Routing lots of underground utility lines, proper methods?

[Nate0918]

I am planning on doing a lot of underground work at my place for different utilities; electrical, water, sewer, natural gas, sprinkler, downspout drainage, etc. and I'm trying to plan this out such that I don't have a spaghetti bowl of stuff under the dirt. I will be DIY,ing as much as I can. My mind wants to do everything in clean angles, like something on a circuit board, but the most efficient method for pressure drop and electrical pulls seems like doing a "bee line" for everything. I have three outbuildings, a well pump house, an RV pad, the house, and plans for other items that will require utilities as well. I realize that there are code requirements for depth and spacing of utilities underground, but aside from that are there good rules of thumb for clean work underground with all this involved? Even with contracting some of the work out I can see my OCD having a panic attack with different trades and contractors just crisscrossing stuff all over the place. Most of what I am wanting to accomplish is still in the planning phase so not much is set in stone. Suggestions and pro tips please!

 

[Firebrick43]

Put a tracer wire with everything (except electrical) so you can find it later

 

[BurtEggley]

as your building department how they feel about DIY running utilities. My guess is that they will tell you to call each utility company.

 

[PCustoms]

as your building department how they feel about DIY running utilities. My guess is that they will tell you to call each utility company.

I highly doubt that, seems the OP wants to connect his outbuildings with private* utilities.

OP, do you have a map or sketch of all your buildings? Would that many buildings be permitted?

Sewer is going to be the most difficult, as you are (typically) relying on gravity. This may also be the one you need to be concerned with the public utilities on, as they may only allow one tie in per lot. Natural Gas after the meter would essentially be on you, as long as you can get the meter sized to your total needs.

 

[mike93lx]

You need to do things in the right order to minimize rework and repairs. Sprinklers go shallow, so they are last. Water goes the deepest. Sewer and downspout drain depth depend on fall, where both not enough and too much can be a problem

Keep electrical straight or on long sweeping curves. Multiple things can often go in a single trench

Sharing a sketch would help with specific advice

 

[jack stand]

Straight line runs (if practical) are the simplest to remember and require no records.
If you happen to have a crossing of 2 different lines, a physical marker will be valuable in the future.
Deepest lines first and don't forget the caution tape in the ditch about 6" above the line.

 

[larry4406]

As @mike93lx said, use long sweeping curves for electrical conduit. Keep total number of fittings under 270 degrees angle of twist to make things easier for you to pull later. Consider pull boxes or above ground pedestals if there is too much angularity in your project which would make the pull difficult.

 

[tncatadjuster]

Run yellow crime tape the last foot of fill.

 

[PCustoms]

Run yellow crime tape the last foot of fill.

Don't t be a cheapskate, spend $30 on the proper (metalized/traceable) marker tape for each type of pipe

 

[tncatadjuster]

Don't t be a cheapskate, spend $30 on the proper (metalized/traceable) marker tape for each type of pipe

I was thinking to do both, safety first.

 

[T444e]

Check your local codes, they should address tracer requirements for underground utilities.

 

[Captain Spaulding]

Get a large sheet of graph paper and mark all the fixed things like the house on it to scale. Then figure out the routing and mark all of your underground work to help future you remember where everything goes. I did this and took pictures as well. When we did an addition, I got my diagram and pictures from 25 years ago and we had septic, electric, downspout and network runs located in about 15 minutes.

 

[Rusted Nut]

Be aware of required separations of different underground utilities, per codes and your local utility companies. For example, at least where I build, domestic water can only cross sanitary sewer at right angle, and needs 36” of vertical separation. Other utilities are similar. Contact your local utility companies for there specific requirements.

 

[Hank11]

Don’t bury different services in the same trench.
It’ll be trouble when/if you have to open it up.

And congratulations for thinking about this and asking questions BEFORE you do it. Its not the GJ way, but this may save you from having to dig it up later.

 

[72Anthony]

Also consider material type for longevity, such as HDPE for natural gas: will never rust and no joints underground.

Proper backfill, especially if you have rocky soil.

 

[Nate0918]

Thanks all for the input, definitely want to do it the right way and mark everything correctly. I have been digging up and fixing a nightmare of stuff underground that was unmarked and done badly by the previous owner and has given me a good perspective on why code is what it is. I'm not a rule nazi but dang, the **** I've been running into... Anyway, I've been busy today but should be able to post up a layout of my property thus far in the next day or two.

 

[ATC]

Take pictures, and mark any important junctions (surveyor spike in the ground, or a bird bath feature)

 

[reader2580]

My father had to have an irrigation company come out many years ago to locate all of the buried irrigation valves. He made a map of them all measured from the corners of the house so he could find them in the future.

