That's a good point - the 24 gauge we use is part of the fiber insulation that has fiberglass strength members. I don't think you would want to place insulated 24 gauge straight in the hole because it is weak.
>The question is how to ensure that section is locateable. Yep ground rod it is. This is what we do every 100-1500 feet in our handholes for fiber (which is conducted via armor, no idea what that would be in terms of gauge). >thhn direct bury tracer wire fail, or at least not be locatable past a certain Fail as in it broke? Bigger cable would break less, but at what point do you stop? The 14 gauge sounds like a good option if that's what UDOT wants and it's durable - it's just expensive. If it's cheaper than a repair then it absolutely makes sense. How often are you digging up 3 foot water lines? On Mon, Jan 9, 2023 at 12:05 PM Chuck McCown via AF <af@af.afmug.com> wrote: > 14 gauge is rugged and will last. I think the gas company out here uses > 14 gauge. 20 gauge on up is not terribly strong. UDOT recently changed > their spec for the tracer molded into MD7 microduct from 20 gauge to 14 > gauge. > > *From:* Josh Luthman > *Sent:* Monday, January 9, 2023 9:37 AM > *To:* AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group > *Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] Direct bury tracer wire reccomendations/experience. > > Don't you have some random copper laying around? Our fiber tracer wire is > 24 awg. Just place the conductive wire in the same hole as the water/sewer > lines. The color is kind of pointless but I guess you could spend the > money and follow the rules *shrug*. > > If the wire ends the locate ends. Why not just extend the wire with the > new pipe? > > 14 gauge seems like way too big if you ask me, that's a lot of money down > that new sewer line. > > On Mon, Jan 9, 2023 at 11:31 AM Forrest Christian (List Account) < > li...@packetflux.com> wrote: > >> I'm working on doing specs for a project (home) which will require >> burying new water and sewer lines on the property. >> >> I'm tired of not being able to locate these after they're buried so I >> plan on having the contractor bury some tracer wire along with the plumbing. >> >> I've learned that the best option for things like this is to either spec >> or provide exactly what I want buried. Otherwise you'll end up with some >> inexperienced contractor which installs something which won't work. >> >> Apparently the choices for tracer wire are far more varied than I had >> expected. Insulation, metal type, gauge, color, and so on. >> >> It looks like 14AWG copper HMWPE might be what I'm looking for. But >> there are other options as well. Does any of this work better or is less >> (or more) likely to be damaged in a way which makes it untraceable? I'm >> assuming green and blue will be needed for sewer and water. >> >> I don't think the following will apply, but there is also the possibility >> that at least one of the lines won't terminate at one end anywhere that we >> can poke the wire up above the ground (tapping into existing line) I'm >> assuming that one can resolve this by laying a ground rod in the trench and >> terminating to that. >> >> Any other things I should watch for here? >> -- >> AF mailing list >> AF@af.afmug.com >> http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com >> > ------------------------------ > -- > AF mailing list > AF@af.afmug.com > http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com > > -- > AF mailing list > AF@af.afmug.com > http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com >
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