Putting electric fence cable under a road.

[Henarar]

We dug a trench in our field next to the road nice and deep with a 16ton digger, dropped a fairly thick walled 2 inch pipe with a cap welded on the end in the trench and the digger pushed the pipe under the road.

Obviously this isn’t legal but no one ever knew any different and it did no damage to the road, the man driving the digger had done it many times, he just got one of us to watch the tarmac in case there was movement.

From memory he had dug a fairly large hole on the opposite side so we knew when to stop

done that, worked a treat

 

[Andrew]

We dug a trench in our field next to the road nice and deep with a 16ton digger, dropped a fairly thick walled 2 inch pipe with a cap welded on the end in the trench and the digger pushed the pipe under the road.

Obviously this isn’t legal but no one ever knew any different and it did no damage to the road, the man driving the digger had done it many times, he just got one of us to watch the tarmac in case there was movement.

From memory he had dug a fairly large hole on the opposite side so we knew when to stop

Seen that exact method carried out near here before. A scaffold tube was used with a point made on the end.

 

[organicguy]

Seen that exact method carried out near here before. A scaffold tube was used with a point made on the end.

I've pushed a scaffold pipe and a 2in pipe under a 10ft concrete track with the JCB boom. Just make the cap on the end bigger than the pipe so you have no resistance from the pipe , just the cap. We dug a trench the length of the track, set the pipe up level on blocks and just pushed it through with the boom. Pushed surprisingly easy.

 

[Av Gorritt]

We put a 40 mm water pipe under a local road some time back . Fortunately the field on one side fell away nicely so there was no need to dig a long trench to take the pipe . We did it with a length of scaffold tube . I turned a bullet as a close fit in the tube and a bit bigger for the point . we pushed it as far as it would go with the telehandler , and then with a sledge hammer the rest of the way . It was pretty heavy going as the road substrate was broken rock . We dug a biggish hole at the receiving end , and when the tube appeared we simply sawed it off and fed the blue pipe through it . . It's still Ok as yet and has given no trouble . We were very fortunate with the job however as there was a cast iron gas main ran along the edge of the road , that was live and supplied a nearby property . It was only when the "bullet " came out and we went down the hole to trim off the end , that we saw it . The bullet had just rubbed under the pipe . I shudder to think what would have happened if the bullet had hit the pipe on it's diameter , with a shock load of the sledge hammer driving it . . "Take Care !"

 

[Matt L]

That’s the exact reason why as a company we have so many hoops to jump through to work underground. I know there was no damage but a utility search only takes minuets Even worse if you don’t know the services crossing your own farm!
Not having a go at you but be careful guys. Two blokes killed when they drained through a gas main in America not that long ago!

 

[Pheasant Surprise]

That’s the exact reason why as a company we have so many hoops to jump through to work underground. I know there was no damage but a utility search only takes minuets Even worse if you don’t know the services crossing your own farm!
Not having a go at you but be careful guys. Two blokes killed when they drained through a gas main in America not that long ago!

Saw that video in wreckers, very nasty indeed. Thankfully there’s no underground gas mains at ours, but several 180mm MDPE water mains criss cross us but all mapped out, but still careful with the digger having seen how much water flies out of puny 25mm bit of alkathene at 10 to 12 bar!

What I find slightly frustrating is that you still need to check around several places like LSBUD as for example Anglia Water (digdat) and UKPN assets are on seperate databases.

 

[tinsheet]

We dug a trench in our field next to the road nice and deep with a 16ton digger, dropped a fairly thick walled 2 inch pipe with a cap welded on the end in the trench and the digger pushed the pipe under the road.

Obviously this isn’t legal but no one ever knew any different and it did no damage to the road, the man driving the digger had done it many times, he just got one of us to watch the tarmac in case there was movement.

From memory he had dug a fairly large hole on the opposite side so we knew when to stop

You sound like my neighbour up the road! That's what he did, once the pipe was through cut the the end off jobs a goodun!

 

[Matt L]

Saw that video in wreckers, very nasty indeed. Thankfully there’s no underground gas mains at ours, but several 180mm MDPE water mains criss cross us but all mapped out, but still careful with the digger having seen how much water flies out of puny 25mm bit of alkathene at 10 to 12 bar!

What I find slightly frustrating is that you still need to check around several places like LSBUD as for example Anglia Water (digdat) and UKPN assets are on seperate databases.

Yeah it’s a pain. All wants to be on one database and free to use. At least gas and electric are free and sometimes water depending on supplier but at the end of the day digging underground is one of the most hazardous jobs to do.

 

[James Smallwood]

Easy to do with a percussive mole. Make it deeper than 1200 below the road surface and there is no need to deal with councils. Especially if you can go from field to field and leave the verges untouched.
We can do it if needed.

Matt , I have something similar , I’m putting solar panels on my paddock to run the power into my jnto my house which is across the road from my paddock. How do I get in contact with you?

 

[Lazy Sod]

I think that if I was pushing a pipe under a road, I would prefer feed an armoured mains cable across rather than the output wire from a mains fencer. Mains power to the block of land could be of far more use than just running a fencer.

 

[Matt L]

Matt , I have something similar , I’m putting solar panels on my paddock to run the power into my jnto my house which is across the road from my paddock. How do I get in contact with you?

Afraid I am no longer in that job. Best people to ask are utilities teams installing fibre broadband ducting.