How Deep Do You Install a PVC Conduit?

The rules vary depending on whether you are distributing power from a generating plant or running an electric line from your house to a light in your backyard. But they don't vary by much. Electrical lines in a rigid, non-metallic conduit do not need to be buried below the frost line in cold climates, but they should be at least one-foot away from gas and water lines. PVC conduits that run under streets, parking lots and railroad tracks must be buried deeper than lines in your lot. The complete rules are in the National Electrical Code.

Shovel
Steel measuring tape
Sand
Permanently printed, detectable underground marking tape

Instructions

- 1
  Dig a trench 18 inches deeper than the diameter of the PVC conduit, unless you intend to route the conduit under a road, driveway, parking lot or a location traversed by heavy vehicles. If you are running an electrical line through a PVC pipe with a four-inch diameter in your yard, dig the trench 22 inches deep. Dig your trench with a shovel.
- 2
  Dig your trench 24 inches deeper than the diameter of your PVC conduit when running the line under locations traversed by heavy vehicles. If you run your electrical line through a four-inch diameter, non-metallic pipe, you must dig a trench that is 28 inches deep. Measure the depth of your trench with steel measuring tape.
- 3
  Cover the bottom of the trench and the PVC conduit with sand before back-filling the trench. Back-fill all but the top six inches of the trench with the dirt you excavated.
- 4
  Place permanently printed, detectable underground marking tape in the top six inches of the entire length of the trench over the conduit. This tape is printed with the warning, "electric line below," and encases aluminum foil in plastic, so it can be located with a metal detector in the future.
- 5
  Complete back-filling the trench with the excavated soil after laying down the tape.

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