70 amp service

[Gary_in_Indiana]

<font color="blue"> Utility companies...can run lighter gauge service laterals from the transformer to your meter than you are allowed to run from the meter into the service entrance.</font>

Now there's a scary thought! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

I was lucky with mine and the utility company asked me what I intended doing in the barn and (thinking on my feet for once in my life) I said, "I'll have compressors, welders, plasma cutters sandblasters and some other equipment running in there" so they ran a #2 drop in from the pole for me instead of the standard #4. It was the same kind of 'logic' that I employed when I went with the 200 amp service in the first place; If I get it now, it's there. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif If I don't and then need to upgrade later, it's going to be expensive. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[swnoel]

It wouldn't surprise me if there wasn't enough power to your home...

Contact the power company and discuss your options.

I would personally have 2 seperate 200 amp services, 1 for the house and 1 for the work shop, especially when your dealing with welding equipment.

$10 extra per month is nothing compared to the aggrevation of NOT having enough power.

 

[Boondox]

Took the collective advice of many responses and started with the village. Village electric says there is plenty of power at the pole across the dirt road from us, but the overhead lead to the house is undersized. But, since it's an overhead run instead of a buried line, the village will upgrade that at no charge, connecting it to the meter.

From the meter on is my responsibility. Called an electrician and after looking it over and listening to my (exaggerated) needs, he suggested bringing 200 amps into a new box, splitting it there with 100 amps going directly to the shop and another 100 amps feeding the existing box. That sounds pretty good to me!

Thanks again for all the sound advice! Pete

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Sounds like you got some good advice. Just make sure the electrician understands the things you'll be doing in the shop. I suspect that 100 amps is enough but like has been said before, cheaper to do it now than upgrade later /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

Pete,

Just for the fun of it, ask your electrician how much more it would cost to bring 400 amps in and split it into two 200 amp services. I think you'll be surprised at how little the difference might be (though that's based on my experience with comparing 100 amp to 200 amp service). If you go with the 400 going to two 200 amp boxes, you'll never have to worry about whether or not you'll have enough for about anything you'll ever want to do.

I know it's easy for me to spend your money like this, but, trust me, it'll never be cheaper to do than it is right now. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[tc35dforme]

Gary, the trap on the 400 amp is that you'll enter the 'commercial' market product line. In general... 200 amp and less is considered ' residential' and is priced very competatively. Above that you pay a premium. There is no real standard or code that says so, its just the way the industry has evolved.

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

I kind of wondered about that. I still hope Pete looks into it with his electrical contractor. I'm still curious to know what the cost differential is, even if it is on the salty side. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[buckeye]

When we built our house last year we had 400 amp service put in. We broke 200 amps off for the house and left 200 amps (and a dedicated disconnect box/switch) for a future building/barn. I was wondering, how far can you take the electricty after it has went through the transformer. I originally planned to put the building a 100' or so from the house. However, after living there for a year, there is a better spot (in terms of traffic flow, etc.) 150' away. Is there a limit and if so, how much?

 

[bgott]

Ask your electrician about a pass through box. A pass through box has lugs on the bottom of the buss bars so you can connect your branch circuit conductors and then run to the barn. That way you can cut everything off in the house and have the full 200 amps in the barn if you ever need it. You can add a disconnect below the box so you can cut the barn power if you want.

 

[tc35dforme]

How far ?....Well that a fair question. Wire is sized to allow for a specific amperage at a specific voltage drop. The amount of heat generated and the wires ability to disipate that heat also play a factor.

To get electricity down a wire, you have a resistance to flow ( which is quite small in copper wire ). This resistance creates heat ( just like a toaster, but hopefully a lot less ) and costs volts ( pressure to push the electricity ). You don't want too high a voltage drop or your 220 volts just became 200 volts and the electrical equipment and motors aren't that happy.

To compensate for this drop, you can oversize the wire making the electron flow easier and reducing the drop.

Now for the good news...a 200 amp feeder shouldn't really care about that extra 50'. Go for an extra 250' and you'll need to start looking at the size of the wire to minimize the voltage drop.

You're probably looking at a 4/0 feeder size. That's about the size of your finger !!