Thank you Pete - lots of people reading their "books" lamenting the power drop - you did it and MEASURED it. No problem. Once again we see the value of experience. They told me the same thing when I picked up the wire, my neighbor told me the same thing when he saw me laying it and my friend the electrician told me the same thing when I asked him. I did it and measured it - can't really even see the difference on several readings both under load and not. 230 feet of 6 gauge/3 wire with ground for 50 amp RV connection.
Being on a big tractor like that it just took off cutting through their like butter on that first pass! I wasn't expecting it to go that smoothly. Usually it's a much smaller tractor that I see them used on and they still do fine, but it is much slower and jerks and flexes and all that good stuff. This tractor clearly gave no fornications!
Nice home brew setup. When I first saw your implement I thought he is going to rip that sweep right off... and then that was the first thing you fixed. Nice job.
Keyboard warriors drive me crazy. The project worked. The line is buried. What's the problem? Are you gonna go out and there and dig the line up? No. Is it yours to worry about? No. Something needs to be said to you guys pointing out what YOU deem as a flaw in someone's work: the content of the video is already done. We are all seeing these videos AFTER the work is performed. So shut up, and learn a new idea or keep scrolling to a channel that corresponds to your MIT education....that is all. Carry on.
Hang the spool of wire above this rig. Or You can also connect a piece of chain with a steel ball larger then the conduit that you're burying. That will open a hole thru the ground so you can pull in your length of conduit that is glued together. Sprinkler companies use it that way.
Wow, like a hot knife through butter. pretty cool. I might of considered relocating that other electrical run you found into that same trench along the house since it only appears to be a few inches below the soil. nice job. I'll be checking into that silicon tape you mentioned.
That worked great! Good job! I used mine for a couple of 4" corrugated drain jobs. Couple of passes then bolted on a 12" sweep to clean out. Sure beats hand digging! Throw your spool of wire on your ROPS then you wont have to pay the laborer!!
I won’t normally watch a 22 minute video but I watched this one all the way to the end. I think I’m going to run electricity to my barn with my subsoiler.
Pete B. Must be nice to live someplace where you can get away with running power lines only 1-2 feet under the surface, around here the code calls for a minimum of four. Also to have a wife that is willing to do all the work of feeding the cables while you just relax on the tractor and drive? C'mon, I understand that it was hot while you were doing this, but did you ever consider letting her just putz along on the tractor while you did the actual work?
I like your idea. But coming from 35 years of commercial/industrial electrician I would definitely use at the least a PVC conduit and maintain a minimum of 18 to 24 inches depth.
When moles, voles, and roots destroy the cable in an unknown amount of time, true. I need to quit worrying about code so I can make money like all the septic, irrigation, moonlighters, and subpar contractors who throw code out the window! Did you see that septic wiring 'bend'? But, I make $$$ fixing all those fools shoddy installs. Edit...good video and you got it done!
@@heynow7363 i deal with direct buried powerlines all the time for work. I see #2 copper UG 240V services with BARE neutrals direct buried from the 1950s still working. It'll work.
Never watched a full video but this one I did. Very good on your work, reminds of me. I sweat a lot in south Texas 100s degree F. I don't wear a shirt bare skin is better! Thanks 😊
I was thinking same thing, very well thought out, one thing I'm going to do is add 2" wide stock 1/4" thick x 2' long, run those two pieces up from each side to hold 1000' spools of underground dog cable, have 3 of them to install all connected together. Gives Charlie a pretty big area to rome in. Not sure if I should do this application or just rent a cable trencher/burier gas powered unit, I don't think my tractor can fit in all the areas the cable has to be buried.
Good job. Piece of cake after the trees. Maybe suggest doing a short follow-up video how it turned out and the true voltage at the well house reading. We have friends with a well that's 600+' from their house. No well house, just an access hole. The power and water line run parallel all the way back to the house. The rest of the equipment is inside the house. Very trouble free the 25+ years they have lived there. Lucky
Bob Jeselnik Thank you, I might do a follow-up on the voltage. I've used three different voltage calculators on line and they all show a three volt drop using 6 awg wire at 475 ft. But we'll see.
