My phone Co. offers TV and internet with the same DSL line. They are trenching for the copper DSL cable this week. I could use the same trench to get an off-peak electric service to my garage. Can I put all of this in one trench? Or, will the electric cause interference with the phone, TV, Internet? If so, is there something I can do to make it okay, such as put the electric in conduit or something?
Some background for those scraching their heads about what is going on: The garage was built first, so the phone goes to the garage and then to the house. Off-peak electric runs on a different meter at about half the cost and they turn it off when the wholesale electicity price goes above what they charge for Off-peak power.
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"Joint trench" is installed all the time here. Sometimes they put gas in it too. For phone, cable and elect, a 2' wide trench gets elect on one side and phone and CATV on the other.
Thanks Matt. But do the phone and electical need to be 2' apart? I am sure the phone company is not going to dig anywider than they need for a direct burial phone cable. I suspect the trench will be less than 1 foot wide.
>> But do the phone and electical need to be 2' apart? <<
Not sure. That is just how they do it. As you said, they aren't going to dig a wider trench then they have to. See attached pic. One variable is in the backfill. If there is a lot of rock in it they will either cover the lines with screenings (gravel sand) or put the cables in conduit, depending on which is available. If they hit solid rock and the trench can't be ~2' deep, then they will put the power in conduit. Or, if the power cable is to go under pavement, then conduit. They don't use conduit, for the most part, except for the previous reasons. Another way to get the separation between the different dry utilities is by layering the trench. When I've seen it done, even for fiber they wanted the cables separated. They have only been doing joint trench around here for about 3 years.
Sometimes, Time Warner, the local cable company, will have them bury conduit with rope in it and then they pull their coax later. Maybe they do this so they can upgrade to fiber later? That is for mains though and it is coiled conduit. The power goes in rigid 10' coundits.
If you want more pics I have them, but most of are of main installs. The services aren't that interesting....
Edited 10/5/2008 8:05 pm ET by Matt
Matt, thanks for the pics. I see they put the electircal and phone at opposite ends of the the trench. There must be a reason. I'm thinling interference. I'l talk to the utilities tomorrown and see what they say. I'll let you know, FYI. Thanks.
I don't understand why you care. Unless it is just nice to know information.... I doubt that you are going to be getting involved with the utility service company's install, even if it is on your property.
BTW - all the conduit I've seen used for dry utility install is plastic, so it doesn't have anything to do with electrical shielding. It's either to protect the cable from damage, or to allow cable to be pulled through later.
Also BTW - they don't have that off peak service here - or at least I've never heard of it.
Matt, It's not the electric utility's service. It will be a 100 amp 220V electric run from my house to to my garage; my side of the meter. I want to use the phone co.'s trench so I don't have to dig my own. Make sense?
I've been in the phone business for 35 years and we do it all the time. We offer DSL and have had no complaints. Most of the time we will put some dirt 6-12" over the power before we put the phone drop in. My own home is done this way. Code requires that the phone line hit the structure close to the power so that a common bond can be made to the MGN.Tom
If you're having U-Verse installed, my understanding is that it's fiber, not copper. If that's the case, you won't have any interference. If copper is run, you may have interference but if the power is in conduit, that interference should be largely gone.
highfigh -- I don't know what U-Verse is, but I do know that the phone cable is copper. If putting the elctrical in conduit would prevent interference, I'd do it. Cheaper and less work for me than renting a trencher to run another trench 2 feet away form the phone company's. Is this a "should be OK, or definitely OK?
If the cabling to the house is shielded, it should be OK. I would talk with all of the utilities to find out "What if?". AT&T should guarantee a certain quality of service and if they say it can't go right next to power, so be it.
"I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."
U-verse is fiber to the "node". Forgot what the box is called. I was just talking to the phone guys about it a couple of weeks ago. They installed one next to the RTU that supplies my phone/DSL and another right across the street on the other side.Then TP to to the house.I just had a go around with the phone company last month. And after 12 days they finally got it fix.And last week they spliced in a segment of new cable. But there are still segments, including the last one to me that is still lead and paper cable.The last guy was good and even left me his personal number if I had problems the next day (it was going to rain that night).Anyway he said that the new cable would handle U-verse.But I wonder about the distance.But going the other way we have a much closer RTU, but I don't believe that they have added U-verse to that one yet.And I don't believe that they have activated any of them in the immediate area yet..
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A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
al,
First of all, the electric has to be down 24" and I doubt that the phone guys will go much more than 10-12, at least that is what they do here :( And, you really need to have the electric inspected before it is covered up, so you might as well ask the inspector or your electrician if it can go in the same trench.
Bill Koustenis
Advanced Automotive Machine
Waldorf Md
Mr Bill -- Thanks. I'll check how deep the electrical has to be buried. I thought it only needed to be 1.5 feet and that is how deep the phone Co. digs.
I would dig the extra 6 inches by hand rather than digging a whole new trench, but I still don't know if interference would be an issue.
Local amendments might be different.But for direct burial cable the NEC requires 24"Or 18" if in PVC conduit.BTW, it might not hurt to run the phone line in PVC (PE) conduit. Or put one in next to the line as you might end up with fiber someday in the future.BTW, if this is a shop and you might want to TV and/or internet then you will need to also run cables for that.You will have a terminal in the house that connects to the TP cable and then breaks out the internet and TV and phone. And you can only have on of those..
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A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.