Electric company power supply questions?

[flubby]

Guys,

Can the electric company install in the ground power? The run will be about 90m to the house. If they can: what are the specs for the trench and PVC pipe? Sorry if these questions are redundant. I meet with the lawyer to go over the rough draft contract in an hour. Thanks for you help!

Cheers!

[thailazer]

There are direct burial cables that make more sense than using conduit. Electrician friend in the USA says there are many more problems with conduit than direct burial. Conduit will fill up with water over time. If you go with a direct burial cable, make sure you put in a tracer ribbon a foot above it so future digging is not a shocker. Not sure where your meter is but you can have your electrician put the buried cable in from the meter to the house. Having the power company doing buried cable will likely be complicated, expensive, and time consuming.

[Mike Judd]

As advised forget getting the power company to bury your cable, it's enough hassle getting it to the pole outside your land if it's not already there. I don't know about no conduit though, if the connections are glued properly using the yellow pipe ,water can't get out with their med pressure water supply pipe so I can't see it getting in. But up to You.

[thailazer]

As advised forget getting the power company to bury your cable, it's enough hassle getting it to the pole outside your land if it's not already there. I don't know about no conduit though, if the connections are glued properly using the yellow pipe ,water can't get out with their med pressure water supply pipe so I can't see it getting in. But up to You.

I think it is a condensation issue. If air can get in the conduit, it will condense on the sides of the cool conduit. Given enough time, the conduit is full of water. Plus, you have to make sure somchai does a good job on each joint. Sealing each end of the conduit to the air is necessary to prevent airflow and the subsequent condensation. The direct burial cable eliminates all that risk, but it is more expensive.

[flubby]

Thanks for the responses. "Somchai" didn't seem to know anything about direct burial cable. His response to digging the trench and using the yellow PVC was...."yes, yes can do!" So this cable that runs from the pole into the PVC up to the meter on the house, is that bought at home pro, or from the electric company? Any idea on the specs of it?
My understanding is that the basic electricity supplied by the electric company is 32 amp. Which is not a massive amount.

[Shastadad]

I won't get into the debate on whether or not your cable should be in a conduit or not but mine is in one that is specifically designed for underground power. It is semi flexible and is one solid piece that runs from the meter on the electric pole, under the street, through my yard and into the house

[flubby]

Thanks for the photos, now I know what to look for!

[pattayapope]

Its HDPE pipe and should have a red line running down it, the stuff with a blue line is for water. Make sure it is big enough, my cable was a bitch to run the pipe.

PP

[thailazer]

By the way, the designator for direct burial cable is NYY, and you can find it at Global House in a few common gauges and 2, 3, or 4 conductors. Stuff is so expensive we had to pay for it before they would cut it off the reel! Guess they wanted to be sure we were serious about buying it.