Providing expansion fitting for RMC at meter.

splatz said:

For this pipe to move that much, it would have to be frost heaving, not temperature - you could heat the rigid with a torch and it wouldn't expand that much. If it's frost heaving, an expansion fitting might help, but if that heave isn't straight up and down, the fitting might bind. So you might go to all that expense and trouble and it still gets pushed around.

Is it really frost heave? You wonder what you'd find if you exposed the underground a little. I don't see a jacket so I don't think it's a stub around cable, but if that's the case, just securing the conduit might fix the issue. If it's pipe all the way, you might prevent the heaving if you dig around the pipe and put some sand / gravel.

What's going on there, am I missing something or I don't even see mounting screws inside the meter can, and I don't see any strap on the rigid? It's like the meter's set on a pipe stake that also happens to contain the utility service.

I wouldn't be surprised with everything unsecured, it just settled / sank. That could explain the "S" shape curve of the SE too. Yep, I think I just convinced myself, I think it just sank / settled.

Click to expand...

ZZZRSC said:

Okay, I never thought of that. Around here the ground doesn't heave much, probably because of all the rocks in the soil. They say the Ozark Mountain range is the oldest in the US at 1.4 billion years. Unless you live in a river bottom, your soil can be as much rock as it is dirt. When you go to dig a hole, you take a pick, a rock bar, and a small shovel for any dirt you find... I'm retired, but in 25 years I've only seen or installed expansion joints on conduit coming up to service on government jobs where the spec.'s require them. I've had to use lots of them on PVC in parking garages though, to keep if from pulling it apart in winter, and bowing out like spaghetti in the summer.

Click to expand...