Power to pole barn?

[Buckcreek]

I need to run electric to my barn, I called the electric company and they said if the install electric service they would charge commercial rates. The engineer or what ever his title was suggested i run a line from my 200amp service box to the barn. It is around 250' give or take a few feet , I thougt he said to use a #6 wire . when i started checking prices the hardware store said that would not be big enoug to have proper power . I quess what i am trying to ask is what size wire do i need to run a power line 250' and have enough power to run the ocasional welder and lights.

 

[Graydw1]

I ran 2-2-4 direct burial and put it in conduit, 150'. I started with a 100 amp breaker in the box at the house and ran 240 volt. I still have about 90 amps at the shop.

 

[rswyan]

The polebarn we are putting up is about 200' from the house, add another 75' to run the length of the house back to the panel and I'm probably around 300' or so. I plan on running direct burial 4/0 4/0 2/0 Aluminum URD (Underground Rural Distribution) cable.

At $1.87 per foot it's significantly cheaper than copper. I plan on 125 or 150 amp service in the barn.

 

[woodlot]

You need to decide how much power (how many amps) you'll want/need at the barn. Then size the service (wire, main panel breaker, and sub-panel) accordingly. 6 AWG may or may not be ok, but you'll be limited to about a 50amps.

If you require or want more power at the barn, yes, #6 wire is way to small.

You may want to consider hiring help for this one.

 

[PineRidge]

Randy I have never been an advocate for aluminum wire. If you must use it be sure that you use an anti-oxidant like NOALOX paste on all connection points. Aluminum wire can be some tricky stuff if it's not installed properly.

 

[dooleysm]

I am nearing completion of my pole barn and have been consulting an electrician friend who helped me wire my house last year when I built it. We have yet to run the elctric, but have put in 2" conduit from the house to the barn. This is for a 90' run. He had me get 2 runs of #2 wire for the feed, 1 run of #3 for the return, and 1 run of #6 for the ground. You need the 2 runs of the hot wire to get 240V if you want to run a welder or such. These numbers will supposedly allow me to run 100 amp service to the barn. Your mileage may vary.

We also ran a direct bury telephone line from the house. You can't put the phone line in the conduit with the power, or you'll get interference from the electricity.

 

[BobReeves]

Check this out... Wire calculator

 

[rswyan]

Mike,

Thanks.

I'm not really an advocate of it either .... I'd really prefer to use copper .... but at more than twice the price of AL, and no direct burial copper cable available (ya gots to run it in conduit) that's what it's gonna be for me.

The 2/0 2/0/2/0 AL direct burial run up to the old shed has been working fine for about 30 years ... other than when the trackhoe operator cut it in half .... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif It was a real PITA to repair .... but then if they had laid tape in the first place that might have been avoided.

I'm hoping to have a friend who's an electrican do the hook ups to the panels so it will be done correctly (NOALOX paste, etc.) .... I'd prefer to stay out of any panels I can't cut the feed to.

 

[BobReeves]

Exactly why I ran aluminum to my shop and house, two 150 foot runs in 2 inch conduit. A friends dad belonged to an electric coop and bought the wire from them, twice the size for half the price of Lowes. Can't remember the size but remember it really being a (pain) to work with.

 

[rambler]

Use the wire calculator supplied by someone. For a welder & a couple lights & an outlet or 2 you need 60 amps of 220v. Would cover most situations.

Distance is an important thing in sizing wires. Longer the run, the more voltage drop, and the more abuse you give to electric motors if you undersize the wires. In addition to heating the wires, and fire danger, etc.

Looks like #2 copper or # 1/0 al would be the ticket, but play with your numbers yourself. Al is the standard these days for main feeds, just be aware of the connection issues. Would not want it for runs in buildings, but for the main service runs...

Looks like the #6 wire suggested to you would only supply 20 amps at that distance, which is basicly one 110 curcit & 1 lighting curcit. Not nearly enough when you mention 'welder', and not worth fooling with, most of your expense is in digging, boxes, etc. So you save a couple bucks, and end up with nothing worthwhile.

I just had 750 feet of underground, plus 700 feet main service put onto my old farmsite. House is 100 amp, all buildings are 60 amp, and the main is 200 amp, with several junction boxes here & there with 200 to them. Some of that al wire is bigger than the water pipes.....

Sounds like you have an electrician lined up, don't bother the power company, at least around here they are only interested in their stuff, not commercial work. Find an electrician to do these major hookups, then the indoor wiring you can maybe do yourself with a little training.

--->Paul

 

[bebster]

<font color="blue"> I just had 750 feet of underground, plus 700 feet main service put onto my old farmsite </font>

What wire size did you use for that length of a run?

 

[MikeD74T]

I had the same situation with the power company wanting to charge for commercial power. I solved the problem by planting a pole (at my own expense) between the house & barn with a new meter base & 2 disconnects. I then ran underground to both buildings.Now my power all comes thru one meter, at a residential rate, and I can kill the power to either building without pulling the meter. The cost recovery is pretty quick balanced against 2 meters and demand metering for commercial power. Often if you are upgrading the service the power company will eat some of this cost.

 

[PineRidge]

Guess I never knew just how fortunate that we were here in Ohio. 6 years ago when we built our home the electric utility asked us if we wanted the electric brought to our home which is roughly 700' from the road via telephone poles (overhead wiring) or would we rather have underground utilities. When I asked what the charges might be they said that it was on them. So I elected for the underground. They sank one pole close to the street to run the high voltage to then trenched the power line to within 75' of the house where they placed a transformer on a concrete pad. It didn't cost us a penny. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[rambler]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( <font color="blue"> I just had 750 feet of underground, plus 700 feet main service put onto my old farmsite </font>

What wire size did you use for that length of a run? )</font>

The high-line coming in was a really different looking cable - big center conductor, huge, with 9 or so strands of wire surrounding it in the insulation.

For the longer runs of the 220v, it is some big wire. I forget now, if it's the 250 or even bigger. At a certain point, it's not measured by guage any more....... Then the short runs of 60 amp into the buildings is just 6 gauge.

--->Paul

 

[midlf]

Around here the utility would run in a 350mcm for a 200A service. For a 700' run it could be a 500mcm. The HV UG is anywhere from 2kv to 20kv, depending on the utilities primary voltage. The center is the hot conductor and the outside strands are the neutral.