Power to Pole Building 450'

[SOS]

I finally finished my barn & need to add power. My wife called the power company and they told her it would be better to run power from the house than get a new service and meter as I would have to pay a $60 a month meter charge.

Pole building is about 450 feet from were the power comes into the house and to run power to the barn I will have to cross over or under my tv cable.

I will be running a lights, battery charger, coffee maker, possibly a PC, table saw, air compressor and other small tools and maybe a little frig. Not at the same time and no heater or air. This is my man cave.

I will most likely have a professional do this but I would like to have some opinions on the amps needed (60 or 100), cable size, and other considerations that would protect my tv/internet cable that I will be in close proximity.

Keep it simple and thanks

 

[ace10]

Are you serviced by Dominion Power?

 

[SOS]

Rappahannock Power

Here is a diagram of the land.

 

[lhfarm]

Here is my 450' run story - http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/projects/139326-450-wiring-conduit-how-assemble.html

I'd do it the same way again.

Good luck!

 

[tommu56]

For 500ft distance at 100A 3/0 copper and for 60 amps 1/0 copper
gives you about a 3% voltage drop at full load.

At 500ft distance for Ethernet you will be over the the recommended length of 100M
I would put a cat 5 or 6 cable in and try it it might just work. If it doesn't use that wire and repeaters on it the worst case would be pull a piece of fiber in with media converters.

You could also go wireless but I don't have any experience with that.



Cable tv might need an amplifier too.
tom

 

[tcartwri]

For a 60A continuous load with a 3% power loss, you will need to run #3/0 Al cable.

I just paid $1K for 300ft of #2/0 armoured direct burial to give you an idea.

 

[mjw357]

If you plan on running anything with motors (compressor) you are gonna need some HUGE guage wire to minimize voltage drop at that much run. For 450' of run with 1 ga AL wire, (120v 60Hz 1PH 15A) the drop is about 3%. I would think that's as small as you would want to go. If the voltage drop is too much, motors don't run right, they overheat or trip their internal breakers.

Gave any thought to a solar/battery storage/inverter setup? Might be cheaper than trenching in that truckload of wire you are gonna need.

 

[ray66v]

I don't understand a $60/month meter charge?? $60/year maybe, but $60/month?

It's not a good time to do this, the price of copper is at an all time high right now.

It sure would be nice if you could run high voltage back there with a transformer. You can get away with like 12 gauge wire then.

Why do you guys keep building your barns so far away from the power?

 

[Deere Dude]

For my meter there is a $18 a month meter charge and I thought that was nuts.
IMHO, I am not an electrician and wire sizes need to be taken from charts, but I do my own electrical things a majority of the time. I ran this to my pole shed 150 feet away from the house and it works great for my 60 Amp welder, 50 Amp camper and whatever I want to run. I don't know the largest size it would take for a 100 amp service at that distance, but is should be doable.
If it was me, I would look into running a run 3 #2 gauge aluminum direct burial wire for 220 volts.. I wouldn't waste my money on copper for that, or on conduit either. I don't think the power companies run copper and conduit in their buried wire at least around here. Why would I? Bury it at least 18" deep so you don't have to worry about hitting it with something. Put a 100 amp breaker in your house and another smaller panel in your pole building.
Run direct burial telephone wire for your phone or computer. That's all the telephone company uses.

 

[ace10]

Rappahannock Power

Here is a diagram of the land.

Not that it helps but, Dominion's at $7/month for the account. The buried my new 400A service for about $1/foot.

$60/month for a base charge is just nuts! Sorry.