Utilities are in!

Utilities are in! Well, most of them anyway. We went out Saturday 1/6 and there were a couple workers installing a phone line and closing up the ditch. Lots of rain in the forecast, so they wanted to make sure they closed up the ditch before it closed itself I guess.

We've got gas, water, electrical conduit, and phone line in the same ditch. Now, I understand that this is not exactly kosher, but we were permitted to run it this way. I think the big concern is keeping the electric line away from the gas line so they were installed on opposite sides of the ditch.

3/4" Natural Gas Line

I was surprised to see the gas line being entirely plastic. I've installed Home-flex stainless steel corrugated gas line with a PVC outer coating 24" under grade before. I had to run it through Carlon electrical conduit for added protection against damage.  I guess that's overkill in Tennessee? This is just a plastic hose 3 feet under ground. I guess this is how it's done here. Many people were surprised to hear that we have natural gas service. I feel so lucky! I looking forward to a clean burning maintenance-free fire place and gas stove cook tops. Might even add a gas outdoor fire pit on the back patio in the future.

Yellow - Gas Line
Large Grey - Electrical Conduit
Small Grey (actually white) - Water Line
Black - Phone Line
Red - Just some warning tape

They ran a phone line just in case we ever want AT&T Internet at our home; though Spectrum broadband cable is very good. Speaking of... While the ditch was open, it would have been the perfect time for Spectrum to come out and drop in a broadband cable line, but their installation service department is a about as responsive as a drunk turtle. We missed the opportunity, and the ditch was filled. They said the line only needs to be about 6" under grade since it is only communications rather than hi-voltage so there is no safety risk. They'll have to come out, hand dig and install it at a later date. No biggie.

I verified with the electric company's superintendent that the water pressure should be more than adequate because they just ran a brand new 6" water main down the road with 150 PSI pressure. We'll take about 30 PSI of pressure drop just climbing the hill to our house, and another 20 to 30 PSI of loss due to friction losses in 1200 feet or so of water line, but we'll still have plenty at the house; something I was very concerned about because our current apartment pressure is less than a gnat's sneeze.

I managed to sneak a photo of the contractors when they weren't looking. I think in this picture they had ran all the line and were just back-filling the trench.

So, a lot of this may not seem terribly exciting for anyone except myself, but this kind of detail helps me document and capture the whole process so if I should ever... I don't know... decide to get my contractor's license and build custom homes for people one day, I'll have a picture-perfect understanding of how it gets done.

Toodles!
Mike and Liz