Hi. While gardening, I dug way too deep and cut through the wire (UF cable) that goes to the lightpost (120volt) at the driveway entrance . If possible, I want to avoid trenching and replacing the whole line. I cut the wire close to the house, so... if there's a reasonable way to splice it, I can get some slack in the wire from the house side. Or I can just run a new line from the house to the splice. But, I'm not sure what to do.
does HomeDepot sell waterproof electrical junction boxes that have waterproof clamps for incoming/outgoing wires such that I can make the splice, put on wire twist caps, and bury the box?
do I strip and solder the wires together and then coat the whole thing with Liquid Electrical Tape and just bury it back up?
We've used them at work for some time and haven't seen a failure. We wrap them in plastic electrical tape and point the small end up. You'll find plenty of solutions in an online search. Use "underground wire splice".
If it happened to me, i would solder them together, but before that put a piece of plastic pipe around it(about 4 inch long). After soldering,shift the pipe over the damaged site, and fill it form both sides with bathroom silicon paste. Let it stay in the open for some days(a week?), to let the paste cure completely,then bury the evidence.
Liquid electrical tape isn't durable enough to be trustworthy. You need a direct burial underground splice rated for 600 volts. Almost all wiring products used for 120V are rated for 600V.
Here's one underground UF cable splice:
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Here's another:
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Even better are splices rated for underwater use, not just underground use, but they may be expensive.
Don't simply use a waterproof wire nut (regular wire nut filled with gel, often silicone rubber made to never cure) but also put the nut in a waterproof sleeve (electrical tape isn't waterproof). Also pointing the waterproof wire nut upward won't keep its insides dry because water pressure will push up into the nut.
The method I've seen used is to join the broken ends together in a junction box and then set the whole wire joint in two-pack epoxy resin to completely waterproof the joint.
*Home Depot and electrical supply companies sell underground splice kits for UF wire. Basically it is a small round terminal block that gets encapsulated in shrink tube. You will need a heat gun for the shrink tube.
Home Depot also sells underground splices that include a terminal strip in a folding plastic case that is filled with waterproof glop. No heat shirink required. Connect the wires and then fold the case until it snaps. I have used them before without any problems.
Hi, Out at my cabin, after fixing broken wire couple times and dealing with tripping GFCI headache, I switched to solar powered LED light post. Works well even in winter. I donèt need a good illumination, I just need a beacon for driveway entrance.
I managed to find the control wire from the pump house to the well w/ the post hole digger--no mean feat in a 200-yd run either way to select where to stick a post for a new garden plot fence--
It was an evening, of course, so only choice was an Ace Hardware--the equivalent of the DryConn have held for 8 years or so, so far...
The are, as above says wrapped very well besides just the silicon in the caps.
I've found a couple splices Dad made in the 60s or perhaps even earlier with just twisted ends and friction tape topped by electrical that are still fine--the reasons for finding them had nothing to do w/ the splices themselves but either modifications/additions or in one case, the actual underground cable sheath itself was failing all along it, it turned out was the cause of the failures causing line to be dug out...they are buried pretty deep (24" +) so that they are not ever in standing or thoroughly soaked ground for any length of time if ever, however, but I suspect they would last a long time no matter what given the condition they're in after 40-50 years.
dig up the spot, making an extra big hole. Then ADD a piece of wire about a two feet long, make the splices with standard (or waterproof) wire nuts. THEN, shove each set of splices into a tin can filled with roofing tar. We have a splice of this nature in the 300' run of 10-3 to our detached garage. Been there almost 40 years.
This is probably not up to code, but it worked fine for me, when the upstairs neighbor cut the wire to my shed with his rotatiller when tilling his garden (making it larger than it was originally).
I had to make two splices because I had to replace about 5 feet where the wires was all chewed up from the tiller.
I cut the bad section out. Re-dug the trench. Then I slipped about 6 inches of automotive heater hose over the end of the cable. Then I spliced and soldered the replacement piece to all 3 wires, and taped each one with electrical tape, followed by taping the whole bundle. I slipped the hose over the splice, and using a caulking tube of 100% pure silicone, I inserted the tip of the caulking cartridge in one end of the hose between the wires and the inside of the hose, and pumped the whole thing full of this silicone till it oozed out the other end. Then to be sure it was totally waterproof, I used a thin stick and pushed the caulk all the way around the cable, moving the cable from side to side, and finished by applying a big glob of the silicone around both ends of the hose. Then I layed it on a plastic bag so the silicone did not get all full of the soil. Then I repeated this process on the other splice.
I did not fill the whole for a few days to let the silicone completely dry, (leaving the plastic bag under the splices). A few days later I filled the hole with soil.
I never had problems with it, but a year and a half later I moved. It was still working when I moved.
Be sure the heater hose is thick enough to fit the taped glob. 3/4" should fit any standard #14 or #12 UF cable. You want enough room around the wire to coat everything with the silicone inside. Be sure to put the hose on the cable BEFORE making the splice. Just slip it back on the cable, away from the splice a foot or so. To get the hose over the center of the splice, if the hose is 6" long, mark the cable
3" from the splice with a marker. That way you'll know when the hose is centered over the splice.
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