I'm getting a trench. What should I put in it??

[383 240z]

I'm running a trench for water to the barn. I'm going to branch over and put water in the shop at the same time. What else should I put in there. I'm guessing a hard line to the internet would be nice. My power is already underground, so that's handled. Anything else you guys coming up with? Keith

 

[Streetbu]

Just a spare PVC pipe even if you don't put anything it right now.... At least it will be run and you can fish wire thru it later if you want. Run a string thru it now especially if it isn't straight.

 

[WJW]

I know that its not the best thing to do but 15 yrs ago I ran an air line to the garage from the house. While I had the trench open I used a black drain tube(6 inches dia.)and put in the air, cable, phone, central vac, in the tube. Also a good size nylon string in the tube for future things I might want to pull thru it. Now the air line was nothing more than two 50 ft HD cheap lines never leaked. The tube in in the under ground about a foot.

 

[383 240z]

An air line back to the house. I like that idea!!! Keith

 

[Rocktaco]

CAT-5E and Coax.

How is your wife's cooking?

 

[GuyllFyre]

Dead hookers.

 

[WVBrady]

...open I used a black drain tube(6 inches dia.).../QUOTE]

I wouldn't use the black ABS. My house had some of it buried and it crumbled after a few years, even though it was below ground.

 

[7echo]

If you are going to do some sort of security system figure out what that needs. Probably network cable, so you might want to pull more than one.

What about water?

 

[CNGsaves]

If you are going to do some sort of security system figure out what that needs. Probably network cable, so you might want to pull more than one.

What about water?

^ ^ The water is purpose of this second trench to barn. Thus, water will be at bottom of this 2nd trench. OP already has another trench that carries electrical to the barn.

OP, how about the 10 ft sticks of 4" white plastic sewer drain pipe?? Once glued up, the smooth internal bore would give pretty easy pulling for all your stuff. That would hold a slew of low voltage (CATV, internet, phone, security, etc) and airline.

I'd put 2 spare pull strings in as you go . . . with rope for your master pull when you yank the onslaught of goodies that you'll pull through that first time !!

Put your water line in bed of sand at bottom of trench at 48" depth, then some more sand and backfill 12" to put low voltage/misc at 36" depth. Your low voltage could serve as your tracer wire. Then more backfill and caution tape at 24" depth.

 

[SweetD]

If nothing else specific, at least pull a few nylon straps or wire / rope through (at least) a 6" pipe so that you can easily pull things through later on...no rush on what you pull specifically, more just having the ability to pull stuff in the future...!



Dave

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Dead hookers.

Damn. Missied it by THAT much...

Tommy

 

[Bib Overalls]

I wish I had been thinking ahead when I built my shop. If I was doing it today I would run at least one 2" conduit for phone, internet, and similar. Read some where that phone and internet/TV cable should be about a foot apart and never run in the same conduit.

 

[volleyball]

I wish I had been thinking ahead when I built my shop. If I was doing it today I would run at least one 2" conduit for phone, internet, and similar. Read some where that phone and internet/TV cable should be about a foot apart and never run in the same conduit.

They can all be run together, it is electricity that should be separate.

As far as the OP, I'd run at least 2 network and video cables. Would you ever want some security? Intercomm, if anyone still uses that.

 

[gregtwojeeps]

Some " lines buried here" here plastic markers laid about a foot below the grade in the trench. Take a piece of PVC pipe and get two glue on caps for them... get a piece of paper.. write the date, your name, and some words of your most profound wisdom on it and roll it up and put it in the pipe and glue the caps on. This will be your very own time capsule someone will get a big kick out finding, decades from now. jmo

 

[PassnThru]

Why does everyone always recommend two network cables? That's what switches are for. One cable gives you multiple connections. No speed difference since it's all on one network. Sure - you get redundancy but then again no one ever says two phone cables

 

[gregtwojeeps]

Why does everyone always recommend two network cables? That's what switches are for. One cable gives you multiple connections. No speed difference since it's all on one network. Sure - you get redundancy but then again no one ever says two phone cables

Most of the time cable redundancy is in case the only cable gets damaged in the conduit or where terminated. One cannot splice CAT 5/6 so it is a lot easier to have a spare in the conduit. JMO

 

[ZRX61]

I'll send the ex-wife over.