Bob Jeselnik NEC code allows a 5% drop before you need to increase wire size. There are calculators online that can figure the voltage drop. On 120 volts 5% figures out as 6 volts prior to next size wire needed. Again there are calculators to help you figure out what wire size you need to be within these specs.
Tex Teacher He's not cutting corners. That grey cable he's suing is UF cable...Underground Feeder. It's designed and intended for direct burial. Besides being harder to strip than regular old "romex" it's also a lot more expensive. He did it right.
I always enjoy your videos, great info as always. I've been debating doing something like this for pulling 1.5" or 2" HDPE water line, but after seeing this in action I'm not sure if it would be too big to fit behind the subsoiler and end up putting too much strain on the pipe. I need to eventually put some stock tanks out for cattle and would be doing 1,500'+ runs.
I think you can do this with 1.5" HDPE water line. What you need to do is also put a angle iron on the front side where it's cutting the ground sharp edge out towards the tractor and you could weld the angle iron to the tabs. Use angle iron big enough to protect what ever size tube you'll be using to feed the water line in to the ground.
Use a middle buster plow instead of a subsoiler which will open up a wider area and you should be fine even with a bigger water line. I have used a middle buster to make a trench for 4” drain lines.
I also hung a large empty spool on the ROPS and just let the tubing trail behind in the grass for the 1000' ft rolls once you have enough in the ground it acts like a nice radius to prevent cinking ...
Maybe it's a difference in soil/sod but the issue I always have with my subsoiler is it accumulates sod on the leading edge of the vertical shank, which makes more of a mess than anything...rips up in huge chunks... Seems like I need to put an edge on that face
Just did this with the back blade on my tractor. It sucked. This would have been better.. . I went deep enough to tip the tractor on its side! Not bad as it was in the hole... drove it out .... I did run a string and orange ground paint because I wanted to be sure I used as little wire as possible...
How many HP is your tractor? I wonder if a compact tractor would have enough power to pull the subsoiler. Also, I'm curious why no plastic conduit was used.
My tractor is 55hp and it around 7000lbs. And it didn't even phase the tractor. A compact might be too light and just spin it's tires but I'm not sure. The wire I buried is a direct burial wire and doesn't need PVC conduit which makes it much easier and way less work than digging a trench and fishing the wire through the conduit.
@@petebeasttexashomesteading If you glued your all the conduit together with the wire already inside the conduit and glued it to the piece that is attached to the ripper and pull it through the ditch as your going. Why would it not work?
@@w0lf1969 Yes that would work too. But the wire I pulled is rated for direct burial and it's much less work and cost less doing it like I did in the video.
If you have a 3 hp well pump you are drawing less than 20 amps at 120 volts. Half that many amps at 220 volts. I think your 6 gauge wire will be fine. Don't know why everyone thinks well pumps draw so much.
Yeah I know, I did a lot of research online and talked to some electricians where I bought the wire from and they said I would only lose a couple of volts at 475 feet and that's exactly what happened and it's been working great.
Oh I see now. It has its own separate feed from the pole by the well. Sorry. But I do have to agree with some of the people. I think your wire is too small. It may be fine but I wouldn't have chanced it. Non electricians doing electrical work!!
Create a control circuit that monitors the water pressure and starts the generator when the switch wants to start the pump and turns it off when the switch opens/60 psi is reached.
I like it! But, for runs under 100 feet, this method is too complicated. I've just attached the direct-bury electrical wire directly to the back of the subsoiler, and pulled it through. Works like a champ.
Nice setup Keep in mind if you want plugs and lights always run 6-3 with ground instead of 6-2 Always keep your ground and neutral separate when coming off the main panel.
I built one very similar, I put an edge on a piece of steel and welded it to the opposite side of the conduit. The blade cuts the sod and keeps it from bunching up and makes a cleaner cut. After I run the wire I just drive over the line I cut and I'm done.
Good info. I need to do something similar to run about 1000' of 1-inch poly pipe for water. Because the poly is about 1.33-inch OD, I'll need a bigger Bowden tube (for lack of a better term) like possibly 2-inch to feed it and therefore that tube will be working to widen the trench as I go. I'll definitely need to increase my welding prowess to be sure it holds together. Hopefully my HF 125 flux core welder is up to the task. Thanks for the vid.
