I use Teck a lot in my off-grid installations and I agree it is very cost effective and safe. It was originally designed for mining application and can even lay on top of the ground with vehicle traffic if necessary although I wouldn't recommend it as a practice. Two to three feet of supported Teck 90 between pole mounts is easily as safe as Teck 90 or conduited wire running down a pole then up the next and down, then up the next. I can think of scenarios where idiots could find a way to defeat either practice and electrocute themselves (William) but maybe that's just Darwin coming to the rescue.
I'm still weighing the pros & cons but it's been a useful discussion for the most part, I respect and value the depth of knowledge here as being a small operator I don't get the opportunity to get nearly the experience represented. Thank you all! Ron Young On 2013-10-08, at 4:28 PM, Hilton Dier III <[email protected]> wrote: > We just did a 4 pole installation using DPW top-of-pole mounts. We used > Teck-90 armored watertight cable between the poles and from the poles to the > house. The Teck-90 spiral wound metal flex conduit with an > everything-resistant black sheath on it pre-stuffed with just about any combo > of wires you might want. We cast 2" PVC sweeps into the 36" dia. sonotubes so > the cable could enter underground and come up next to the pole. We put PVC > end caps on the tops of the sweeps with cable holes in them, just for > neatness. > > Teck-90 is a revelation. We laid out and buried a double run of 100 feet of > the stuff in the time it took the excavator to go along the trench. He never > got out of the cab. We get it on a 500' spool and mount the spool in the back > of a pickup. Then we just run off however much we need, cut it to length, and > throw dirt on it. > > We got it from Graybar for slightly less than the price per foot of the > equivalent wire and PVC conduit. I had been meaning to write a post on here > about it. > > We also just did PV on a barn roof and did the spool-it-off-and-clip-it-up > routine. Made the run from the roof to the inverter on the north side first > floor in about 40 minutes. No conduit bending. The end connectors are kind of > pricey, but the time saved is huge. > > Hilton > > -- > Hilton Dier III > Renewable Energy Design > Partner, Solar Gain LLC > 453 East Hill Rd. > Middlesex, VT 05602 > > _______________________________________________ > List sponsored by Home Power magazine > > List Address: [email protected] > > Change email address & settings: > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > List-Archive: > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > List rules & etiquette: > www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm > > Check out participant bios: > www.members.re-wrenches.org > _______________________________________________ List sponsored by Home Power magazine List Address: [email protected] Change email address & settings: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List-Archive: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List rules & etiquette: www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm Check out participant bios: www.members.re-wrenches.org
