Runnign 100 amp service to garage

[jonnysteals]

I am not aware of any NEC section that would prevent you from making your own "knockout" in the rear of the meter base. But, I can't remember the last time I saw one that didn't have one in it already. Just plan your install so that the meter base and the load center are back to back with the supplied knockouts back to back and use a nipple between them. BTW, I'm not sure which code you're required to follow, but, the 2008 NEC requires the intersystem bonding connect. You can just use a 4 space min. lug machine screwed to the bottom meter base.

So I basically am attaching my grounding wire to this. I plan on running one continous wire from the grouunding rods threw the intersystem bonding connect and right to the breaker box. Should that be ok?


I also am now planning on attaching the meter and breaker box togther so i can punch out the back. Its a metal pole barn so I am sure they sell some rubber gasket that i can use around the metal edges so that I run the wires threw without the risk of nicking the wires?

 

[aczlan]

I also am now planning on attaching the meter and breaker box togther so i can punch out the back. Its a metal pole barn so I am sure they sell some rubber gasket that i can use around the metal edges so that I run the wires threw without the risk of nicking the wires?

Use a piece of conduit or a short pipe nipple to do that.

Aaron Z

 

[whitedogone]

So I basically am attaching my grounding wire to this. I plan on running one continous wire from the grouunding rods threw the intersystem bonding connect and right to the breaker box. Should that be ok?


I also am now planning on attaching the meter and breaker box togther so i can punch out the back. Its a metal pole barn so I am sure they sell some rubber gasket that i can use around the metal edges so that I run the wires threw without the risk of nicking the wires?

Use a PLASTIC nipple between the two. Since you're on the line side of the first disconneting means, if you use metal here it would have to be bonded on one end. Plastic makes thinks easier. As far as the intersysten bonding connect, you just attach it to the meter base with a machine screw and lock washer. You don't need to attach anything to it . I'll try to post a pic or 2 of a similar service if I run across one this week. I inspect 10-20 of these a week.

 

[jonnysteals]

Use a PLASTIC nipple between the two. Since you're on the line side of the first disconneting means, if you use metal here it would have to be bonded on one end. Plastic makes thinks easier. As far as the intersysten bonding connect, you just attach it to the meter base with a machine screw and lock washer. You don't need to attach anything to it . I'll try to post a pic or 2 of a similar service if I run across one this week. I inspect 10-20 of these a week.

Thanks. That would be great if I can get a picture.

I think I found a picture of running the load cables out the back of the box.

Found an offset that looks liek it might work for betwen the meter and breaker box.
http://www.homedepot.com/Electrical...langId=-1&storeId=10051#/?c=1&1z115oi=1z115oi
I also found the expansion jount that will connect to the bottom of the meter. For 20 bucks its cheap insurance.
http://www.homedepot.com/Electrical...splay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&storeId=10051

 

[grsthegreat]

Be real careful with the meter section. NO HOLES can be drilled above the level of the meter. All meter boxes have 2 rear facing knockouts for use with the load side wires.


If you drill any holes above this level....you will get busted. these holes can allow water onto the meter socket wiring and is not allowed.


as the picture shows the overhead wires from the utility come in from the top (overhead feed) and the wires into the house go thru a lower knockout.

 

[Qapla]

...as the picture shows the overhead wires from the utility come in from the top (overhead feed) and the wires into the house go thru a lower knockout.

Since your service feed is coming from below, your install will look a bit different then your picture.

Take care when routing all the wires so that you do not cause connection problems by having a wire from under another wire pushing on the connection.

 

[jonnysteals]

Yea my electric company has pretty strict standards on how to run the wires. In the 100 page manual it gives you several differnt options on how to run the wires. I am hoping to start buying parts now but I won't apply for the permit until my addition to the garage is done. I don't want to have two permits open at the same time.

 

[ThomasH]

I will mention one other thing - most locations will not allow schedule 40 pipe or fittings to be used on exposed service entrance feeds, it has to be schedule 80 from 2 feet below ground to the meter.

 

[timswi]

I will mention one other thing - most locations will not allow schedule 40 pipe or fittings to be used on exposed service entrance feeds, it has to be schedule 80 from 2 feet below ground to the meter.

That's the way it is here too.

 

[mx842]

I ran into the same problem when I built my house. I didn't want to cut out a 50' clear cut easement all the way to the house so I designed my driveway so that the power line would crisscross the road several times to keep the easement width down to a min. Then the last 300' I wanted buried. The first guy came out and laughed at my idea and said they would have to have a separate easement and if I wanted the last 300' buried it would cost me $5500.00. I then laughed at him and told him to take a hike.

