Trench / Cable-runs, Advice?

[equant]

I was able to find a few posts regarding cable runs, but I'm still curious if I could get some people to share how they run cable in the ground from a collection of (not roof-top mounted) dishes to their house?

Did you use conduit? What kind? What diameter? Did you use any turnouts, or how do you manage water and pests? Junction boxes? Sand in trench? Etc.

I'm not looking for the best way to do things, I'm looking for the most practical. Anything you would do different? Things to do, things not to do, etc.

I'm about to run cable for three dishes plus future dishes about 100 feet, and I don't want to have to do it again. One concern that I have is that the distance isn't very flat, nor straight, so conduit might be tricky.

Photos of course would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Edit: PS - Can I use the metal pole a satellite is mounted on as ground? Should I ground near the satellite or near the house or both?

 

[Gray1]

I knew a guy that had a difficult run so he used flooded RG6 ran in a garden hose. When covered by dirt the garden hose was crushed so I doubt you could fish another run through it. But it was flexible and gave the RG6 a bit of added protection in rocks. As we all know, you cant have too much protection.

 

[Gary Z]

I have used 1/2 inch PVC water pipe... If running more then one cable use 3/4 or 1 inch. On another dish I have 100 ft RG-6/U Quad Shield I bought at Walmart for $30.00 buried directly in the ground for 3 years now with no problems.

 

[Master_G]

Just last fall I dug a 6" trench and put the cable in as it was, and have had no problems so far. (about 75' of cable underground)
As for the "pets" the dog would dig where it knew the soil was up turned but then the ground froze. I'm hopeing that in the spring she will forget about it.

 

[bobsav2001]

I did the same thing 4 RG6 100 FT long in the ground 5 inches deep no conduit.Now after 5 years still working.Hot summer and cold winter without problems.

 

[guapoharry]

Those mountains in your sig look familiar to me. Is there a ski lift on top?

In places that stay wet, people use flooded cable to resist water from entering. There is non-conductive goo / liquid inside. To get inside the cable, water would have to displace the built in goo.

As others have said, you can bury the cable directly and have no problems. This is true especially if the climate is dry. If you have the time, the budget and the desire to do this to high standards, you could install conduit.

If you do bury the cable, I would avoid having exposed rocks in the trench and fill.

You should definitely have grounds where the cables enter the house. As for grounding a dish that is far away, maybe someone else should explain.

 

[14karat]

As far as grounding, code says to drive ground rods at the dish and bond that to your house ground (at the meter) with at least a #6 copper run. There is a good reason for that and it's called voltage differential.
But a lot of dishes are ran without it - it's a big involved discussion and you can determine for yourself via looking up the electricians boards online...
I would suggest bigger conduit than you think you need - because mine is already full and I never thought I'd use it up. If I was going to do it over, that's the one thing I would change.
I initially ran 1-1/2", but now wish I'd ran 2-1/2 or even 3"...

 

[equant]

Those mountains in your sig look familiar to me. Is there a ski lift on top?

There is one ski lift on top. Not a lot of skiing.

 

[eurosport]

I did the same thing 4 RG6 100 FT long in the ground 5 inches deep no conduit.Now after 5 years still working.Hot summer and cold winter without problems.

Same here...All my RG6 cables are direct buried, about 6-8" deep and no problems. The original cable to the 10 footer was there for about 15 years, with no problems whatsoever!

 

[Radioguy41]

All my installations are run through 2 1/2inch CPVC.

 

[equant]

So what do people do for turnouts? Where the pipe enters and exits the trench? An couple elbows so the opening is pointed at the ground to keep rain water out?

 

[Anole]

I'm about to face the same question, for possibly two BUDs, and more.

One thing I've read here is people complaining about bugs or varmits in their conduit.
A friend suggested a big wad of cauking compound or silicon rubber at each end.
Sounded pretty sensible to me.

Don't really see a way to fill the conduit with dry nitrogen.
Probably overkill, huh?

My thinking was to run a few spare RG6's and a CAT5 through the conduit, then assemble it.
Maybe leave in a pull-wire or string, too.
Need to check the price of 1½" or 2" PVC, and determine if that's large enough.
The more I type, the more I think: 3 inch!?

One of the dishes I took out has two 45° angles to make a more sweeping 90° bend.
And at the ends, the conduit turns down for rain protection.

I was going to start out with the PVC above ground and get everything set up and operational.
That might easily take weeks, but it's dry here.
Then, I thought maybe digging a 6" deep trench would be good enough for the final burial.

Maybe figure out some way to mark the trail, so I can find it later.
What about burying some large metal chunks?
You could use a metal finder to locate them if the coax wasn't good enough target.
Anyone ever try to trace a coax with a metal locator?

