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Plan utility corridors and trenches between systems

Plan shared trench routes for power cables, water pipes, data and drainage between the house, array, tanks, well and outbuildings, so you dig once and can find everything later.

How

1. Draw corridors on the master plan linking array to battery room, well to tanks, tanks to house, house to septic tank, and house to outbuildings.
2. Keep power, water and sewer lines separated as your electrical and plumbing codes require, and keep drinking water lines away from sewer lines.
3. Avoid routing trenches through septic dispersal areas, under driveways where avoidable, or down steep slopes where trenches become gullies.
4. Add spare empty conduits and pull strings for future cables.
5. Check required burial depths with your local codes and the power and water modules. Example (US, Boulder County, Colorado, citing NEC Table 300.5): direct-burial cable 24 in, non-metallic conduit listed for burial 18 in, rigid metal conduit 6 in, GFCI-protected 120 V branch circuits 12 in, water lines 36 in (local frost depth 30 in). Example (US, North Carolina plumbing code): water pipe at least 12 in deep or below the frost line if deeper, and insulation cannot replace depth.
6. Plan to record as-built positions and depths in site-23.

Do these first

• site-10

Sources

1. Solar Site Evaluation (SolarPro magazine reprint). Solmetric / SolarPro, accessed 2026-11
2. Utility Depths (Building Publication B07). Boulder County, Colorado, accessed 2026-11
3. Buried Depth of Water Pipe (Plumbing Code 305.6 interpretation). North Carolina Office of State Fire Marshal, accessed 2026-11

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