Homemade trencher idea

[CCW 1,292]

I have this idea of cutting a narrow trench using a piece of 2x2 angle iron or perhaps a piece of flat stock that is ½ in thick. I could do the 100 foot cut in multiple passes each being a bit deeper depending on what the earth allows. Soil is sandy with small stones.The trencher would be put into my 2” hitch receiver and attached to the suitcase weight bracket.  Take a look at the sketch below for my first iteration.

 

Purpose of the trench is to lay an electric line out the shed. Depth of trench impacts what conduit I will need to use.

 

Has anyone tried to cut a trench with this method. I’m open to ideas and suggestions.

 

 

 

[ebinmaine 67,266]

With multiple passes increasing depth it looks good.

 

Are you following code for depth?

Do have a frost line to be set below?

 

[CCW 1,292]

Here are the national electric standards for buried cable that I found. 

1. Exposed or buried wiring/cable must be listed for its application. Type UF cable is the most commonly used nonmetallic cable for residential outdoor wiring runs.
2. UF cable can be direct-buried (without conduit) with a minimum of 24 inches of earth cover.
3. Wiring buried inside rigid metal (RMC) or intermediate metal (IMC) conduit must have at least 6 inches of earth cover;
4. Wiring in PVC conduit must have at least 18 inches of cover.

Edited January 15, 2020 by CCW

[ZXT 2,401]

For PVC, you're going to need to be 18" to the top of the pipe. 24" if you're using direct burial wire. 

 

From my trenching experience, I'm not sure how well such a design is going to work. I feel like on roots and larger rocks it'll just catch on them and either break something or stop the tractor. 

[ZXT 2,401]

2 minutes ago, CCW said:

Wiring buried inside rigid metal (RMC) or intermediate metal (IMC) conduit must have at least 6 inches of earth cover

That's true if its a 50a feeder or less. Higher amperage requires deeper. What size wire are you going to be running, and what do you plan on feeding with it? I could give some pointers if you aren't familiar with electrical.

[CCW 1,292]

Looking at 12/2 wire to run a 15 or 20 amp circuit in my shed.  I have done all my own electrical on my home following code and passing inspections.  Run is about 100 feet.

 

[wallfish 16,983]

That should work for shallow stuff but may take a while for going deep. BUT if it's pretty much all sand it should do the trick. All I can say is build it extra sturdy as there's quite a bit of force acting on it. I did something similar a while back with a 1/2" flat bar anchored the side of the FEL bucket and drug it backwards. It was for direct bury low voltage wire so it only needed to be 6 inches deep and about 20-25 ft long, went through boney fill material. Try doing the trench first to see how deep it'll go then determine the pipe material.

(if you only had a little articulating hoe bucket for those small jobs, trenching would be much easier, lol)

[ZXT 2,401]

11 minutes ago, CCW said:

Looking at 12/2 wire to run a 15 or 20 amp circuit in my shed.  I have done all my own electrical on my home following code and passing inspections.  Run is about 100 feet.

 

You'd be good either way then. Sorry for getting off topic! That said, if it were me, I'd be running PVC. RMC is around $24 a stick whereas electrical PVC is $4ish a stick. I've had to put pipe in place of existing UF wire on multiple occasions, because even with the thicker outer jacket, rodents in the ground can still chew through it. With PVC, that's not an issue and you can always pull another circuit should you need it. I would pull THHN instead of Romex through the pipe. Over a 100' run, that would be a pain, and it wouldn't pass inspection.

 

If you do wind up building this, keep us updated with pictures and how it performs! It's obviously never going to be as efficient as a trencher, but for one job, it might do what you need it to.

Edited January 15, 2020 by ZXT

[oliver2-44 9,679]

You might also experiment with wetting/soaking the soil.  In my area we have a sandy granite gravel, but it has enough clay silt in in to be rock hard when dry. When soaked wet, it easily digs with a shovel.

[JoeM 7,871]

Sandy easy to dig soil, only 100', I have used one of these Razor Back 3" shovels. Less than 30$ at HD. 

[ebinmaine 67,266]

Most of your folks are pretty lucky. There are places here in Maine that utilities must be buried 48 inches or deeper to get below the frost line.

 

[CCW 1,292]

This is one of those ideas where the brain starts working and it takes a bit of time to realize by the time I built, installed, cut, adjust, cut, adjust and cut again the job would have been all done if I just dug by hand.  Oh what an awful thought.  It was fun while it lasted.  I will check the HD trenching shovel.

