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Underground Wiring dgreen368 02-09-2007
`--> Re: Underground Wiring dgreen368 via H...02-13-2007
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Posted by dgreen368 on February 9, 2007, 11:21 am
Hello,
I just purchased a 6 acre country property in West Texas and am building a
small apartment (580SF). I didn't do a lot of research on supplying
electricity to the apartment and had the electric company place a meter on
the pole about 200 feet from the apartment. My intention was to trench and
bury the service wire. Now I browse through Home Depot looking at wire and
see some costing $5-6 per foot. Wow.
Can anybody tell me what size wire I require to run this service? My
intention was to in the future add another 1500 SF main home to this
structure. I thought I would power the entire thing from the box in the
apartment, but if the cost is out of sight I'll run service for the small
apartment and worry about power for the main house later when it's built (2
years).
I have another pole that's about 120 Feet from the structure so I could
possible eat the cost ($580) for the initial meter and have one brought
closer.
Does this make sense? Can anybody tell me what I'm looking at.

Thanks

Dave
Worried out West


Posted by hawgeye on February 9, 2007, 6:30 pm
"dgreen368" wrote...
> I just purchased a 6 acre country property in West Texas and am building
> a
> small apartment (580SF). I didn't do a lot of research on supplying
> electricity to the apartment and had the electric company place a meter on
> the pole about 200 feet from the apartment. My intention was to trench and
> bury the service wire. Now I browse through Home Depot looking at wire
> and
> see some costing $5-6 per foot. Wow.

I hope this was a clue to stop now and start doing some proper planning
before you go any farther.

> Can anybody tell me what size wire I require to run this service?

Not until you decide the service amperage, the length of your run, and what
wire type is accepted by code.

> My intention was to in the future add another 1500 SF main home to this
> structure. I thought I would power the entire thing from the box in the
> apartment, but if the cost is out of sight I'll run service for the small
> apartment and worry about power for the main house later when it's built
> (2
> years).
> I have another pole that's about 120 Feet from the structure so I could
> possible eat the cost ($580) for the initial meter and have one brought
> closer.
> Does this make sense?

No

> Can anybody tell me what I'm looking at.

A mess! A potential catastrophe! A money-pit in the making.
Do yourself a huge favor and call an architect, an electrical engineer, the
utility company, or all of the above. They should be able to provide some
ideas that will save you money in the long run.



Posted by Steve Barker on February 9, 2007, 6:53 pm
Once you figger out the power needs, keep in mind you can use smaller
(cheaper) wire if you go overhead. Also, it sounds like you were pricing
copper. Aluminum is perfectly acceptable in a service entrance application.

--
Steve Barker


> Hello,
> I just purchased a 6 acre country property in West Texas and am building
> a
> small apartment (580SF). I didn't do a lot of research on supplying
> electricity to the apartment and had the electric company place a meter on
> the pole about 200 feet from the apartment. My intention was to trench and
> bury the service wire. Now I browse through Home Depot looking at wire
> and
> see some costing $5-6 per foot. Wow.
> Can anybody tell me what size wire I require to run this service? My
> intention was to in the future add another 1500 SF main home to this
> structure. I thought I would power the entire thing from the box in the
> apartment, but if the cost is out of sight I'll run service for the small
> apartment and worry about power for the main house later when it's built
> (2
> years).
> I have another pole that's about 120 Feet from the structure so I could
> possible eat the cost ($580) for the initial meter and have one brought
> closer.
> Does this make sense? Can anybody tell me what I'm looking at.
>
> Thanks
>
> Dave
> Worried out West
>



Posted by HerHusband on February 10, 2007, 1:41 pm
Dave,

> I just purchased a 6 acre country property in West Texas and am
> building a small apartment (580SF). I didn't do a lot of research on
> supplying electricity to the apartment and had the electric company
> place a meter on the pole about 200 feet from the apartment. My
> intention was to trench and bury the service wire. Now I browse
> through Home Depot looking at wire and see some costing $5-6 per
> foot. Wow. Can anybody tell me what size wire I require to run
> this service?

