Wiring house & shop

[Corkpuller]

It doesn’t matter what or where you provide the service and who comes first, shop or house.
What matters to you is the cost and the end result of a clean installation.

There’s nothing wrong with with having a separate meter for each if that benefits your layout.

The gentleman who posted the photo of the pad mount UG XFMR with the service box next to it is the ideal situation.
One box, one meter. Run 2 individual services from there to each structure.

But, if your structures are going to be more than a hundred feet or so from each other the meter for each deal could be better. You won’t necessarily need a separate XFMR for each, but may depending on distance.

Two things I’d consider first.
1) cost of Power Co running Primary “close” to each structure vs. the cost of running the Secondary (service wire) from that point of connection. I personally would want to limit the amount of secondary service wire.
2) Where will you need to trench to get from the Primary/ Meter point to serve each structure.
If you’ll be crossing a creek, concrete drive, etc. the cost of any repairs in the future could come in to play.
What about your Septic system, garden area, water lines.

 

[strantor]

I believe you need to start by talking to the power company. They will offer suggestions, solutions and variables based on your location and costs. We may suggest methods that your power company will not do.

Your power company sounds way more helpful than mine! I'm actually in awe of what you just said. I tried for months just to get an answer for what power pole/meter can I needed to set, to get power to my barn. The company I pay for service (TXU) deflected me to the company who manages the power delivery (Centerpoint) who deflected me to a list of authorized consultants they use, most of which would not answer the phone or return calls, and if they did, refused to talk to anyone but a licensed electrician, and expected to be paid to come out and look before giving an answer. I was bounced around between different people on this list until I talked to my neighbor who is a licensed electrician. He tried to get a quick answer for me but it turned into something that was taking so much if his time that I felt we were approaching the boundary between friendly neighbor help and paid work so I told him not to worry about it. I ended up just taking a chance and picking one of the 5 options for power pole/meter cans they had at the hardware store and called them to run power to it. Turns out I picked the right one on the first try. Yay!



I'm not an electrician and this isn't electrical or engineering advice. Just my own thoughts. My barn was about 60ft from a power pole on my property line (different power pole than the one which powers my house), so getting a separate service ran to it was the obvious first choice. But due to the issues I was having getting the power company to confirm the requirements, for a while I was looking to run power to my barn (300ft from the house) from the house panel. To put a 200A panel in the barn would have required several dollars per foot worth of copper large enough not to run into voltage drop problems. One solution I was considering was using step-up/step-down transformers and HV transmission line. It's the same tactic the power company uses to get power to your property. To run a 200A/240V service through a 3kV transformer would reduce the transmission line requirement to 16A. That's a LOT less copper (but more expensive HV wire).

I don't know if you could convince a regular electrical contractor to do this for you, as it's not common, they would have a lot of homework to do, they would lose money on the mark-up of tons of copper they would otherwise be selling you, there might be implications on their insurance, etc. But if you're DIY'ing this whole thing anyway, this might be a way to save thousands of dollars given the lengths you're trying to get power. IF you have any electrical knowledge and access to appropriate safety gear.

First (best) option though of course would be to have the power company run poles and lines all over your property.

 

[texasranger556]

I agree, I'm planning to build a shop and called the power company to ask about 3 phase service. They won't even talk to me until I submit all the plans and pay the application fee.

 

[LittleBill21]

be aware depending where you are, a separate meter is at a minimum 20 dollars a month for 0 usage, my barn uses very little power per month, so i have a long power line from the house. so far i have save 2500 dollars since i moved in, i prolly used 15 dollars of actual power.

 

[ovrszd]

be aware depending where you are, a separate meter is at a minimum 20 dollars a month for 0 usage, my barn uses very little power per month, so i have a long power line from the house. so far i have save 2500 dollars since i moved in, i prolly used 15 dollars of actual power.

Mine is $34 per month, per meter. Currently I have four on two different properties. $140 per month before any use.

When I get my build done and sell the other property I'll be down to one. That's why I gladly went the transformer pad route.

 

[fried1765]

be aware depending where you are, a separate meter is at a minimum 20 dollars a month for 0 usage, my barn uses very little power per month, so i have a long power line from the house. so far i have save 2500 dollars since i moved in, i prolly used 15 dollars of actual power.

