grsthegreat...get in here!

[grsthegreat]

Cool! Hopefully today it will clear up a little and I can get out and do some measuring. This wire I found at Lowes was $2.65 a foot so I guess I will use that, $600 is way better than $1600.00 that's for sure.

Wow 8', I think I'll go the ground rod route. It's hard enough to get one of those small rods down 5' in this dirt I would need a pile driver to get the pipe I have down to 8'.:laughing:

Thanks for your input you have been most helpful.

Also, if your ground is super hard, you can always LAY the gorund ron in the trench. We do that alot of times. I bend up the last 10-12 inches (90 degrees) and bury it lengthwise in the trench All the connectors are direct burial , and all i need is to have it inspected prior to cover. Totally legal and easier

 

[mx842]

Also, if your ground is super hard, you can always LAY the gorund ron in the trench. We do that alot of times. I bend up the last 10-12 inches (90 degrees) and bury it lengthwise in the trench All the connectors are direct burial , and all i need is to have it inspected prior to cover. Totally legal and easier

I hadn't thought of that or if something like that would even be legal. It is a good trick to know though. Right now the ground is fairly soft down to about 4' because of all the rain we have had but that wont last long. I may just pick up a couple rods and get them in the ground before the fall dry spell we normally get around the first part of Oct.

Right now I have all I can do with the storm cleanup but I am making headway. A couple more days like I had this weekend and I'll have most all of the trees that fell around the barn because of the storm as well as the ones that I decided to take out that were too close for comfort all cleaned up. Then I get to rebuild the parts that got knocked over and finish getting it under roof. Right now I'm a full month or more behind as I had planned to have the roof on by the first week in Sept.

 

[wedge40]

Rather then start a new thread for one question, I thought I'd post here.

I'm having the basic electric done by a contractor. 200 amp service
I'm going to guess it's no more then 150' from the distro panel to the meter base.. Not sure what wire size he plans on using but reading here I know 4/0 seems over kill. Will I save that much money by using something smaller?

The main question I have, I asked that the cable be buried in conduit and he would like to know if I want schedule 40 or schedule 80. I figure 40 should be more then adequate.

Wedge

 

[grsthegreat]

Rather then start a new thread for one question, I thought I'd post here.

I'm having the basic electric done by a contractor. 200 amp service
I'm going to guess it's no more then 150' from the distro panel to the meter base.. Not sure what wire size he plans on using but reading here I know 4/0 seems over kill. Will I save that much money by using something smaller?

The main question I have, I asked that the cable be buried in conduit and he would like to know if I want schedule 40 or schedule 80. I figure 40 should be more then adequate.

Wedge

4/0 alum is required for 200 amp service at that distance. schedule 40 for all underground and schedule 80 for anything above ground.

 

[leonz]

Hello and good morning Wedge40,
if you do not mind me answering
the thread I would like to answer it.

For the money involved the schedule 80
conduit is going to save you a lot of grief.
The reason is the seasonal frost heaving
and settling as the pipe is more ridgid and
thus thicker.

Be sure to run the pipe into the disconnect
box and avoid leaving any exposed cable to
let water enter the pipe from rain or snow.

Four aught cable is not overkill for a 200 amp box
if you are going to run separate 100 amp box to
your garage-so think of it that way.

I wish the fool I bought my house from had
installed a separate box for my garage to allow
for a 100 ampere service and the ability to tie in
a generator set to power my home in the event
of an electric outage.

As it is now my service is one hundred ampere's
but if the washer, dryer,toaster and water coolers
hot water loop and the toaster are running
the breaker will kick out as the (*&^&*()*&^%&
looped the circuits rather than add several more fuses
at the time. I have circuit breakers no so that helps a lot
but the wiring is still old.

 

[mx842]

Well I done hit a snag it seems. I was all ready to run the service wire into the panel that I moved a bunch of circuits from and now I have to figure out how to connect that big azz wire to the buss bar. I did a lot of checking before I got this far and then no one mentioned that this is something that can't be done. Now when I started checking around for the connection kit that was supposed to be available, everyone says, are you stewpid? That is something you just cannot do. Back to almost sq one I guess.

 

[grsthegreat]

they make add on lugs that can be added to allow for large sized wires to be added to the #4 ports of a busbar. what brand panel do you have

for instance here is one that can be added to a Siemens panel to allow for 2/0 sized wires

http://www.amazon.com/Siemens-ECLK2-4-2-Neutral-Lug/dp/B004H61F2K

you simply remoce 3 of the small screws and insert this lug


just look up neutral lug kit

heres home depot

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/cat...=None&Ntpr=1&Ntpc=1&selectedCatgry=SEARCH+ALL

 

[mx842]

It's a Crouse Hinds panel.....I built the house in 92 so it's that old and don't have the pass through lugs installed like some of the newer ones do. I saw some of those neutral lug kits but couldn't figure out how they would work, maybe i'll take another look see. Good to see you are still kicking, not that I'm trying to kill you off or anything:laughing: but I have been really busy and don't get to sneak in much lately.

 

[hr3]

If your still having trouble finding lugs for your panel you can try these,, Done it and it's a very good item..." Burndy BISR250" BISR250 -- UNITAP INLINE SPLICER REDUCER, MFG BURNDY ELECTRICAL - West Side Electric & Industrial Supply Co

 

[mx842]

I looked at those and am having sort of a hard time figuring out how they wood work for me. How can I reduce the wire size and still be able to handle 200 Amps? Am I missing something?