oceanobob
Senior Member
Thanks for keeping us informed.....when we order conduit "bend" fittings (sweeps), we have to tell the supply house the wall thickness (eg schedule 40), the distance in inches for the radius (eg 36" or 48" radius) and the amount of the circle (eg 90 or 45 degrees, etc). Around here, for a conduit for a utility (power company) line we can only use schedule 40, but there must be a riser coming vertically off the sweep that transitions from the horizontal to the vertical, that riser must be a minimum for about 18" and must be schedule 80....I believe you were going to use the thinner than schedule 40 conduit, but I dont remember if you said anything different or special was required for those pole risers.
Therefore, it would not be unusual (here) for the excavation to be well over 5 feet in depth in order to do a 48" sweep and the sched 80 riser.....then one can gradually transition up to the depth for the balance of the run..... sometimes at a pole, digging like this may require temp bracing of the pole.....guy line or kicker...in your case, I believe the pole is bald? Also they are very picky about which quadrant of the pole one places the riser - this is so the wire guard terminates at the transformer correctly.
We have had to specify customs on the sweeps, say like 35 degrees. In these cases, we survey and make a sketch and dig to the sketch to assure the part fits. You may wonder why we don't just cut a 45 sweep, it is because the diameter of the conduit on a sweep is not able to make up to a coupling or female end of the next joint - the od is too big. The reason is gets big is because when they bend the sweep they dont want it to be so small that it impedes the mandrel which is the gizmo pulled through the entire conduit run by the inspector prior to acceptance. I recall you were not being subjected to the mandrel test but I wrote this in here for your information.
Dont get me wrong, we are not delighted with these situations, we have gone and toured the factory where they make the sweeps and this is the way it was explained to me.
Therefore, it would not be unusual (here) for the excavation to be well over 5 feet in depth in order to do a 48" sweep and the sched 80 riser.....then one can gradually transition up to the depth for the balance of the run..... sometimes at a pole, digging like this may require temp bracing of the pole.....guy line or kicker...in your case, I believe the pole is bald? Also they are very picky about which quadrant of the pole one places the riser - this is so the wire guard terminates at the transformer correctly.
We have had to specify customs on the sweeps, say like 35 degrees. In these cases, we survey and make a sketch and dig to the sketch to assure the part fits. You may wonder why we don't just cut a 45 sweep, it is because the diameter of the conduit on a sweep is not able to make up to a coupling or female end of the next joint - the od is too big. The reason is gets big is because when they bend the sweep they dont want it to be so small that it impedes the mandrel which is the gizmo pulled through the entire conduit run by the inspector prior to acceptance. I recall you were not being subjected to the mandrel test but I wrote this in here for your information.
Dont get me wrong, we are not delighted with these situations, we have gone and toured the factory where they make the sweeps and this is the way it was explained to me.