Natural Resources Conservation Service s63

ID-382-E

NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE Idaho

CONSTRUCTION SPECIFICATIONS FOR POWER FENCE - POLYETHYLENE FIBER INTERWOVEN WITH WIRE

______(Owner/Operator) (Project Title)

GENERAL Wood Posts. Line posts shall have a minimum Installation shall be in accordance with an top diameter of 3 inches and shall be a minimum approved plan. Details of construction shown on of 6 feet in length. Corner, gate and brace posts the drawings but not include herein are shall have a minimum top diameter of 5 inches considered as part of these specifications. and shall be a minimum of 7 feet in length. Construction activities shall be in accordance Braces shall have a minimum top diameter of 4 with applicable OSHA regulations. inches and shall be a minimum of 6 feet in length. Prior to construction the fence lines shall be cleared of any possible obstruction that would Table 1. Life Expectancy of Untreated and Treated hinder the fence placement and operation. Fence Posts (Years) Kind of Un- Pressure Hot and Cold The soil surface along the fence line shall be Wood treated Treated Cold Soak relatively smooth such that placement of the Bath bottom fencing member does not exceed the Western Red 12-15 20-25 20-25 - Cedar maximum fence member to soil surface spacing Lodgepole & specified. Ponderosa 2-4 20-25 15-20 10-20 Pine The fence materials shall have an expected life of Aspen or 1-3 15-20 10-15 5-10 10 years with routine maintenance. All wood Cottonwood materials except Orange Osage, Western Red Douglas Fir Cedar, Juniper and Black Locust that have & Western 3-6 20-35 15-25 10-20 contact with the soil shall be treated with an Hemlock EPA-registered wood preservative. Wood posts shall be treated from the butt end of the post to Plastic Posts. Plastic posts of recycled plastic distance of at least 30 inches for line posts and 36 shall be a minimum of 3 inches in diameter and inches for all corner, gate and brace posts. Refer capable of having fasteners nailed or screwed to to Table 1 for the life expectancy of treated the post. versus untreated wood posts. Steel Posts. Steel posts shall have a minimum MATERIALS diameter of 1/2 inch. Fiberglass Posts. Fiberglass posts shall be of heavy duty specified material with a minimum Tape. The tape shall be a polyethylene fiber diameter of 1/2 inch. woven with stainless steel wire tape with a minimum width of 1-1/2 inches and UV Wood Insultimber. Iron wood posts shall be a protected. The tape shall have a minimum of 15 minimum of 1 inch square in dimensions. high tensile stainless steel wires, of 0.3-mm diameter woven into the polyethylene tape. The

NRCS, IDAHO 1 May 2002 ID-382-E tensile strength of the polyethylene tape shall be rod posts will be alternated with wood or “T” at least 600 pounds. posts type steel or fiberglass posts.

Fasteners. All insulators/fasteners shall be Line Bracing. Line brace assemblies shall be specifically designed to accommodate the full located at all corners, gates and abrupt changes in width of a 1-1/2 inch wide tape. Plastic vertical topography (generally considered as 15 insulators/fasteners shall be UV resistant and of degrees). On straight reaches of fencing line the specific type for the specific post used i.e., braces shall be installed at a spacing of no more metal “T”, round metal, fiberglass, wood, etc. than 3960 feet. A corner post shall be set whenever the horizontal alignment deviates more Energizer Units. The unit shall include a high than 12 inches between any corner and gate or impact self-insulating weather resist case, a snap- line brace assembly. in circuit panel, a safety pace fuse, a lightening arrester, have full power input and reduced power Tape Spacing. Tape spacings are as follows, output, be high power/low impedance with unless otherwise specified: 5,000-volt peak output and have a 2.3 millionlombs charge and a pulse that is furnished Table 2. Wire Spacing (Cattle Only Fence) within 300 millionths of a second. The unit shall Fence Type Spacing Measured From operate on 110-volt, 220-volt electrical power or Groundline (inches) 12-volt battery or solar–powered system. 2-tape 18 30 3-tape 18 26 36 INSTALLATION 4-tape 12 20 28 38 The fence shall be reasonably straight and shall Table 3. Wire Spacing (Sheep Only Fence) not deviate more than 12 inches between any corner and gate or line brace assembly. Fence Type Spacing Measured From Groundline (inches) The line tension for all tapes shall be set by hand 4-tape 10 16 24 32 5-tape 6 12 18 24 34 at the tensioners so the tape has the appearance of Note: Where the free movement of antelope is a being level. Each strand of tape shall begin with concern, the bottom wire shall always be a ground a tensioner block, which allows the tape to be wire. pulled tight without releasing the tension when let go. Three feet of excess tape shall be left at Wire Fasteners. Fasteners shall be attached to the each tensioner for future splicing in case of a posts in such a manner so as not to cause break. The excess tape shall be folded back and grounding of the line tape. sewn to the fence line. Grounding Rods. All energizers must be All power fences will be grounded with at least grounded. Ground wires for the fence must be one ½-inch diameter galvanized rod. driven into the ground a minimum of 6 feet or additional grounding rods shall be added. Posts. Line posts shall be set a minimum depth of 2 feet, unless otherwise specified. Gate, ADDITIONAL SPECIFICATIONS corner and brace posts shall be set to a minimum depth of 3 feet, unless otherwise specified.

The line post spacing interval shall not exceed 16 feet.

In wet soils that do not provide adequate lateral support for rod posts to keep the fence upright with good alignment, metal rod and fiberglass

NRCS, IDAHO 2 May 2002