Electricity Installation

Finally after a month of putting out extension cords, I decided I needed some permanent electricity. Realizing that I had to run the wire 150 feet to the nearest source for connection and countless roots in the ground, my only choice was to rent the trencher. It digs a 4 inch wide hole up to 2 feet deep. What a pleasure to use. I rented it at 7:00 in the morning and had returned it by 9:30. It took only 30-40 minutes to complete the trench. It was $85 for first 3 hours or $130 per/day but worth every penny.

The next step was to feed the 10 gauge wire through the 3/4" PVC pipe. This isn't difficult, but it is time consuming. I found that it was easier to layout the wire and just walk with the pipe with the wire through it to the other end. This part is much easier if you have someone holding the other end to provide some tension on the wire as you run it through the pipe. I had to use 10 gauge wire since I was running over a hundred feet of the wire. I'm glad I had asked a friend of mine for advice before I laid it. I was going to use 12 gauge and that wouldn't have been the proper size. I'm not an expert on electricity and was told that you get voltage drop after 100'. A lesson here to learn is to ask advice when you are not sure.

My next step was to glue the joints of pipe together. By far this was the easiest part of all. No stress on your part to complete this phase. The worst was yet to come, filling in the trench. No machine to do this job. Just your arms and back muscles to rake and pack down the mud.

Finally I finished the last phase. My friend David came over to do the final hookup. I just don't know enough about that part of the project to do it myself with confidence.