 

[tarmy]

I just ran( dug myself ) 2000' of trench for gate,two garages and house.

I guessed where I may want hose bibs...and ran 1 1/2" 40 schedule for that, ran 3 or 4 ( depending on the run between buildings) 1" schedule 40 grey elec. conduit, 1 elec 2" ( for main power line) and a gravity storm line ( lowest pipe).

Sure enough, set up outdoor cameras for security...kept those in separate 1" conduit, ran satellite cable and phone thru another...and then tree/ flood lites in another. The other thing I did was make it so I could turns on building exterior lighting from the main house with 3 or 4 way switches...excellent idea on those dark or snowy nights you gotta go to one of the out buildings.

May want to think about where some tree lighting might be good...

The water lines I left uncharged until I used them.

As suggested, put in pull lines...I used those foam type vacuum plugs they sell on amazon with shop vac...worked great.

Also, make a sketch of where all the runs are, mark them in field and put caps on end of them and number them and note on sketch...made figuring it all out a year later easy.

 

[volleyball]

If you think one cable is enough, you aren't thinking very far in the future. Can be redundant, can be used with the other cable in lieu of a cat7 cable. Can be used for another purpose than getting the internet out there. How about a INTRANET?

 

[nafterclifen]

One cannot splice CAT 5/6 so it is a lot easier to have a spare in the conduit. JMO

Sort of not true. If a CAT5/6 cable gets cut, you can crimp RJ45 plugs on each end and use a coupler to join them.

 

[Kevin54]

A large diameter pipe, a shop vac, and a bank container. That way when you are in the barn working, momma can shoot you a sammich down without you having to go to the house and waste all of those steps.

 

[txvwnut]

Get as real of a skeleton hand as you can and a pawn shop diamond ring. Take the ring and have Jimmy Hoffa engraved on it, put ring on a finger and toss the whole lot in the trench. If someone has to dig after you've moved on knows anything bout history, someone will get a good laugh.

 

[PassnThru]

If you think one cable is enough, you aren't thinking very far in the future. Can be redundant, can be used with the other cable in lieu of a cat7 cable. Can be used for another purpose than getting the internet out there. How about a INTRANET?

Isn't an Intranet a internal network?
As for Cat7 - we're talking about connecting a garage here with pretty much a single user.
I'm running CAT 5E to my detached garage tomorrow actually. Why not CAT6? Don't need it really. 5E will support the gigabit network that it will be connected to in the house. If future speeds are a serious concern then one needs to seriously consider fiber.

 

[MarkG]

A large diameter pipe, a shop vac, and a bank container. That way when you are in the barn working, momma can shoot you a sammich down without you having to go to the house and waste all of those steps.

I was thinking the same thing!

 

[boosteddsm92]

Why does everyone always recommend two network cables? That's what switches are for. One cable gives you multiple connections. No speed difference since it's all on one network. Sure - you get redundancy but then again no one ever says two phone cables

Running a single cable CAN be a bottleneck. What if you have more than one device on the other side that could pull 1Gb each? You would be limited to 1Gb throughput. Granted the majority of people won't realize or care but it's still a limitation. You never know what you might want to put in there, security cameras, wireless access point, etc. I ran 2 and trunked the ports for a 2Gb connection to my garage. If you have the right network gear on both sides you can double your bandwidth and provide redundancy by running 2 cables.

 

[volleyball]

Years ago I was talking to a cable installer who believed the TW ****. He said that 1 mbit throughput was all anyone would ever need. Now that is their cheapest offering.
You can only future proof so much. Just like I don't recommend fiber at this time.
For a buried cable cat5 could have the same throughput as cat 7 spec. It just depends.
A switch does allow more devices. Depending on how much data they are flowing, the road could get crowded. Imagine your own service road, full speed no traffic for you while the other devices have to share the other road.
Think of it like electricity. You only run 1 20a circuit to the garage. Sure you can run all your equipment but not many things at once. Heck you could run your house that way.

