Irrigation wire in conduit? Cancel The title field is required!

1. Greg George

   

   0 posts
   
   9/27/2015 2:09 PM

   We have a decoder system and I am going to be replacing the maxi cable on a couple of fairways. I expect to encounter gravel in some areas and my thought was to trench or plow some 3/4" PE pipe to serve as a conduit. Does anyone see a down side to this?
   Thank You
   Greg George
   North Conway CC

   
   
   
   
2. Andy Jorgensen

   

   1 posts
   
   9/28/2015 9:09 AM

   Troubleshooting down the road would be a bear. But, if you had junction boxes every so often, might make it a piece of cake to simply pull a new wire between junctions. I would go 1" though. Pulling wire through 3/4" isn't all that easy.

   
   
   
   
3. Kevin Fateley

   

   5 posts
   
   9/28/2015 10:09 AM

   Ditto on the 1" pipe.
   Also, you will have to get a pull string or tape into the pipe.
   We use to lay pull pipe, then use a shop vac and a wadded up paper towels tape to string and suck it through the pipe then attach cables and hand pull them through.

   
   
   
   
4. Greg George

   

   0 posts
   
   9/29/2015 8:09 AM

   Thank You Guys
   My thought was to run the pipe along the fairway and cut it at each head and direct bury it. We have replaced the backfill material around the heads with clean material. I could still check current at the heads and LSPs as I do now and if I needed to replace a wire, I would be pulling 70 to 80 feet. If we expand this to male longer runs, I would up-size the pipe. One thing that has proven helpful is that as we have gone along, we bury the decoder and splices under the pilot valve. that way I can look at the top of the head know where to find them.
   Thanks again
   Greg

   
   
   
   
5. James Smith

   

   112 posts
   
   10/1/2015 10:10 AM

   I do not think I would want to place that many connections in my Maxi wire. your looking at a trouble shooting nightmare if you have an issue. Maxi cable is pretty darn thick to start off with and I would guess, unless you have digging or construction going on around it you would never have an issue except at the connections. My Maxit wire has been in the ground for 18 years with no issues to date. My Maxi wire is run from satellite box to satellite box with no connections in every run that was no longer the spool of cable we used (either 2,500' or 5,000ft), being that all of my sprinklers are 90' apart, it may of cost me more money in wire boxes and connectors then to just throw down second Maxi cable to do it your way. If you have an area with rocks maybe just adding conduit in those areas for extra protection would be all you need.