even though they have no thing to do with the electrical permit, except that the new electrical lines run underneath the above mentioned issues?
And, the painful question, is the likelihood of an inspector making an issue of them high enough that I should scrap the trench all together? It was three painful days of digging under everything, and digging under roots that were too big to cut, and digging up the five telcom wires, three cable wires, fiber wire, etc. I even got the conduit assembled in the trench under all that mess, which was one of the hardest things I've done. But tonight when I was looking up when to call for an electrical inspection I read about a whole bunch of people having issues with an inspector citing things outside the scope of the permit as failure points requiring remediation. And well, I'd rather ditch my work, cut up the conduit and start over than have to deal with any of the above mentioned points if they were cited as needing to be changed.
If I scrap the trench, I could run the sub panel off the panel in the house, I'd need another 30 feet of wire and some more 1" conduit and fittings. Then I would run it down into the crawl space under the house, along the underside of the house and out to the back. I would still have to trench along the back of the house to get to where the AC condensers will sit, but there's nothing egregious there. There is no attic, if you're wondering.
Let me know what you all think, and congratulations if you read the whole thing!
Second off, my apologies, I'm long winded and don't know how to write short questions. I've tried, but every time it just feels like I'm leaving out important information.
I need to install a sub panel for some mini split AC units. My meter is on a pole behind the house and it has a small section for breakers on it which I was going to use to feed the sub panel. I dug a trench from the pole to the house about seven feet long and 22" deep. However, there are some things which cross the trench that I'm afraid could become a problem if an inspector sees them.
#1 There is a septic pipe that was just peeking through the dirt even before I started to dig. It was permitted and installed in 1984, but I'm guessing it was never inspected. It can't go any deeper because of the distance and angle it needs to reach the septic tank. It goes into the shed for a previous washing machine hookup and I plan to use it for a water softener drain. I'm afraid it could cause an inspector to have a fit and demand that it be set deeper in the ground with a lift pump, or be removed. Both of which are undesirable and expensive. It's been fine for 40 years, I'd prefer to leave it alone and just cover it up with some dirt and grass like it used to have.
#2 There is a wire going from the panel on the pole to an in-ground well pump. I'm guessing it's a direct burial cable because there is no conduit for it except for where it goes down the pole. It's also nowhere near 18" deep. I'd guess maybe 6 to 8", there's some erosion going on there so maybe it was originally 12". It's been there since the 60s so there may not have been code for it back then. I'm afraid an inspector could require me to re-run that wire, which would be very expensive since there are four very large trees in that area between the pole and well and I'd have to hire a power trencher/excavator to get through the roots. I believe it currently goes under the length of the concrete driveway and concrete shed foundation so I can't just dig it up and set it deeper where it sits, it would have to be all new.
#3 There are some wires in conduit that's also going to the shed. It was permitted in 1984 along with the septic and water going into the shed. It's not at 18" depth either, it sits just on top of the conduit for the feeder cable that goes into the house... which also isn't 18" deep. I'm guessing these won't be an issue since they're probably grandfathered in and I'm not even sure that Florida had adopted the NEC in the 80s, or the 60s. But if they are an issue, having to do anything to the main house feed would be terribly expensive.
Do you guys think these issues could turn into massive problems by an inspector requiring them to be changed even though they have no thing to do with the electrical permit, except that the new electrical lines run underneath the above mentioned issues?
And, the painful question, is the likelihood of an inspector making an issue of them high enough that I should scrap the trench all together? It was three painful days of digging under everything, and digging under roots that were too big to cut, and digging up the five telcom wires, three cable wires, fiber wire, etc. I even got the conduit assembled in the trench under all that mess, which was one of the hardest things I've done. But tonight when I was looking up when to call for an electrical inspection I read about a whole bunch of people having issues with an inspector citing things outside the scope of the permit as failure points requiring remediation. And well, I'd rather ditch my work, cut up the conduit and start over than have to deal with any of the above mentioned points if they were cited as needing to be changed.
If I scrap the trench, I could run the sub panel off the panel in the house, I'd need another 30 feet of wire and some more 1" conduit and fittings. Then I would run it down into the crawl space under the house, along the underside of the house and out to the back. I would still have to trench along the back of the house to get to where the AC condensers will sit, but there's nothing egregious there. There is no attic, if you're wondering.
Let me know what you all think, and congratulations if you read the whole thing!