My mother has a double wide mobile home in the Rural part of Yulee FL, which is north of Jacksonville FL.

Her water pump is not working and I have determined it is the wire that is causing the problem. I had an electricain come and he verified that also

I assume 10-2 ufb gray wire is correct for 125ish feet. I read in another post that they needed 12-2 b wire. Is 10 b wire good enough for this job?

I dug out around from the pump house and I could see it was frayed and exposed. This was a wiring job done when the mobile home was first set, about 20 years ago. She bought it about 15 years ago, so we have no idea who did the electric job or the plumbing. It seems obvious that it was done without an inspection but has been OK until lately.

I went to the local Home Depot and Lowes and both of the people I talked to said to get 10 2 grey ground wire. I got a spool of 150 feet. I measured and it is about 120 from the power pole to the pump house.

The pump house is just a simple shed about 4 x 4 , with a door and 1 x 4 boards. Just big enough to put in the pump and the fiber glass bubble thing. I think it is the holding tank? The well is directly below the pump house then.

So there is a new trench that I will dig with a rented trench digger. I will bury the wire in a 24 inch deep trench from the pump house then to the power pole.

My goal then is to find an electrician that will just have to hook up the wire to both ends. One end being inside the pump house to the electric pump, and the other being the power pole.

Since this job was originally done with out a permit, I need to find a guy who will work sort of off the books. I don’t know how else to say it, since this job was done without a permit.

I called the 1 800 call before you dig number and they sent out a guy but since the original job was not permitted it does not show up as ever being done legally I guess, so the guy who was to check out for water lines and power lines did nothing.. He didn’t’ even get out of his truck
I called for a free lancer to run his machine to find these lines and he did not want to come out and recommend to use a dousing rod to find the water pipe.

I did find the fresh water pipe by just digging and I will make sure I do not hit it with the trench digger.

What is a fair rate to ask for an electrician to do this job. He just has to hook up the wire on both ends. I was thinking 150? for an hour.

I am not sure how to find one either, other than calling the Yellow pages and explaining problem above.

My other idea was to post in Craiglist for electrician needed?

Any tips on how to find an Electrician for this job?

Should I try to find a guy that just does mobile home?

Is 10-2 b gray ground wire what I need to put in the 24 inch trench?

What should I offer to pay for this job.?

I got all the “stuff” I think I need. Two 90 degree sweep
Pvc pieces 3/4 inch. Glue in the small brown can.
All the stuff the guy at the big box store told me anyway I got.
So I will put a hole in the 1 inch thick wood shed and put in the 90 degree pipe 24 inches in the ground and and the I will put the wire in the pvc pipe as it is cheap for the whole length under ground.

Thanks for any assistance.

I hope I explained this correctly.

 

Before anyone can tell you if the cable is the correct size we would need to know the ampacity of the pump.

 

Thanks for the tip.
I am an obvious amateur trying to save my Mom some money. I just looked at the wire coming out of the pump and at the wire I saw out side of the pump house in the ground.
It looks like the wire i got from home depot. I have not opened the spool. I just got what the guys I talked to at lowes and home depot and they both said 10-2 gray direct ground burial is what i need. I am not sure how to find the ampacity of the pump. I don't want to buy and bury the wrong wire for sure.

 

If you use conduit burial depth is 18" minimum. Best practice is to use individual conductors not cable in conduit. If you use UF cable you do need to bury 24" but you only need to sleeve it with conduit where it enters and leaves the ground. You can use cable in a complete run of conduit but it is harder to pull. If you use a complete run you can bury it 24" but 18" is fine. If you don't use conduit all the way then yes 24".

What size breaker? Is this 240 volts or 120 volts.

 

The pump should have a data plate showing the voltage and amps. You could also check the breaker if you cannot find the plate.

 

That makes no sense. They are required to locate and mark ANYTHING below grade whether it "shows up" on their paperwork or not, or whether it was "permitted" or not. You called 800-282-7411? Call them again and insist they send a locator to your place to do their job. It is a free service subsidized by collective utilities.

 

In my state the utilities send out their own people. Gas locator marks the gas, electric guy locates the electric, phone guy locates the phone line, etc. Anything that is on the property that is owned by the homeowner such as irritation or private sewer must be located by a guy hired by the homeowner. Some electrical contractors do have location equipment, but they will only locate metallic lines. Plastic won't work unless there is a tracer wire.

 

Wow, that would be a total PITA. I like one call does it all. While they are there, if you request, they will mark private stuff for a cup of coffee and a donut.

I had an incident at our local college while building a deck. All utilities marked EXCEPT FiOS, and naturally we cut the entire communications to the college in a nanosecond. Utility apologized for the inconvenience to my crew for holding us up during repairs, but they didn't mark it.

 

It is still one call (Gopher state one call) but different guys are sent out for each utility. I have never tried the coffee/doughnut trick, but I have never need to.

 

Thanks for the help I have to respond later as I can only use my phone for internet today