Electrical advice for building

[Pete6114]

I would ( did ) hook up to your panel in the house.
I ran my direct burial wire through solid big-O to the shop. Phone in separate conduit and alarm wire in separate conduit as well.

 

[sldva00]

I plan on installing a 100 amp sub panel in barn. Running THHN/THWN #2 wire (4) in schedule 80 conduit from main panel buried 18". The two live feeds connecting to sub panel with breaker, neutral connecting to neutral only (not bonding neutral to ground at sub panel), and ground to ground plus connecting to separate grounding rods at barn with #6 wire.

 

[grsthegreat]

I plan on installing a 100 amp sub panel in barn. Running THHN/THWN #2 wire (4) in schedule 80 conduit from main panel buried 18". The two live feeds connecting to sub panel with breaker, neutral connecting to neutral only (not bonding neutral to ground at sub panel), and ground to ground plus connecting to separate grounding rods at barn with #6 wire.

there ya go pilgrim.

Im an electrical contractor......and this is how id do it. the underground part of the conduit only needs to be schedule 40, but sch 80 would be stronger. of coursem the size of the wire can even be downsized to #4 copper if around 100' in length or shorter. #2 from 100-200 foot, over 200 feet you will have to get a larger diameter wire.

 

[hr3]

I plan on installing a 100 amp sub panel in barn. Running THHN/THWN #2 wire (4) in schedule 80 conduit from main panel buried 18". The two live feeds connecting to sub panel with breaker, neutral connecting to neutral only (not bonding neutral to ground at sub panel), and ground to ground plus connecting to separate grounding rods at barn with #6 wire.

I think another look at article 250 in the 2011 code should be made here,,as for the ground rods at the barn ??

 

[tommu56]

Have your power company set a new drop and you supply the meter base then you can put up a another 200amp panel

That is bad suggestion for my area the monthly meter fees are ridiculous.
A friend was going to do the separate meter thing.
He took my suggestion and went from 100A on his house to 200 then a 100A to the garage all in conduit with 2 extra 1" pipes and a 1" poly line for water.

The water line can be drained in his basement to keep it from freezing.

 

[ace10]

Have your power company set a new drop and you supply the meter base then you can put up a another 200amp panel or less if you want to In Your shop it will be a lot easer and safer in the long run
How many amps is your panel now that feeds your house
I am a electrician so can help you I do this every day How far is the shop from your house

I agree. The trenching work might be a lot cheaper if the utility co does it, rather than a private company. For me it was over $10/foot difference for the run. And now I have another 400 amp panel to play with. And the utility co even supplied the meter and base. My only responsibility was hanging it and the work inside the building.

Check with them on the base billing fee. Dominion's is only $7 per month, or thereabouts.

 

[lostcause]

That is bad suggestion for my area the monthly meter fees are ridiculous.
A friend was going to do the separate meter thing.
He took my suggestion and went from 100A on his house to 200 then a 100A to the garage all in conduit with 2 extra 1" pipes and a 1" poly line for water.

The water line can be drained in his basement to keep it from freezing.

i'd first check with your local utility company on the cost of a second meter, especially since you have a long run between buildings. the utility company here offers some sort of garage hookup that puts a separate meter on the garage, but it's not like a separate account. my understanding is that it is just one account and they total up the kw-hrs used for the bill. not saying that it's going to be cheaper, but it's only a phone call to find out.

also, you said it was 170' between buildings. is that the true distance between them? you will need to know the true distance between the house panel and the garage panel to figure out the wire size and ultimate cost. my garage is only about 25' in a straight line from the house, but i had to run about 175' of wire because of the distance i needed to travel from the panel to the garage in order to avoid tearing up the driveway. make sure to remember to add the distance for the ups and downs where you go to the boxes.

 

[sldva00]

... the size of the wire can even be downsized to #4 copper if around 100' in length or shorter. #2 from 100-200 foot, over 200 feet you will have to get a larger diameter wire.

I measured 90' for my wire run (trench). I decided on #2 for vertical distance the wire has to travel (up and down walls). Better safe than sorry, I don't want to experience any power drop.

I've done alot of reading on this, your comments are reassuring, thanks.

 

[sldva00]

I think another look at article 250 in the 2011 code should be made here,,as for the ground rods at the barn ??

Yeah, I was basing the grounding rods on 2008 code. I hadn't realized 2011 was already out. I know it's every 3 years, just hadn't seen anywhere that it was out. I'm not an electrician. Thanks for the headsup, will definitely look into Article 250 of 2011 code.

 

[grsthegreat]

I measured 90' for my wire run (trench). I decided on #2 for vertical distance the wire has to travel (up and down walls). Better safe than sorry, I don't want to experience any power drop.

I've done alot of reading on this, your comments are reassuring, thanks.

for 90 feet, you wont have to worry about any voltage drop. It is necessary to add at least 1 ground rod at the barn (2 are better) and your right, you need to separate the ground and the neutral bus bars on the shop panel. It looks like you've done your research.

good job. The service is the hard part. the shop wiring will be easy compared to the service. Have fun:thumbsup:

As for the 2011 ground rod requirements, even im not sure about that. Idaho HAS NOT adopted the 2011 code yet, and i haven't taken my classes on it yet. we wont use it until July 2012. so i have over a year to worry about what stupid worthless changes they have issued. You cannot ever under ground a system, and there not expensive, so go with 2 rods PLACES AT LEAST 6-8 FEET APART. I personally have added separate ground rods for my plasma CNC machine and computers just to be safe. I even grounded my snadblast cabinet cause i was getting static shocks at times.