[stevasaurus 22,706]

I doubt that you will get deep enough with what you are making.  Bite the bullet and just go rent a small, walk behind trencher and be done with it. Use your horse to back fill the trench.  I have years of trenching experience with Ma-Bell...trust me.  

[oldlineman 1,481]

 I have also used many walk behind trenchers and in sandy soil with few small rocks 100 feet would be a breeze.

[WVHillbilly520H 10,373]

I have bought and used one of these ... Titan Hitch Mounted Ripper https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074MJBD7R/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_9nZhEb48F92JY .... On my Kioti CK20 in Sandy soil and got 18"-24" deep after 2-3 passes wish I had pics but they definitely work for the price.

[Lee1977 6,642]

Here's mine.  I built it out of scrap the arm should be twice or more longer.  It tilts forward when lifted or when backing up. I have a cord attached to pull it forward.

 

[WVHillbilly520H 10,373]

14 hours ago, CCW said:

I have this idea of cutting a narrow trench using a piece of 2x2 angle iron or perhaps a piece of flat stock that is ½ in thick. I could do the 100 foot cut in multiple passes each being a bit deeper depending on what the earth allows. Soil is sandy with small stones.The trencher would be put into my 2” hitch receiver and attached to the suitcase weight bracket.  Take a look at the sketch below for my first iteration.

 

Purpose of the trench is to lay an electric line out the shed. Depth of trench impacts what conduit I will need to use.

 

Has anyone tried to cut a trench with this method. I’m open to ideas and suggestions.

 

 

 

Yes and you could just use a "box scraper" shank... Look at my post above.

[wallfish 16,983]

6 hours ago, Lee1977 said:

Here's mine.  I built it out of scrap the arm should be twice or more longer.  It tilts forward when lifted or when backing up. I have a cord attached to pull it forward.

Does it work well?

[Skipper 1,788]

My grandpa had a chain trencher. It's a long time ago, but it seemed as a very simple construction, and worked with a small gas engine. moved at a slow steady pace and cut only a narrow but deep furrow to lay cables and what not in. Wonder how hard it would be to run that thing off the back of a horse a'la a tiller?

 

Just an idea.

 

 

[Lee1977 6,642]

1 hour ago, wallfish said:

Does it work well?

 wtter

 

It works good . I think i could get it to go deeper if the angle beam was longer. It's weighted to swing up when not  in the ground

Edited January 16, 2020 by Lee1977

[MikMacMike 479]

On 1/14/2020 at 8:11 PM, CCW said:

I have this idea of cutting a narrow trench using a piece of 2x2 angle iron or perhaps a piece of flat stock that is ½ in thick. I could do the 100 foot cut in multiple passes each being a bit deeper depending on what the earth allows. Soil is sandy with small stones.The trencher would be put into my 2” hitch receiver and attached to the suitcase weight bracket.  Take a look at the sketch below for my first iteration.

 

Purpose of the trench is to lay an electric line out the shed. Depth of trench impacts what conduit I will need to use.

 

Has anyone tried to cut a trench with this method. I’m open to ideas and suggestions.

 

 

 

If I get time tonight Ill look to see where I put my past drawings, and there was a idea I had a few years back when I was installing underground......before I explain Ill look for the drawings, it is simular to yours but with an added feature for far easier path making underground.

 

[CCW 1,292]

Sounds great

[AHS 1,439]

On 1/14/2020 at 9:36 PM, CCW said:

Looking at 12/2 wire to run a 15 or 20 amp circuit in my shed.  I have done all my own electrical on my home following code and passing inspections.  Run is about 100 feet.

 

You would use 12/3 UF for a 240v 20A circuit. @CCW 

[AHS 1,439]

On 1/14/2020 at 8:11 PM, CCW said:

I have this idea of cutting a narrow trench using a piece of 2x2 angle iron or perhaps a piece of flat stock that is ½ in thick. I could do the 100 foot cut in multiple passes each being a bit deeper depending on what the earth allows. Soil is sandy with small stones.The trencher would be put into my 2” hitch receiver and attached to the suitcase weight bracket.  Take a look at the sketch below for my first iteration.

 

Purpose of the trench is to lay an electric line out the shed. Depth of trench impacts what conduit I will need to use.

 

Has anyone tried to cut a trench with this method. I’m open to ideas and suggestions.

 

 

 

Looks good! From an axle reese hitch, ( the ones of eBay?)

[AHS 1,439]

In Maine, 2’ for UF, 18” for PVC. Code books come out every three years (2017) but they never change burying conductors! I dunno about CT, you will wanna check the NEC for that area. @CCW