Getting power under sidewalk?

[Mmfh]

Hey Everyone,

New project I will be doing in the next few weeks. I need to run a gas line, three phase power and a air line under a 3' sidewalk. I actually need to go down under it on one side of the sidewalk, and make a hole about 3' or so in from the edge where I started and pop up inside the garage. That's hard to explain.

I'm talking asphalt and not concrete. So go down under the edge of the asphalt and in about 3' to 4' and come up inside the garage. I was thinking putting a ABS 4" pipe under and run the lines through that.

Can I somehow make a tunnel or should I just bust it out and repair it later?

What I'm doing is running everything under the asphalt that is between the house and the garage. Go down next to the house, come up inside the garage. I hope that makes some kind of sense?

I look forward to hearing your idea's.
Thanks

Mm

 

[twosocks90]

I just ran water and sewer under two sections of our L-shaped sidewalk between house and garage. The sidewalk was concrete, not asphalt. Frost line here is 42" so the trench is relatively deep. I could not have easily shoved a pipe from that deep down.

We just broke out the sidewalk, trenched the lines in, and repoured concrete. It was pretty straightforward and didn't cost much. I used the opportunity to order extra concrete to do some other jobs around our place.

I'm not sure how easy or hard it is to replace asphalt though.

 

[NitroPress]

Hydro-drilling. Dig a hole on either side and then use a water nozzle - you can fab something, use a standard cylindrical nozzle adjusted to a jet, or even buy a premade one - to "drill" through the dirt underneath. Messy but very simple and effective.

Re-pack the hole once you've run a suitable piece of conduit underneath.

 

[Mmfh]

Hydro-drilling. Dig a hole on either side and then use a water nozzle - you can fab something, use a standard cylindrical nozzle adjusted to a jet, or even buy a premade one - to "drill" through the dirt underneath. Messy but very simple and effective.

Re-pack the hole once you've run a suitable piece of conduit underneath.

Can you really go several feet with the pressure of a garden hose and a nozzle?

Several years ago at a different house I had guys come out and install the sewer line from the street down and into the basement. They did a deep hole at the street, another hole in the basement floor, sent some sort of a boring rig down this hole and it ended up right under the hole in the basement. Really incredible I thought.

I didn't know if there was something similar a guy could rent or make. I can sure try water but I just can't see it being able to make a hole 3' or 4' deep?

Mm

 

[NitroPress]

I think hydro-drilling would work, but you might want to make up a sturdy, high-pressure jet out of some 1/2 iron pipe with a double-chisel tip (cut at 45 degrees, cut sharp edge back with a short 45 degree cut) with a hose connector. Use it with moderate water flow to drill though the soil, with the water helping to cut and flush the bore. Like I said, messy, but it will get the job done.

 

[1949 caddyman]

I have run a water line under a 20 ft concrete driveway using a water jet on pcv pipe. worked ok but on the 20 ft run started out 2 ft deep and ended at 6ft deep on other side. The pipe had a slight downward angle on it and kept going down. Should not be a problem on a 3 ft run. I started with a 1/2 inch copper pipe that was flattened to produce a fine jet of water and then steped up to the pipe size with reducers.

 

[Mmfh]

What about using a pressure washer, put a pointed tip on there. Does seem like it may cut right through it.

Mm

 

[sberry]

Can be done with air or water, maybe even dry drive a steel pipe thru, clean pipe out.

 

[tcianci]

For a 3 foot run, I would just attempt to drive a pipe dry, You will need to dig down to your driving depth on both sides of the walk but the driving should be easy.

 

[broman78]

I know i saw where a member here created a trench by just pounding the pipe with a sledge hammer. It was probably less than 3' give it a try.

 

[Spam16v]

try dry, then resort to wet... not that difficult, I have to do it again under mine as well.

 

[DHCrocks]

I tunneled under a concrete sidewalk 4' wide to get a irrigation pipe under the slab. It was a *****, tried digging from both ends, used a home made water jet out of PVC pipe with a cap and drilled hole for the nozzle and garden hose for pressure. That got me about 18" then the gravel backfill stoped me. I ended up sticking my shop vac in the tunnel and sucking out all the rocks that got me thru. I then stuck a PVC sleeve and then my irrigation pipe in the sleeve under the sidewalk. If you get stuck try the shop vac trick.

 

[Deltarat]

We have washed a pipe under a 2 lane road with pvc pipe and a nozzle.

 

[dreamingmuscle]

I know i saw where a member here created a trench by just pounding the pipe with a sledge hammer. It was probably less than 3' give it a try.

Here is the thread your talking about.

Glen

 

[Will67]

Can you run gas and electric in same pipe? My jurisdiction would not allow it.

 

[Mike14k]

Ditto on the PVC pipe and nozzle. I made it under a 22' driveway and a 3' sidewalk. Messy, but worked out fine

 

[harvero]

For a 3 foot run, I would just attempt to drive a pipe dry, You will need to dig down to your driving depth on both sides of the walk but the driving should be easy.

I've done just this years back to get phone and power out to my father's pole building. Some sections of black pipe, a few couples, and a BFH. Bang a section of pipe in, attach a couple and the next section, and bang it in. I used water and a house to flush the pipe clean of soil when it was through.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

I've done just this years back to get phone and power out to my father's pole building. Some sections of black pipe, a few couples, and a BFH. Bang a section of pipe in, attach a couple and the next section, and bang it in. I used water and a house to flush the pipe clean of soil when it was through.

I'd like to have seen that

Charles

 

[stan.riner]

I remember a thread on here about a lift install where someone notched a PVC pipe (to make something that could grab and cut) and then put it in a drill to cut a hole in the dirt. It was pretty neat. He had pictures to show exactly how he did it but I don't remember which thread. Maybe someone else will.

 

[82_454_shorty]

You can rent a pneumatic machine that will punch a hole through. We did several a couple of years back when we had to run utilities from a neighboring street. I forget what the guys called it but it looks like a small torpedoe. Works really slick and we punched a tunnel approx. 6 feet under an existing sidewalk.

 

[1320stang]

You can rent a pneumatic machine that will punch a hole through. We did several a couple of years back when we had to run utilities from a neighboring street. I forget what the guys called it but it looks like a small torpedoe. Works really slick and we punched a tunnel approx. 6 feet under an existing sidewalk.

^^This^^ (depending on your soil type)

Buddy used to have a directional boring machine, he also had one of these torpedos. Used a trailer mounted air compressor and a large air hose like a jack hammer uses. You twisted the hose clockwise and turned the compressor on, the air hammer inside would drive the torpedo forward. Once you reached the other hole, you twisted the hose counterclockwise and it'd back itself back out of the hole.