Exterior Electrical Wiring to Patio (Ontario)

Supressor wrote: ↑ I'm creating a patio that's about 30' from the house; the site is excavated and before I bring in my granular I want to know the best method to prepare for bringing power to the site. This is a long-term project (granular this year, concrete or patio stones next). Can I run a 1/2" PVC conduit under my base so that once we do get to the wiring stage, wires can simply be run through the conduit to the required spots? Would I have any issues if I open an permit with ESA once the conduit is covered by concrete in 2 years from now? I would be installing a max of 4 outlets. Any info is greatly appreciated, thanks!

Do you planning on doing this work yourself?

If so I would do your homework on codes and contact the ESA at each step for inspections/advice to avoid redoing a ton of work.

You're going to have to trench that conduit at least 18 inches below grade, I would also recommend putting at least a few pieces of string/twine in the conduit to help you pull stuff through in the future.

Useful information here:

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(Scroll down to post #5964)

Depending on the number if twists and turns this is harder to fish wire through conduit... way easier to do it when laying the conduit.

I have to check but you got to be 18 or 24” below grade, a sand base above and below, some red caution tape just on top, and I even put 2x4 over top of mine before back filling.

Another thing I would suggest is to run a spare or bigger pvc if you think you might want a hot tub or something down the road.

In Ontario permits are valid for 12 months and after that you pay for extensions. In your case I would probably pull a permit for the conduit and have it inspected when you do it. Some inspectors will accept detailed photographs showing everything, others may not. You don’t want to find it out in 2 years they want to see the trench.

I would personally call ESA and ask what they want you to do. I think the best approach would be to pull a permit strictly for the trench so you don’t have to keep it open and pay for extensions until the job is done.

As long as your route does not go under a driveway or route vehicles drive you’re going to need 450mm of cover above your conduit so dig deep enough for that, about 18”. It should be clean fill without rocks and anything that may cause damage. Once the conduit is laid and before filling I would call for inspection to close off the permit. Then fill the trench half way back up, lay your burial tape and then fill the rest. The reason for tape being half way is so if someone digs with a bucket or shovel they will hit the tape before hitting the conduit. If you lay the tape right on your conduit it won’t provide any warning and the tape and conduit will be hit at the same time.

I wouldn’t run 1/2” as that’s small and can’t get a lot in it. If you’re running power to multiple locations or running anything more than a single circuit via underground I would strongly consider hiring an electrician to design and lay out. The last thing you want to do is find out in 2 years you’ve missed a conduit or made your conduit too small that code won’t allow the electrician to complete the job the way you wanted.

Also as people mentioned you want to fish a twine through this now, not later. If you don’t have a fish tape use a shop vac, but my rule of thumb is ALWAYS fish a buried conduit before burial in the event something is wrong and you can’t get through it. You’ll want to be able to fix the issue before it is buried.

As well since you’re not using it for awhile make sure to do a good job sealing up the ends of your conduit so dirt/stone/water/etc don’t fill your conduit.