Generally, you need 4/0 aluminum cable or 3/0 copper cable for 200 amps.
Copper is really expensive right now, and Aluminum is typically used most
for underground services anyway. You just need to use an antioxidant
paste on the cable ends where it connects to your breaker panel.

However, different areas have different requirements, so check with the
agency that governs electrical permits in your area (You'll need a permit
to install a panel in the apartment anyway). They'll be able to tell you
what wire size and type you need.

Around here (Washington State), we typically use a cable designated for
underground service entrances. It's usually on a huge roll sitting on the
floor in the home centers (usually too large and heavy for their wire
racks). It consists of three individual 4/0 aluminum cables, one of which
has a stripe to indicate it is the neutral line.

I recently installed a new underground service at my in-laws house. I
used aluminum there too, except for the short feed between the meter on
the outside of their house and the panel on the inside. 3/0 copper was
much more flexible to feed through the conduit bends than the aluminum
cable would have been.

> My intention was to in the future add another 1500 SF main home to this
> structure. I thought I would power the entire thing from the box in
> the apartment, but if the cost is out of sight I'll run service for
> the small apartment and worry about power for the main house later
> when it's built (2 years).

We had the power company install a pedestal in the ground. Then we have
separate underground lines (and the associated service entrances) that
run to our garage, our house, and our pumphouse. The three buildings are
completely separate services, with only the electric meter in common (on
the pole out at the road).

We used this approach because the various buildings were constructed over
a period of many years and we didn't want to worry about trying to feed
one building off of another. It also allows us to have full 200amp
services at each building, and makes it easier to add new services in the
future. We had a mobile home on the property for a few years that tied
into the pedestal also.

I'd recommend you check with your electric company. They usually have an
engineering evaluation for the new entrance. They'll come to the site,
see what you have planned, tell you what requirements they have (separate
from the state electrical requirements), and charge you a few hundred
dollars. :) It's all rather expensive, but you only do it once.

We had a couple of places on the property where we installed conduit
before we actually ran the cable. One was under a driveway heading to the
building site before we actually started building. We used 4" grey PVC,
with the appropriate bushings on each end to avoid cutting into the
cable. The conduit sat in the ground a couple of years before we actually
dug down again and ran the cable through it.

Anthony

Posted by bitternut on February 11, 2007, 3:02 pm
"It will be hard to pull wire through the full
200 feet even if it's a straight line, so I'd consider a splice box"

I don't think Alan ever pulled any wire through conduit or he wouldn't have
made the above statement. I pulled 400 foot of 4/0-2/0 aluminum triplex
underground service cable through 3" pvc conduit by hand. It pulled pretty
easy even though I am not a big guy. If I had it to do over again I would
probably hook to a riding lawn mower and make it even easier. Two hundred
feet should be a piece of cake. Check with the power company and they will
tell you what you need. Most utility companies guarantee a certain voltage
at the meter so try and get the meter as close to the point of use as
possible. More volts are always better.


> Hello,
> I just purchased a 6 acre country property in West Texas and am building
> a
> small apartment (580SF). I didn't do a lot of research on supplying
> electricity to the apartment and had the electric company place a meter on
> the pole about 200 feet from the apartment. My intention was to trench and
> bury the service wire. Now I browse through Home Depot looking at wire
> and
> see some costing $5-6 per foot. Wow.
> Can anybody tell me what size wire I require to run this service? My
> intention was to in the future add another 1500 SF main home to this
> structure. I thought I would power the entire thing from the box in the
> apartment, but if the cost is out of sight I'll run service for the small
> apartment and worry about power for the main house later when it's built
> (2
> years).
> I have another pole that's about 120 Feet from the structure so I could
> possible eat the cost ($580) for the initial meter and have one brought
> closer.
> Does this make sense? Can anybody tell me what I'm looking at.
>
> Thanks
>
> Dave
> Worried out West
>



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