Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Nothing brings folks together like running electricity

Nothing brings folks together like running water, electric, and HVAC lines in, plus raw sewage out.



Today's episode involves duct banks. Housed in PVC and encased in rebar reinforced concrete - underground duct banks make nice homes for 16000 Volt plus cables. The big fat kind that may arc flash and blow you to little bittie pieces. The kind that leave people looking for burnt embers to remember you by. So the specs on electrical duct banks are pretty tight... For more info on the safety for electricians go to OSHA's site



Anyhow, that's not really our deal - we prepare the lines. The prep work for duct banks may be done in the ditch or occasionally outside - really depends on the stretch being laid.

Helpful tools:
1) Tie wire and pliers - connect any overlapping seams, tie the pipe to the plastic seats, tie the rebar to the rebar and to the plastic seats... basically if it seems like it might wiggle free tie it down with plenty of tie wire.

2) Pipe primer and glue - here is a great video on glueing and priming PVC pipe

3) Sledge hammer and 2x4" beater block - especially with the larger lines 12"+ These lines may take a beating to get into place. Don't hit the plastic directly - it may snap - rail the back of a 2x4.

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