Outside Socket

Digging a trench with crowbar in solid rock for outside socket

Digging the Trench

Yesterday, we dug the trench for the cable for our outside electrical sockets.  Because the ground is so hard and dry I had to use a crowbar to break up the earth but luckily it only needs to be a narrow and shallow trench.

The picture doesn't show it clearly but it is about 10 metres from the house to where the sockets are going.  There will be sufficient soil dug out to almost fill the builder's bag on the left of the photo.

Why Not Solar?

We are going to put the sockets next to the wooden stake so that they can be used for a fountain in the pond, for lights or for power tools.  We had hoped to use solar to power the lights and fountain but it is not cost effective to do so and there is no guarantee that there will be enough sun to charge the batteries.   We will leave the little solar lights around the pond as they are quite effective but we do want guaranteed light as we would hate for us or someone else to inadvertently walk into the pond.

Next Steps

Next, the cable will go into gaine to provide it with some protection, but as the gaine is thin plastic it won't stop a spade going through it in the way that an armoured cable would.  It seems strange to us that for safety reasons we are restricted on the number of lights or sockets that can be attached to a circuit but we can bury normal cable just a couple of inches below the ground.

Before we lay the cable we will put some sand into the bottom of the trench to remove any sharp edges, then the gaine plus cable will be laid in, followed by a bit more sand and then red warning tape to remind us that there is a buried cable there.  We will finish off with soil and grass seed.