 

[Kevin54]

Oops...almost forgot....A small nylon rope ran through the conduit for that "just in case" time that may pop up a few years down the road. If financially feasible, Run an empty conduit in the trench to come up on each end with a rope in eat, and cap it at each end.

 

[volleyball]

A pull cable is in every conduit I install. I tape it to an existing cable or tape it to the side wall of conduit wit some slack so I can grip with more than finger tips. You don't want it to fall down the tube.

 

[Lassen Forge]

Let's see... Cable/Sat TV feed, Music feed, low volt lighting source, second electrical source, intercom line, phone line hardware (and more than just one pair!!), secondary gas line for the heater and/or LPG welding set up/Forge/foundry ... Of course the Cat5/Cat7 line... Who knows what the future may bring as well.

That's just for starters. I like Kevin's idea of a pneumatic capsule launcher - always wanted one of those, maybe that bank or pharmacy with the drive-thru windows will be going out of business soon...

Know what I'd run also, thinking about it? Water and sewer lines. Think of a shower / commode in your shop, not to mention a large sink, water sources, and even a fire supression system... paradise!

 

[volleyball]

That would mean he should run a tunnel from the house to garage so he can service all the lines going.
Is this project getting big enough?

 

[Mike in Ohio]

a large diameter pipe, a shop vac, and a bank container. That way when you are in the barn working, momma can shoot you a sammich down without you having to go to the house and waste all of those steps.

genius!!!!

 

[383 240z]

A large diameter pipe, a shop vac, and a bank container. That way when you are in the barn working, momma can shoot you a sammich down without you having to go to the house and waste all of those steps.

OK I was going to save this story for the Canfield swap meet, but it's to good not to share with everybody.

My wife H worked at an office that had one of those tubes connecting a few floors and offices. One day a memo was put out that employees were not allowed to put food in the tube. Seems a ham salad sandwich came out of the capsule and was smeared all over the inside of the tube. Large cleaning bill followed. Few months later somebody from the lab on the 5th floor requested a sample of blood from the 3rd floor collection/storage station. A lazy lower level employee decided that they were not going to walk it up 2 flights of stairs, so in the tube it went. Container came open, blood smeared through the tube again, another large cleaning bill. Another memo sent out " Due to the risk of bloodborne pathogens, samples CAN NOT be shipped" via the tube. Later referred to by employees as the "Tube of Death" It was eventually removed Keith

 

[DekeT]

Dead hookers.

I was thinking the neighbors barking dog.

 

[PassnThru]

Think of it like electricity. You only run 1 20a circuit to the garage. Sure you can run all your equipment but not many things at once. Heck you could run your house that way.

If we are going to do an electricity analogy then you would be running a wire capable of 400 amps to your garage when your house only has a 200 amp service because hey - you might upgrade the house some day. I wouldn't want to pay for that cable just like I don't want to pay for the extra network cable. I only bought one box - I'm not sure how to make two runs from one box at the same time so likely you need to buy two. I probably used about 150 feet today - not a huge deal but...
I - as well as most people - don't have the equipment required to combine two networks to take advantage of multiple feeds. At the end of the day - I can always run another cable later or more likely use the Cat5e as a pull string to feed the new Cat300e or whatever they come up with.
Definitely add a pull string in your conduit. Be aware though that it won't make things extra easy. I started today with a 3/4 conduit with just a pull string and a phone line in it. It was difficult to pull the new wire. I think when the phone line was pulled the string got wrapped around it and that made for some tight pulling.

 

[rslaback]

As cheap as pvc is I would put 2 or 3 extra 1" or 1.5" conduits in the trench. I have no idea what for. It won't be completely future proof but it is a great start.

 

[Sigo]

Gas line for heat?

 

[DR99]

You just want to make sure you have the space to pull anything you thing you might want to pull through in the future. Sadly it always happens and you forget something later on.

 

[LUKE221]

Dead hookers.

Nah you want those in your neighbors' trench.... Ya know so he gets to explain it to the cops.