New hand hole box needed 1

[mikeydidit]

I have something that I need to fix and thought you guys may have some ideas. This is what is left of a pretty good sized hand hole that feeds most of my off premise buildings.

This quazite box was around 36” wide and 48” long. As you can see I have outgrown it and it has been removed. Now I need something to retrofit the conduits in a new box of some sort. I have pics attached of this mess. I was thinking about a 3 piece setup.

Any ideas or products to fix this up right?

Thanks for your time and replies.

http://i794.photobucket.com/albums/yy223/mikeydidit2007/IMG_0117.jpg

http://i794.photobucket.com/albums/yy223/mikeydidit2007/IMG_0118.jpg

http://i794.photobucket.com/albums/yy223/mikeydidit2007/IMG_0119.jpg

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[wires]

What is in the remaining box to the left?

 

[mikeydidit]

That is a second fiber ring I have coming in from a second CO. The first fiber ring is going to be placed in a hand hole to the right.

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[clidpri]

yes is called build a big dog house around it

 

[wires]

So they are both your boxes.

In that case I would put a nice concrete manhole in. Something at least 7'x7'x7' with two holes in the top (ventilation) would give you plenty of room for future expansion and getting down there to work. Put a few extra conduit stubs through the walls so new lines won't require drilling through the concrete.

Be sure they cast a ladder below one of the holes. You should be able to find a precast top but the floor and sides will most likely be formed on site.

 

[mikeydidit]

Thats actually been kicked around. I was hoping to find someones product (not that I have found one Googling) that would let you customize the sides for conduits that would let you fill n the voids with blanks or patches.

When is the last time you helped someone, just because you were able to?

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[mikeydidit]

I may have found something other than pouring a dog house around these.

I called Quazite this morning and after a few minutes the sales lady realized she could not give me something off the shelf that would work. She then transfered me to one of their engineers. He had me go back out to the hole and take a few measurements and he came up with this.

Place a 19" deep "closed bottom" box in the bottom of the hole. The hole will have to be dug out 3" and its loose.

Place second box (sort of like an extension box) over this one after making the cuts for the conduits. These will now be shallow cuts as the conduits average around 16" deep. This should make the conduits fall on top of the bottom box.

I asked about then floating some concrete in the gaps around the conduits. Placing something inside to retain the concrete from pouring inside. I would like to keep it as dry as possible.

Does this sound like a solution to you guys?? Of course this is about 12" all the way around larger than I had.


Thanks for your suggestions and replies.



When is the last time you helped someone, just because you were able to?

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[wires]

Sounds like a good (and less expensive) option.

Sealing the box up as much as possible is a GOOD idea. Concrete is good for that.

One thing to consider. If you have good drainage in the area you might want to excavate an additional 2' or so and backfill with rock. That way if the box is getting flooded from the top you could drill some holes in the bottom of the boa and let the water run out. It all depends on conditions in the area on how well this would work.

 

[mikeydidit]

I had not thought about adding rock under it, thats a good idea. I am in Louisiana so if it's in the ground here. It going to get wet.

I'll take a few pictures when we are though and show you how it comes out.

Thanks for the ideas/replies.

When is the last time you helped someone, just because you were able to?

For the best response to a question, read faq690-6594

 

[clidpri]

send some pics after you are done

 

[oldtimerbob]

Here are a couple of places you may want to check out:

http://www.americantechsupply.com/osp.htm

http://www.circatelecom.com

Good Luck,

Has been in the cabling business for about twenty years and is now the Sr PM for a cabling company located in the Los Angeles area.

http://www.globusinc.net

Also a General Class Amatuer Radio Operator.

 

[mikeydidit]

Well i am finally back on this today guys. I have contractors coming in to install a 48x48 box over the top of this mess. I had one of our other groups straighten out some of the small low voltage stuff running in here. They untangled their cables and have them neat now. So that should make it easier to now move the larger cables (up to 300 pairs).

I should be able to post some pics before the end of the week.

When is the last time you helped someone, just because you were able to?

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[SIRMcD]

If you build any kind of vault, be sure to use air quality testers whenever you enter the vault. Vaults are extremely dangerous when it comes to the build up of gases and lack of fresh oxygen.
I would excavate beneath a few feet as was suggested and back fill with stone for drainage anyway.

 

[mikeydidit]

Well this was not the simplest task I have been given, but I think it came out alright. I ended up calling Hubbell’s technical support and worked with one of their tech’s for a solution. We all were pretty much in agreement that all those cables in one box would be even harder to fix. So I ordered the 52”X52” open bottomed box with split lids.

My contractors used a skil saw with a masonry blade to cut off around 5 “of the box (it was 36” deep) to start with. The ground level of the original box had the conduit around 12” to 16” off the ground. So this just made it easier to work with. We uncoiled what we could and made it neat and tight the best we could. The 300 pair in here didn’t want to give much..

Then they cut out slots for the conduits in the box. When the box was sat in place, we screwed a wire mesh to the box around the conduits then used concrete to fill in the voids inside and out. This gave something for the concrete to bond to and hold it in place while it was drying. We need to put one more coat of concrete around the voids and then we can backfill. Its not the prettiest thing I have ever done. But everything is now protected and the conduits are still usable.

Look at the pic’s below and give me your thoughts..

http://s794.photobucket.com/albums/yy223/mikeydidit2007/?action=view&current=IMG_0129.jpg&newest=1

http://s794.photobucket.com/albums/yy223/mikeydidit2007/?action=view&current=IMG_0127.jpg&newest=1

When is the last time you helped someone, just because you were able to?

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[SYQUEST]

That was quite a project!!

Maybe they will plan things better next time? LOL

....JIM....

 

[mikeydidit]

It won't happen around here. My next project will be to move a 200 pair cable and a 12 strand SM fiber. They decided to build a building over the top of part of it.
It never ends....

When is the last time you helped someone, just because you were able to?

For the best response to a question, read faq690-6594