Electrical Underground Installation Requirements

April 2, 2024

This is a very important section for electrical installations, repairs and remodels.  For the past 40 years there has not been a single week go by where Aqua Tech Electric was not called to a residential job to repair Electrical Underground Installation of some sort; some easy to repair and some a complete new installation required. Usually the PVC pipe was not installed deep enough, and landscapers or workers performing other work in the yard hit the PVC conduits and wire, destroying both.  Electrical PVC pipe is required by the National Electrical Code to be installed a minimum of 18 inches deep anywhere in
the USA for this very reason.  Landscape PVC and wiring is all low voltage and is usually buried 6 inches deep.  But sometimes these workers (among others) performing installations and repairs hit the electrical piping and break not on the PVC, but the wires as well, because it was not buried at the proper depth.  As you can see from the photos, the ditch for an electrical piping installation is 18 inches deep.   During
new construction, the city electrical inspector in your city will come to inspect this part of the installation to make sure of the proper depth.  Only after this inspection is the entire ditch allowed to be covered.  On existing installations where this has happened in your yard, whether front or rear, we can repair it and leave the depth as it is since repairing it does not usually require us to remove the entire piping and install new ones, or get an inspection.  This will save you quite a bit of money.  But if you want it done
right, all of it should be removed, the ditches at the proper depth and all new PVC piping installed with new wire.   You will also notice in the photo that while digging this deep ditch, sprinkler system piping crosses the area where we were digging, and as you can see, it is only about 6 inches deep.   This means we must take special care when digging in the yard of a customer because not only is PVC and low voltage controls for sprinkler lines all over the yard, so are Cable TV and Phone Lines, which are usually only buried 2-3 inches.

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