Digging trench to sugar shack

[mspina14]

So my 2 sons and I started our project for this labor day weekend: digging a trench from the house to the sugar shack to lay an electrical conduit. I wanted to add lights and electrical outlets to the shack (it was a little awkward last winter with all the extension cords from the house...)

The trench only needed to be 30 feet or so.

How hard can it be? :o

So, I spoke to our local building inspector. He said to make sure trench was 18" deep and to use schedule 40 PVC conduit.

Sounds simple enough right?

I rented a trenching machine for a day and had my sons have at it.

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First pass was no problem. Only dug about 8" deep to get the hang of the machine. Then started to go back for a second pass to get down to 18".

That's when the problems started. We hit a rock about 10" deep:

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It was a big rock. No problem, I said to my sons. We'll just dig it out. How big can it be?

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After 3 hours of digging, we decided to tie a sling around it a haul it out with the Suburu.

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My son's were not impressed.

Another 3 hours of hand digging resulted in dozens of more rocks of 3'-18' in size.

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We got the trench done, but it is not 18" deep throughout. Only at the part closest to the house.

Stay turned for next weekend.

We're renting a backhoe..... ;)


Mark S.

[n8hutch]

Sounds like I might have the same type of Ground up here in New Hampshire, I spent the weekend digging a 250' water service to my new sugar house and a 80' conduit trench for power. I put the water Line at 7' and it took 10 hrs to dig and back fill with a 12k lbs excavator. Only took 2hrs to dig and back fill the conduit at 2 feet deep.Be sure to tape your conduit line with caution tape. I like the magnetic stuff myself makes it easier to find in the future.

[PerryFamily]

I'm not shocked you got those type of results with a trencher. You really need decent soil to get any depth. And as you've seen, it's doesn't take much of a rock to screw it up. You'll have much better luck with the backhoe. I'd bed it in sand and pick the big nuggets out before you backfill.

[mspina14]

"Be sure to tape your conduit line with caution tape. I like the magnetic stuff myself makes it easier to find in the future."

Yes, I forgot to mention that.

The local building inspector said to place some yellow caution tape on top of the electrical conduit before I back-fill so someone digging in the future will see it before hitting the electric line....


Mark s.

[mspina14]

I'm not shocked you got those type of results with a trencher. You really need decent soil to get any depth. And as you've seen, it's doesn't take much of a rock to screw it up. You'll have much better luck with the backhoe. I'd bed it in sand and pick the big nuggets out before you backfill.

Yes. Trenching machines do not work in rocky New England soil. You really need a rock-free sandy loam for them to work well.

Thanks for the tip about using sand in the bedding. I'll have to get some.

Mark

[Maple Man 85]

Renting a trencher or excavator definitely would have been the better option. I dug a trench for a 120' water line 6' deep and it was amazing what we pulled out of the ground. Would still be digging for the line if I had to do it by hand, good thing you have strong boys! 7500lb excavator in my area goes for $290 for 8hrs of run time. Well worth the investment!!!

[Biz]

Yeah, gotta love rocky soil. I was digging for my sugarhouse annex last week with my Kubota backhoe (20hp) and came across a large rock, maybe 4'w x 6'l x 4'deep. Dug around it with the backhoe but it wouldn't budge. My 4wd truck wouldn't pull it it. Got it to move a foot or two by pulling on it with 700hp+ worth of Chevy plus Dodge 4wd trucks at the same time. Then started snapping 3" tow straps. Got the biggest ones that Tractor Supply had for next attempt. Maybe I need to convince my neighbor to come over with his big tractor....

Dave

[maple flats]

I was lucky, back in 2012 I dug a 140' trench to run power from a pole to the sugarhouse, it was 6-7' deep. It took 3 hrs because we had to dig out some stumps in the path, I have almost no rocks, just sand. I think we ran into 5-6 rocks larger than a soft ball but smaller than a football. My 8000# excavator had no issues, even with my then 17 yr. old grandson digging his first ever trench. Sand here goes down anywhere from 7' to about 13', under that we do get rocks, but my excavator will only dig 8' in one lift, to get more I would need to make a ledge and dig more from there if I ever needed to.

[SeanD]

Ditto on everything mentioned here. There's a reason the south has the plantations and we have industry. I dug a similar trench by hand. The two new things I will add are that you may need your trench inspected before you backfill. I did, so check before you go forward. You;ll need to backfill with sand then the caution tape first.

In one area where I hit a sheet of ledge about 12" down and it stretched infinitely in all directions, I was allowed to encase the conduit in concrete for that portion. That saved a lot of time at the chiropractor.

Finally, you are never going to want to do this again. Have a new service panel put in the sugarhouse and size it up with some extra spaces even if you think you are only ever going to need lights and outlets right now. It's not that much more expensive and you'll be thanking yourself when you want a 240v outlet installed for your RO. Coincidentally, I just had the electrician out here today to do that very thing.

I used extension cords for a while, too. I still appreciate it every time I go out there and can just flick a switch.

Good luck and seriously ask about backfilling with concrete where you can't hit the 18".

Sean

[Sugarbush Ridge]

I guess different areas different requirements. Here buried electric has to have the red DANGER tape over.

[mspina14]

r.

"Finally, you are never going to want to do this again" Sean

You got that right.

I never want do this again.

I do plan to expand the sap house in the future and add a syrup finishing room.

So I will have the electrician install a sub-panel in the sap house. I want to add a 240V outlet in the future expansion for a an electric stove.

Mark S.

[68bird]

I went through the same thing last year. Got it in, but my arms are about 3" longer than they used to be! Never again, I hsve now bought my own backhoe!