The power company has to provide you with service regardless of where it is. Yeah they will want to do it the cheapest way but they will bend and normally give the customer what they want you just have to talk to the right person.

To those saying don't use Alu.....what do you think the power companies use? Alu is ok especially if it is installed in conduit and unless something has changed over the past couple years the power company doesn't use conduit unless it passes under a road bed or some other obstruction.

Push them and by all means do have them put in 200Amps the cost is minimal.

Also the 18" to 4' rule is a funny one. Of-course you want the wire deep enough to protect it from breakage but sometimes it's just not possible to put it 4' deep. When they buried my service it was really wet and I told the guy that was in charge of laying the drop...(the same guy that came out the first time and told me it would cost $5000.00 to run the drop underground) that the ground was really wet and that the big vibrating machine he wanted to use probably was not going to work. He basically blew me off and said they use it all the time and this is no different than any other job he had done.

I stepped back but I could resist a little you'll be sorry word or two before I did. They had a regular ditch witch on a trailer that would have buried the line in less than an hour back fill in all but he was determined to use this giant 10 ton vibrating thing. They took it off the trailer and backed it up to the pole and connected the wire reel up to the machine and took off. As soon as he turned up the R's I could feel it shaking the ground 25 feet away and before he got 10 feet the machine was pumping up water and the machine was sinking lower and lower until it would not travel forward any more. What was worst was that the machine was deeper in the ground than the wire.

I just turned and walked away when the boss man told one of the drivers to bring up the winch truck to pull it out. I figured at this point the guy would ditch the idea of using this big machine and use the smaller ditch witch but he was dead set against using any logic and was determined to use the big shaker. This went on for over half a day and at about the hundred foot mark they had three trucks and the big shaker stuck. I was so mad because they had tore up over an Ac, of ground and it would take me a year or more to get it back to it's natural state which by the time it was over I had to take down 12 trees because they were so badly damaged.

Now you would think by this time this guy would have figured out that this big shaker was just not going to cut it but no he still had not had enough. A great big wrecker came in and this guy was as big a hard head as the electric guy was because as he was backing into the drive I flagged him to stop because he was backing into a spot where there was a septic system for the little house in front of the property and he almost backed over me. I yelled at him to stop and he jumped out of the truck like John Wayne ready to operate on some bad guys. He stopped just short of me having to break western on him myself and I calmly told him he needed to move over a few feet and back on to the drive way because I didn't want this big truck stuck in the septic field. He mumbled something and jumped back in and said look out! and backed up anyway and once his front wheels hit one of the lines the truck sank to the headlights.

I could not believe it, I just turned around and went to the house to call the power company to inform them they were going to have a big problem if they didn't get someone down there that had at least 1 oz of brain matter in their heads. Before long some big wheel came rolling up and saw what was going on, now they had 3 big wreckers at the site with two of them stuck in the septic field and 4 power company trucks stuck all over my property along with this great big shaker that was just barely visible sticking out of the ground.

This big wheel turned out to be one of the construction engineers I had talked to before hand that understood where I was coming from that gave the go ahead to put the service in the way I wanted. When he got out of the truck he had this look on his face like WTF! is going on here. Man.. he got those guys hopping and he chewed on that poor boss man's butt for over 20 minutes. They got out all of the company trucks with the one truck that was sitting idle, you know, the one that had the smaller ditch witch hanging off the back. He used the winch on that truck to pull out all their trucks out but it took two trucks hooked together to get the big shaker out and once it was out he told the boss man to get that thing out of there and back to the shop. He also told him that he wanted him and only him to power wash all the mud out of it before he signed out. That thing had a tandum truck load or more of root mat and dirt packed in every crack and crevice of it.

As he got each truck out he sent the driver to the shop all accept the last one he kept with him along with the driver of the truck that had the small machine on it. By now it was after 6 o'clock and by 7:30 they had loaded the machine up and they were heading out after finishing running the wire and mounting the service box.

He sent out a landscaping company to clean up the mess the best they could and told me they would come back when it dried up to fix it to where it would look like nothing ever happened. They also had to put in two new septic lines out front but they back charged the wrecker company for that because the driver was a complete fool in backing in after he was told what was there.

It took 2 years to get everything back in order but they never did come out and fix the places where the wire was almost out of the ground. I mulched over the wires several times but still now over 20 years later I can go out and see the bare wire sticking out of the ground. So I guess some times it don't matter how deep it is as long as it's not too obvious.:laughing: