ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Conduit for Pole Lights

When you set pole lights with concrete pedastals, how do you lay the conduit to make this job as easy as possible??

Assume pvc pipe in and out.

I went through another major thrash today because I screwed up. I wasn't on site the day the conduit was buried.....and that was about 9 months ago. We had problems finding all the conduits today and in fact didn't find them all. I think that I know how I'm going to do it in the future, but I'm looking for tips from you pros.

GJ

GJ,
A template of the light can be made out of plywood (stack 5-6 pieces & drill 'em) to position the pvc before the pour...

Sparky,
Yea, got that part down, the templates are not a problem.

How do you handle the conduit? Shallow trench? Do you ramp each conduit to the surface at the post?

I'm tired of standing on my head in an 18" diameter hole while I try to glue on a sweep. There's gotta be a better way.

GJ

we just run the PVC to the pole with a 90 glued on before its set down in the trench so its centered on the hole for the sona tube with enough stub sticking up to be above the finished concrete also if you cant put on the 90 yet and have to bury the pipe temporarily throw in a tracing wire to be able to find it with a underground tracer like they do with sewer pipe

Hi Hurk, welcome to the board!

So if you install your sweeps and drop them in the trench, how do you auger out the holes later???? Isn't the conduit in the way?

GJ

GJ,

What I have done [maybe 1000x's ] is to get the PVC 90 and the PVC which runs to / from the next pole base at least 12" below the bottom of the base. I'll jump in the base's hole [prior to the "Sonotube" being installed, or any of the metal] and make up the pole stub[s].

After the glue is dry, I'll backfill everything to eliminate movement and leaking Concrete . If the Inspection is still pending, this gets done after Lure Inspecture gives the A-OK!.

We always set the Steel [REBAR cage], and when doing this, insert the previously mentioned Plywood template - which secures the bolt / stud pattern and the conduit stub[s]. I usually leave a good couple of feet sticking out above the top of the base, then trim it down when setting the light standards [poles] if needed.

Hope this is in the direction you are looking!

Scott S.E.T.

Scott, do you throw in a 4' piece of sono
tube? or do you only use sono tube if you're going to have a two foot base above ground? if so, do you puncture the sonotube on the side to put your pvc? Also, have you ever tried using a compass to orientate your bolts?

Scott35 said;
"is to get the PVC 90 and the PVC which runs to / from the next pole baseat least 12" below the bottom of the base. I'll jump in the base's hole [prior to the "Sonotube" being installed, or any of the metal] and make up the pole stub[s]."

OK, the bases I just did were 24"x6' deep. I don't think that will work for this situation. The bollards were 18"x3', too small to stand in, just barely able to work in by standing on my head in the hole!!

I'm really just looking for suggestions on what works for others, and I appreciate the comments so far.

What I plan to do in the future is to trench the conduit no deeper than 3' and slope the conduit to the surface at each pedastal. I'll cut and tape the pipe there and stake it so that i can find it again later.

If anyone has a better way, I'm interested.

GJ