I would've been inclined to use that to lay a poly pipe as a conduit, and then pulled the wire through the conduit, but I guess when you can lay the wire that easily, if it ever breaks, you can just run a new one easily too.
Another idea i have seen on engineer775 is to ad a handpump to your well that you can use to get the pressure up to however high you want it. That way you have water at your house, even if you are for wathever reason, are not able to use a generator or other power source. (think of emp, solar flare, mechanical problem with your generator, or out of fuel)
I've looked in to those hand pumps, but I don't think I have enough room in my casing to have both hand pump and the regular line together. Plus my well house is too far from the house and I would have to drill another well closer to the house for it to be more convenient to use.....But I'll keep looking thanks.
4 foot ?? 1200 mm deep for power?? Dunno what state your in but in queensland ..power in orange conduit 600 mm ( 2 ft) deep ...no shallower and cable danger tape in trench to a depth of 300mm not shallower ..but thats domestic....smarter if you back fill with sand ..just to brind attention to when your excavating later on down the track
A cycle stop valve will prevent the pump from cycling on and off when the water is running continuously, by keeping the pressure a bit lower than the pump cut off pressure. Reducing the number of on/off cycles saves wear on the pump, not the pressure tank.
I used this same method to bury a power and ethernet cable to a friends garage from his house. I have a 25 horse tractor so making an initial pass to break up roots and move underground rocks helped big time. You can also buy a 24" subsoiler in cat 1 from Frontier (JD dealership can get them). We used a piece of metal conduit run across the ROPS bar to hold our spools and once the cables grabed after a few feet the whole setup will auto feed as you move along.
Same here, about 2005 I made the same rig and laid down 3/4 in black poly drip irregation hanging the spool off my rops. wth a JD 4400 compact Hydro all still working today !
You could have clamped a pipe across the ROPS Bars and put a wire reel on the pipe (prior to clamping it), that way it would unwind itself and feed down into the conduit. I have a similar task to run a dual 6 awg w/neutral 6 awg about 280' but I have lots of rocks, roots etc. I might have to use a trencher first then run the wire.
I don’t have a tractor yet but I have a skid steer. So I built a universal plate attachment with a Reese hitch so I can move trailers, use a land scrape rake, I’ll try to utilize that to attach a sub-soiler tooth. I saw several that drag backwards. I want to drive forward because I can’t see very well behind the skid steer.
Man, you posted this video 5 years but I'm hopeful you still get messages still today. I'm putting my daughters house about 250 feet from well house. How is your water pressure over that distance from pressure tank to house? I want to keep both pressure tanks in same pump house for maintenance reasons but don't want to sacrifice pressure. Thanks
@@petebeasttexashomesteading Fantastic, I was hoping you would say that. First time I've set up a two house system off one well pump. I've worked on a 27 home water system but that was massive and too Many years ago. Biggest problem now is finding an inexpensive certified perk tester in my area. Thanks for the help.
@@richarsbritt4987 I would put a 119 gallon pressure tank in your well house so your pump is not constantly cycling on and off because two houses are now drawing from one pump.
@@petebeasttexashomesteading Oh I got ya beat hands down on that 😅, I'm installing an 1,100 gallon holding tank with a 300 gallon float switch. This will keep tank between 1,100 down to 800. Each house will have their own smaller submersible pump and tank giving each house their own pressure. Now in the event the well pump goes out and each house keeps using, there will be an emergency power cut off switch that kicks in at 300 gallons shutting off both houses. Not sure why I'm looking forward to this project but I am a LITTLE concerned with how excited I am 😆. I plan on posting pictures of everything when done.
You should have made a metal sweep and had a spool holder built on to that attachment or you could feed electrical wire through the suites as you plow lay The wire it would unroll from the spool
I can tell you that a 'friend' told me if you are full speed on a FM road in a 53 hp tractor and accidentally drop the middle buster it will twist while finding the road bed...quickly...in about 2 feet distance from engagement!