Hope to read some good ideas in this thread.
Oh, and let's talk about drip loops, and boxes on each end of the run!

 

[14karat]

I use regular weatherheads on the ends. I've seen the double 90's used, just went with the heads... You'll get a natural drip-loop.
You'll probably want to put a wxproof box at the dish for stuff too.
As far as water, varmits, etc... only thing I've had get in my stuff are the little spiders that crawl in all the little crevices and like to build webs everywhere...
Some water did get in before I completed it... I just duct-taped a shopvac nozzle to it and hooked it to the exhast side... blew water about 25ft in the air until it was dry.

 

[equant]

You'll probably want to put a wxproof box at the dish for stuff too.

Any suggestions for what to use or where to get them?

 

[14karat]

Same place you get the conduit. I have PVC boxes with screw-on covers - just for stuff like switches and groundblock connections... like a 10x10 or so...

 

[Radioguy41]

So what do people do for turnouts? Where the pipe enters and exits the trench? An couple elbows so the opening is pointed at the ground to keep rain water out?

If it wasn't snowing outside I'd go take a pic. What I do is use a 90 degree (see pic 1) elbow to come up out of the ground, use whatever length straight piece I need to achieve the correct height up the pole, put a junction box (see pic 2) on top and another 90 degree elbow coming out of the junction box pointing down. That keep rain from entering the conduit.

Larry

 

[Cadsulfide]

Sweeps are the correct thing for the transition comming out of the ground. LB's are ok, but thats a pretty sharp 90. I use large plastic boxes at each end, give some slack, yes pull more that you need. Duct-seal is what electricians use for open pipe exposed to the weather, a kind of waxy clay that stays soft over time.

 

[bevshadow]

If you want you could use the blue end caps on the water line 1 1/2 to 2" (usually comes with full rolls) drill 3 holes for cables in caps and silicone up, avoid kinks or sharp 90 degree turns in the line (easier to pull cables threw straighter the run), run a 1/4 rope threw entire run before burring (easier to pull cables threw after, also tie a large nut to end of rope helps get it threw) the sand is more for protection from sharp rocks and if you dig any holes later on you should find the sand before cutting off you cables, have done many underground installs for local cable/phone/power company. If you plan on putting up a fence in the future i would go below how deep you plan to dig your post holes or use the sand for a visual when you do. I would ground the dish at the dish, electricity/lightning usually takes shortest run to ground(use a grounding rod like by side of house usually 6 to 8 feet long) at dish, but if the electricity/lightning gets into your conduit and theres water in it, it can blow your wires apart seen in on fiber optic runs blows what they call a divot out of the side and water gets in the wire and needs to be fixed/replaced. Also keep in mind any underground utilities you might have ie: septic system, water lines, gas lines and try to put your cable/conduit it a location where it won't interfere with working on them, if problems arise in the future.

 

[B.J.]

As there are lots of opinions here, I thought I'd add a couple.
I first buried PVC pipe, sealed underground but open where the wires entered the house and out by the dish. MISTAKE... filled with water and ended up a slimy mess.
My most recent dish, I just dug a shallow trench, and put the coax in, and covered it up. This works fine, although you eventually will want to run more runs of cable, and then you're stuck. Also, my ground is rocky, and I ran my car and tractors over the run, and it tended to drive the rocks into the coax. So I pulled up the cable, and put in some conduit similar to the gray stuff pictured above. I forget what size it was, but big enough for 2 runs of BUD ribbon cable plus a few runs of regular RG6. This has been very convenient, but this time I made sure that it drained. It has a constant slope to it, and drains at the low point.

Re grounding at the dish, I know that many interpretations of CODE suggest this, but I will NEVER be convinced that this is a good idea. My opinion is that you are better off not grounding the dish, but to ground the coax at the service entrance if you can. I've had ungrounded dishes survive for decades, but the only dish I ever had grounded at the dish has destroyed 5 different receivers.

 

[Anole]

small weatherproof boxes

Ultimate Sat Hobby has weatherproof boxes for a reasonable price.
They're small, but if you just want one switch out by a dish, they're fine.
Also check their site: they sell this box bundled with certain switches.

Product Specs
Made with Top Quality Hard Plastic.
Rubber sealant all around to keep out moistures(Top and Bottom).
Five holes for Coax lines with rubber sealant all around.
Size: 6in x 5in x 3in
Weight: 8oz

I'd actually like something larger (I think), but maybe these would be okay at the bottom of a BUD, as a breakout box for the wires...?
Will have to look at what some of you other guys have done, I guess.