Here's a video clip showing the installation of some PVC by landscape contractors. This is electrical work and should be done by licensed electricians! Underground installation in a park

Is this low voltage for sprinklers or line voltage?

Common trade practice regarding conduit has been that 'laborers' are allowed to install it. Duct banks for data/comm around here, are all 'laborer' installs. As far as I am aware, our POCO uses 'laborers' also. Keep in mind that these 'laborers' are union.

The cable/wire is 'sparkies' or CWA guys.

An old tale around here is 'once upon a time, the electricians were 'to busy' to want the UG pipe work'. Lately, the 'story' ahs changed, due to guys being 'not busy'; but it's too late.

Landscape guys do all of the sprinkler work here. Generally, as long as it is the typical 24vac, the AHJ does not get too concerned. They just want to be sure the controller plugs into a compliant 120v GFCI receptacle (in use cover etc)
The sprinkler valve wires usually get run with the pipe.

Greg:
Ditto on the lawn irrigation up here.

From the video, it sure don't look like it's an irrigation job!

The rules in 300.5 for a warning ribbon above the conduit applies to service conductors only, not encased by concrete.

So Joe must have known that this was going to be used for a service, and not for any other use, such as a feeder, communications,etc.

I suspect he "knows" what he could see through the fence.

I was unable to determine what type of system it was and will go back this week and check. It probably was not a service lateral. I called out the rule in my clip because I was more concerned with the lack of "qualified persons" who were not licensed here doing the work! I was not even sure as to the voltage, goes to show you, that when you are an old man that you have to be careful.

FPL uses "contractors" (2 guys and a mini Kabota) to put in underground service laterals. The real electricians come in later to make the connections.
Your pictures look pretty normal to me.
Back in the happy days when things were busy most ECs also contracted out the digging. These days they do the work themselves, much to the dismay of guys who hate digging.

SoCa Edison has "contractors" installing the ducts around here too. It doesn't matter if they're electricians or not. The same goes for transformer pads, hand holes, etc.

A SCE inspector will inspect the open trench, slurry when required, mandrel test the ducts, and give the approval for backfill.

The first time SCE has any "electricians" on the job is when they set transformers and pull the conductors into the ducts.

Laborers doing this work will take short cuts and use duct tape to join or repair PVV. Stay tuned I have pictures to prove this I took last week!

If its POCO work, they fall under a different set of rules. My guess is that the work in the video is steet lighting. What ever is going on, where is the AHJ and inspectors at? It doesn't matter if its union/non union laborers doing it, what does the local rules say?

This is nothing new here in RI the excavation companies are allowed to run the the conduit but State law says you must have a licensed electrician to run the wire and do the terminmations.

All 'utility' work here is exempt from local permit & inspection. The utility companies use whichever contractors they choose, and the utility is responsible for the install/inspections.

As I said above, the wire/cable is installed by electricians, or communications techs. POCO is also allowed to install site lighting on private property, but it requires 'local' permit & inspections.

As to the union/non-union thing, that is the choice of the utility that is installing the duct/conduit. Majority around here are unionized.

Once the duct/conduit reaches the structure, it is the domain of electricians/comm contractors, requires permits and inspections.

When I was around it the service lateral was supposed to be installed and owned by the customer but they could contract FPL to put it in as an additional charge and FPL subbed that out. Most production builders had FPL do it. This is what ended up being the "two guys and a mini Kabota". They dropped a 2" RNC in the ground and pulled a triplex through it although not exactly in that order if you get my drift.
I watched a number of them and the usual sequence was they put in about 40' of RNC with the sweep up into the transformer, pushed the wire in that from the trench side, assembled the other 30-40' with the sweep up into the meter base, pushed the wire into that and mated them in the trench. That usually resulted in 10 or 20 feet of wasted triplex that went into the dumpster because the "contractor" wasn't buying the wire. One guy would dig while the other guy assembled the RNC and strung out the wire. The warning ribbon was there but not at exactly at 12". One guy fed the ribbon in the hole while the other guy was knocking the backfill in with the side of the bucket.
Hit it once, drop the ribbon, hit it again, as they went.