 

[mike93lx]

My father had to have an irrigation company come out many years ago to locate all of the buried irrigation valves. He made a map of them all measured from the corners of the house so he could find them in the future.

Buried valves? How deep are they?

All of mine have covers on them, most round single valve units, but I have a few under a larger rectangular box and the valves are about 6" down

 

[reader2580]

Buried valves? How deep are they?

No idea on the depth. I don't know why boxes were not used for the valves. The original install was in 1982.

 

[Leaflessshadetree]

I made marks on the foundations of the buildings (and the pads of my LP tanks) for the straight portions of the trenches.
I can stretch a rope between marks and know where the wires/lines/pipes are.

 

[Red 17]

I had the feed from the pole put underground. Four foot deep, and a straight line from the pole to the meter were the requirements for the 4" conduit. Lots of fun digging that.

For your other conduit, use the largest size practical. If you think 3/4 will work, go 1".

If you are doing a garage, wire it for a 100 amp service. If you ever get an electric car you don't want to have some dude come out and run a different line like my neighbor and BIL.....

 

[mike93lx]

I had the feed from the pole put underground. Four foot deep, and a straight line from the pole to the meter were the requirements for the 4" conduit. Lots of fun digging that.

For your other conduit, use the largest size practical. If you think 3/4 will work, go 1".

If you are doing a garage, wire it for a 100 amp service. If you ever get an electric car you don't want to have some dude come out and run a different line like my neighbor and BIL.....

60a can easily support a single man shop, and an electric car.

 

[manwithtools]

60a can easily support a single man shop, and an electric car.

It's so inexpensive to run a lager service, the 60 amp argument does not make sense to me. At least 90 makes more sense, no matter what today's load calculations says.

 

[dcg9381]

I am planning on doing a lot of underground work at my place for different utilities; electrical, water, sewer, natural gas, sprinkler, downspout drainage, etc. and I'm trying to plan this out such that I don't have a spaghetti bowl of stuff under the dirt. Suggestions and pro tips please!

I say draw it all out in a "site plan". Absolutely.

Sometimes you have control over when things go in, sometimes due to availability of subs, you have to do things out of order.

Take photos of it as you put things in. These are immensely helpful when you have to dig something up. With a site plan and photos even I could figure out where stuff was.

You're doing it right to plan it out, that way you don't end up with a spaghetti mess later.

Most this will need size planning. You've got it on the electrical, but water mains that have substantial length need to be calculated. I like to go +1 size on all electrical conduit, just makes life easier.

Sometimes I'll "sleeve" conduit inside a conduit if I know that I've got something heavy driving over it, but our soil is really rocky and we have no freeze depth here, so things tend to not be buried that deep.

 

[mike93lx]

It's so inexpensive to run a lager service, the 60 amp argument does not make sense to me. At least 90 makes more sense, no matter what today's load calculations says.

90 is a sweet spot and is what is almost always recommended here. I wouldn't go through the trouble to do the work and put in a 60a feeder.

My post was more about a EV. I think many believe you can't have one without a 100a feed, which is completely untrue

 

[tarmy]

I have an acre and a half. I have trench everywhere. Main feed from street with power, water, sani, comms and many extra 1” buried in every trench as well. They got used for tree lights, cable, cameras in trees…most all have been filled. Three separate structures are interconnected…Gen set runs everything as well.

I drew a layout plan and tried to figure out what I needed where and to what ends. As I buried I took lots of pics, lots of notes and took rough measurements where each trench was. I put in over twenty JT boxes and several water turn out, sani clean outs and various tree lighting boxes. I marked the end of every pipe with a number and corresponding number on the other end. I sucked pull line thru every run And cappEd them. I numbered each box on my drawing with the corresponding conduit in each. Years later finding things, pulling new line and knowing where everything goes has been a snap.

once a trench is open…throw a couple extra 1” conduit in…not that much money and will save all kind of grief later.

 

[PCustoms]

once a trench is open…throw a couple extra 1” conduit in…not that much money and will save all kind of grief later.

I wish I had done this....and had every intention to

I called the fiber company and they told me 2 months out for installs and that they required 2" conduit, which was $$ at the time. The ended up using some 1/2" orange **** about 6" deep. Would have been much better in 1" PVC on top of my electric

 

[NUTTSGT]

I'd toss in an extra conduit like mentioned.

If you draw up a site plan, atleast put it in a document protector and then somewhere you know it's safe.