Electricity on site for well

[1930]

Im meeting the Seco engineer this Fri. There is already a pole and line running past my property on the same side of my property. Is there anything anyone would recommend to me or any experiences that I can learn from?

I understand that things vary from state to state or county to county even, Im sure Seco is only interested in whats best for them and so Id like to have some knowledge.

I have a temp pole and meter box/breaker box already, Marion County will let you build your own house as long as you sign waivers and pass inspection, Ive already signed the waivers to run from Seco line to my well.

At this point Seco is gonna look over my property on Fri and prob give me ideas where to put temp pole, Im assuming next to the well somewhere, they will get the juice over to temp pole and I take it from there.

I guess I can opt for poles on my property or a buried line, I prefer it buried, not sure how far they can bury a cable? I would have a distance of approx 5-600 feet from the power pole outside of my property.

Im hoping that I can save a bunch of money by trenching it myself.

Thats about all I know.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

5-600 ft is not far at all for underground feed. My main house is 800' from the pole, underground feed 200 amp service. After I subdivided the property, the cottage I built is 600' from the same pole. They put a simple J-box at the base of the pole, tapped into the feed going to the other house, and ran underground feed to my second 200 amp service.

You should easily be able to get underground service.

Distance and needed amps will determine the size of the cable they drop. Out here, the electric co-op charges 'by the foot' based upon the required size. The electric company will only provide the cable and hookup to the meter base. The meter bases used to be able to be installed by the property owner, but no longer.... now required to be installed by a licensed electrician. Trenches can be done by the owner.

 

[AndyMA]

Find out where the transformer will be. Better if on your end by load. Poco will run MV like 4kV or 13.8 kV. Probably direct burial

Andy

 

[Roadworthy]

Check local rules. Conduit may be required, size will be dependent on wire size used and the utility requirements. I far prefer conduit to direct burial for ease of replacement if required.

 

[AndyMA]

I totally agree conduit is better. Just way more expensive

Andy

 

[GSVette]

I trenched, installed conduit, sweeps and set the transformer base for my 200’ underground 400 amp service install. Inland Power ran the feeder cable, did the junction box and transformer hookups and set the meter-all for around 5 grand or thereabouts.

 

[1930]

Thanks, I'm looking forward to the meeting tomm and getting the ball rolling. My buddy just had his done up the street, he did one pole and the rest buried, total distance of about 450 ft. Cost was just north of 2g

 

[oosik]

My power comes from the main line - some 5000 feet East of my property. It's run in over head on poles. Goes underground from my breaker panel to my house. They ran in full power to a transformer pole on my property. This was 1982. Overhead cost $5400. Buried would have been - $35,000.

 

[RoyKing]

Recently Clay electric for homes has stopped putting stepdowns on the pole, they are going to pad mounted transformers with 3" conduit to the transformer, and direct burial to house if the line doesn't cross a driveway. No idea on the charges.

 

[mred2]

I would think that in most states along the coast that they would place underground as much as they can due to the high cost of trees on the lines after a storm. I know years ago, my power was put in underground to my house from the highway, 450 yards. The power told me the cost was less than running it on poles due to the maintenance costs of trimming the trees for the next 5 years. I have never loss power from a tree falling on my lines. On the highway, we mostly have cars running off the road and taking out power poles.