need some help from any electricians!!!!

Woody65 · Jul 20, 2016

ultrarunner said:
Are you going all electric or will you also have propane/natural gas? The reason I ask is once space/water heating and clothes drying is gas it makes a big difference. Folks have a 2400 square foot home built in 1959 and year in and year out they use 12 kWh per day... summer and winter... they heat water and space with natural gas.

Propane will be used for heating, hot water, cooking and dryer.

ultrarunner · Jul 20, 2016

Sounds like you are spot on with a 200 amp service...

Woody65 · Jul 20, 2016

ultrarunner said:
Sounds like you are spot on with a 200 amp service...

Thanks, now if I could get a NYSEG field consultant to come out I could start preparing for the install. It's funny that I am trying to give them a job and a lifelong customer but I cannot get a phone number for the field division. Only a fax number. Emails from them can't be answered. They come back undeliverable. If I resided there, ( I am 250 miles away ) I could walk in and talk to them in person. Very frustrating...

ultrarunner · Jul 20, 2016

Long Distance sure does complicate things.

I've found simply appearing in person tends to expedite things... hard to do from afar.

One time I had an issue with the city and was getting no where... went to the city managers office and basically camped out... let the receptionist know nothing was more important to me than achieving a resolution... of course, always polite and concise with documents in hand.

With State and county issues I have turned to my elected representative a few times... amazing what one phone call from an elected official can do to get you to the right person.

I do know others that simply do not have the time and the next best approach is to find who is local and "Plugged" in to the system... the contractors all the gals know and like when they come in to pull permits... seen it in person.

Out of area requests are the easiest to dismiss...

dstig1 · Jul 21, 2016

Similar to what I did. Built the shop first and so I ran all utilities to that, and then distributed to the house from there. They made me add a cut off switch on the shop next to the meter on the run to the house. Still don't get why, but I did it. So perhaps they will say the same to you. I ran "400A service". The quotes are because they call it that, but it is actually 320A (that is the biggest meter socket they allow for residential here without getting out of bounds (probably some monster extra charges). This is one time it really pays to go big. The upcharge is minimal - maybe a coupe hundred $ at most, but it will set you up for no worries down the road. I put a 200A panel in the shop, and another one in the house, fed from that 320A meter. Unless you have a strange situation, I doubt it makes sense to move the utilities later on. Just feed the house from the shop. They had to run primary up next to the shop for me as it would have been a ~600' run total, which was longer than they will do for secondary drops. So the transformer is next to the shop feeding it, and then it runs to the house from there ~300'. That was some monster cable in 3" conduit to keep the voltage drop low.

Anyways...good luck. Just a few bits of background from my experience in this world...

orezok · Jul 21, 2016

Unfortunately, the regulations change due to certain peoples actions. If you list a huge load for "grow lights", you might just get a site visit from a different agency!

Woody65 · Jul 21, 2016

dstig1 said:
Similar to what I did. Built the shop first and so I ran all utilities to that, and then distributed to the house from there. They made me add a cut off switch on the shop next to the meter on the run to the house. Still don't get why, but I did it. So perhaps they will say the same to you. I ran "400A service". The quotes are because they call it that, but it is actually 320A (that is the biggest meter socket they allow for residential here without getting out of bounds (probably some monster extra charges). This is one time it really pays to go big. The upcharge is minimal - maybe a coupe hundred $ at most, but it will set you up for no worries down the road. I put a 200A panel in the shop, and another one in the house, fed from that 320A meter. Unless you have a strange situation, I doubt it makes sense to move the utilities later on. Just feed the house from the shop. They had to run primary up next to the shop for me as it would have been a ~600' run total, which was longer than they will do for secondary drops. So the transformer is next to the shop feeding it, and then it runs to the house from there ~300'. That was some monster cable in 3" conduit to keep the voltage drop low.

Anyways...good luck. Just a few bits of background from my experience in this world...

Thanks for all the info. I think I will do it the same way that you did provided they allow it. I don't see why not. I will have a 1200' run from the pole and maybe a 200' run to the house from the barn.

Woody65 · Jul 21, 2016

I just got a call from the field consultant. I was looking for an appointment next Monday because I will be up there that weekend. He only does the surveys on Tues and Fri. So, I will have to take a couple of sick days and make the trip to meet him. Guess I will get some extra work in while I am there. I'll let ya know how it pans out...