I did the same!
Ran 500' underground from 200A SE in house to 150A SE box in barn.
One service= one bill for past 34 years.
Big saving!

 

[ovrszd]

I did the same!
Ran 500' underground from 200A SE in house to 150A SE box in barn.
One service= one bill for past 34 years.
Big saving!

I'm figuring that out. I'm just slow.

 

[Jchonline]

I'm interested in building a house and shop on some land. I have not contacted the power company yet as I wanted to get some advice on how to route the power into my property and if I have any options available to me. The entrance to my property is funnel shaped with about a 300' road leading into the gate. On my attachment, point 1 is where the end of the county road meets my private road, point 2 is where my private road leads into my property, point 3 is where my shop will be located and point 4 is where my house will be located. The distance between point 2 and point 4 is approximately 470 feet if the wire would be cheaper going that way first. My question is does it matter if I take power to the shop and then to the house, or do you have to go to the house first and then to the shop? The house will be around 1600 sq ft and no unique power needs. We'll have I guess "standard" HVAC, stove, water heater, dryer and well pump connections, so I guess 200A would do it. The shop won't be anything really unique either. It'll be about 1300 sq ft and I'll be running only 1 power tool at a time like a table saw or planer, or maybe 2 at a time like a dust collector while the tool is running. I would like to be able to run a 240v welder, but just a "standard" buzz box stick welder. It'll be just pretty much a "hobby grade" shop, not a commercial enterprise, so maybe a 100A deal? Maybe 40-60A would do it, I don't know. I *will* feed some stuff out to outdoor outlets, lights, etc for animals, coops, pens or whatever, but that probably won't be much of a draw. I'm a "one man show" so the odds of running anything much simultaneously that would overload the system is very doubtful. Ideally, I'd like to put a little utility building just inside my gate and then trench everything myself as I have time so I don't lose any more trees than I have to. If the power company brings the line in overhead, I think it's a 15-30' wide lane they have to have and I'd rather not cut that many trees down if I can help it. However, depending on how much they're willing to run for free versus what I have to pay for, that may sway that decision. If anyone can look at my map and at the power company sheet and tell me what I'm looking at, I'd appreciate it. I'll answer any questions I can. I'm not planning on doing this work myself, I'll be hiring an electrician, I just wanted to educate myself as much as possible before approaching the power company. The older I get (translation, the grumpier LOL) the less I'm willing to take what a single employee of any company tells me as "the gospel". I'm certainly not going to argue with a rep from the utility company, I'd just like to be able to bounce ideas off them if they only see "one way to skin a cat" if you will. Thank you.

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It doesnt matter where you get 200 AMP service from the local utility (at least 200A is the common drop here in CO). Bring it into the garage, then run underground condiut to the house. Garage is main service panel, house is just a subpanel (even if it has more circuits...doesnt matter).

What I would do is get 200A dropped at a boundary line on your property. Then trench from there to where you want it. If the garage is closest, trench there. Then trench from garage to house site once that is needed. In CO the utility company must run it up to your property. From there you can get a licensed electrician to run it to your house. If you do the trenching it is usually much shallower (in CO 18 inches if owner does it, 3 ft if utility company does it). You trench, get the proper conduit and gauge wire (electrician can tell you based on the run) then cover it up. Consider adding a second conduit line if the electrician recommends. Sorry from that rate sheet I cant tell what it would cost if you trench. It looks like you still have to buy the conduit from APCO at $3.14 per foot which is a racket. If that is the case you can figure it out. It doesnt mention the wire to be used either.

After careful consideration we are going off grid anyway, so none of the utility company stuff really mattered.

 

[ovrszd]

I couldn't determine a cost either. Very confusing.

I've never complained because I had too much service. Be very careful about cutting corners in this regard.

 

[ededic]

I contacted my power company and paid a $75 consultation fee and they came out, helped me plan what I wanted.

Meters will cost you lots of money per meter, per month even before you use a kilowatt so I reduced my four meters to one. That was the plan I told the power company and they helped me with the rest.

We did 400amps buried across the road to my shop and we will bury 200amp off to the house when we build it. I put an automated transfer switch at the shop to kick a 22K propane generator if power should fail and it will power both house and shop.

Power company estimated $2,400 and said I would need a pole in my yard to cross the road. I said absolutely not, bury it and it cost me $450 total in the end.

Like others have said don’t skimp on this, you will kick yourself.