They were fast tho

I walked over to that job today and saw that those PVC's were installed to supply light poles in the walkway at Boston Commons, so I was not correct stating that the ribbon was required. I will find the images I took nearby by the street contractors where they used duct tape to fix a damaged underground PVC.

Joe:

No problem, we are all human! You may find that they pull triplex, or quadplex in the PVC for streetlights! That is 'common' here.

Wonder if they used 'Electricians Duct Tape'? We had that in the stores around here for a while!!

Joe,

I will second what John said. Around here the EC's Including myself) did not like the "digging" part of the job. However as someone said, the landscape guys are doing all the digging around here. They also do a lot of installing of low voltage lighting around the pools. Where the LV light is right next to the edge of the pool.

OK, got it, but will you or anyone else allow duct tape to be used to join or repair PVC? This is my real problem with the lack of truly qualified persons who will do this work. I'll bet that this, and many other jobs around the country are not even inspected. Also, using a torch to bend this wiring method is not acceptable!

Joe,

Obviously we wouldn't allow duct tape to repair PVC, but sometimes we never even get called out for an inspection and there are no permits for the job. John said that if the POCO installed lights on private property, then we get to do an inspection. I have been and AHJ now ggoing on 13 years and I don't think that I EVER did an inspection for the POCO company anywhere.

The closet I came to was years ago when the CATV people was adding transformers around the area to boast their CATV signal. For awhile I was inspecting them until the state told me to stop. It falls under Utility work, and out of my jurisdiction.

Joe:

No, duct tape is not allowed for PVC repairs. There are a few listed items that are allowed, or the pipe is replaced.

With regard to the POCO installing site lighting, they must get permits, and required inspections, on private property. (Not street lighting) There is a NJ Lic Electrical Contractor that must obtain the permit for the POCO lighting, and it also requires all other approvals. BTW, there were three (3) jobs of this type in ten (10) years.

Duct banks that are NOT utility projects require permits & inspections. A current data center project had four (4) duct banks of 48-4" PVC installed by a large construction contractor (laborers & OEs). When they penetrated the building, it is no longer 'utility' and required permits & inspections. (Permit by NJ Lic EC)

As Harold said, there's 'landscape' lighting that is installed without permits & inspections, but we can't catch them all.

Field bends by 'torch' also don't fly, but again...is the job permitted & inspected???

The only place I ever see the PoCo installing lighting on private property is when it is in an easement where they already have poles.



Huh? Everyone knows you stick it in the tailpipe if your truck.

How about a heat gun?

Pocos in the EUSERC area HATE field made bends -- which means that you're in the hurt locker if your secondaries have to travel through any turn other than: 90, 45, 22.

As for Primaries -- they want seriously huge sweeps in 4" or 5" PVC with concrete encasement.

You Eastern guys don't know how good you've got it. At least you get to dig in soil. Out my way the 'soil' busts out teeth on full sized excavators!

This means that constructing sub-structures takes ten times as long as the Midwest, sometimes even more.

Vibratory plows, my eye!

Tesla, I live in north Jersey and we live on the tops of mountains, so in some of the towns I inspect, you have a hard time trying to get down 2 feet much less than drive an eight foot ground rod. The EC's will often lay pipe directly on ledge rock and covered with concrete.

Harold, Can you get a Ufer up there? That solves the problem here when we hit coral rock a foot under the sand. It is actually the defacto standard here now but they used to use a lot of rods.

Greg...

It's Ufers all the way down, here abouts.

Ground rods absolutely do NOT cut it.

( Temp power, excepted )

I think rods have a use but not as the primary grounding electrode.
You certainly want a real one under your satellite dish (not that copper nail the satco guy uses). You just want them as supplementary electrodes in a bigger system.
I think my house is grounded like a radio station these days.

Greg,

When we can't get the ground rods down 8', we might have to lay the rods in the ground in a trench. Most times when the GC runs a service into the house, he has to have ig equipment and he will run a trench for plumbing or electric or telco, so the EC will throw is ground rod in the trench with the rest of the stuff.

Tesla,


Yeah all grounds around here are 8' straight down in the earth. No one around here would EVER cut a ground rod. Right?

In RI laborers can install the PVC as long as a Journeymen electician supervises. But, He cannot pull the wires or install the wires.