Spencer's Pole Barn Project

[Spencer]

Re: Spencer\'s Pole Barn Project

I have attached a diagram the the electric company faxed over to me. This is the type of central distribution point that they would normally allow farmers or campgrounds to put in. They don't normally allow regular homeowners to do this but in my case they made an exception. I made the attachment a .pdf file (Adobe Acrobat) and I hope you all can read that format. I have never tried attaching a .pdf file before so here goes. You can download Adobe Acrobat Reader for free at
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

 

[Spencer]

Re: Spencer\'s Pole Barn Project

This photo shows what I actually came up with. I tried to follow their guidlines. You can see their green transformer on the left side of the photo.

 

[Spencer]

Re: Spencer\'s Pole Barn Project

Here is a closer view of the central distibution point I built.

 

[WVBill]

Re: Spencer\'s Pole Barn Project

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( in my case they made an exception. )</font>

I'm wondering if they made the exception in your case because they realize they significantly under-sized the original cable for the "200 amp" service to your house.

I'd probably go ahead run the new buried cable to the barn - making sure it is sized for at least 200 amp service if not 400 - and put in the central distribution point. Then consider running a new 200 amp cable over to the house either now or later.

I think 135 amps is seriously under-sized for a modern house. Do you ever experience problems?

 

[Spencer]

Re: Spencer\'s Pole Barn Project

This photo shows the meter socket (or trough) that they supplied me with. I didn't want the normal 200 amp homeowner version so luckily they ordered me this oversize meter socket. This version is rated at 320 amp continuous /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif.

For Inspector 507, Franz, and others. I hope I wired this right, I am assuming the neutral goes in the middle and that I should have fed my load center from the bottom of this meter socket like I did. I left the wire on the left unmarked (just black) and I marked the wire on the right with red tape to identify that as L2, I hope that is the normal practice. If you guys notice anything wrong in this series of photos please speak up so I can correct it before they come to hook up the meter and before my inspector comes out.

 

[Spencer]

Re: Spencer\'s Pole Barn Project

Here is a picture of the load center that I bought. It is a Cutler Hammer model CH8B200RF
Their website incorrectly identifies this panel as a NEMA-1 Indoor panel. It is definately a NEMA-3 Raniproof Outdoor panel. This is a 200 amp panel supplied with a 200 amp main breaker that will serve as a disconnect for the Central Distribution Point. The beauty of this panel is that it is a "Feed-Through" panel. You can see the extra set of lugs on the bottom of the load center and the extra lug on the bottom of the neutral buss. I will feed my pole barn off of those lugs and later I can add a 150 amp breaker to this panel to feed another building on my property. I may also add some smaller breakers to feed some dawn to dusk lights for the driveway or my storage yard.

Again Inspector507, Franz, and others if you see anything wrong with the way I have wired this please speak up. I have the unmarked L1 line on the left, the red L2 on the right, and the neutral marked in white going to the buss on the right side of the panel. I am feeding this panel from the top as you can see.

Edit starts here:
By the way that is 300mcm copper cable I have running from the meter socket to the load center. That is the largest wire that would fit in the load center lugs without using a Burndy compression fitting. Everybody thinks that size wire is more than adequate for the short length between the two panels. The electric company will probably feed the meter with even smaller wire unless I can convince them otherwise.

 

[Spencer]

Re: Spencer\'s Pole Barn Project

Some of you may be wondering why I have these two panels mounted so far apart with that funky looking conduit between them. The attached photo should clear that up. The meter panel is much deeper (2") than the load center. The knockouts are centered in the sides of each panel so therefore the knockouts are 1" off-center from each other. They do make something called a meter-offset that accomodates this 1" difference but apparently they don't make them for 2 1/2" conduit. They only make those up to 2". So I went with two 45 degree pieces and a coupler. I wanted the load center to be up higher anyway so this worked out nicely. I have the tops of the two panels at the exact same height. The attached picture is from the top looking down between the panel. Why did I have to go with 2 1/2" conduit you ask? Well first off I was pulling the wire myself so I wanted to make it as easy on myself as possible. Secondly I am trying to make this setup work with whatever the future holds in store. I don't see myself becoming less dependant on electricity in the future.

 

[Spencer]

Re: Spencer\'s Pole Barn Project

Here is the last photo in this series. It shows the completed panels ready for the electric company to come out and do their work. The nasty looking tape is to try and keep the rain out of the meter trough until they get the actual meter hooked up. They need to hand dig the 5 or so feet from the transformer over to the central distribution point, bury their wires, and hook up the meter. Once that is done and my work has been inspected I will get another permit to trench over to the pole barn and run my own wire (375 to 400 feet of 350mcm aluminum). We'll see how this goes, I am not sure if I will focus on getting the other half of my roof on or finishing this electric up next.

 

[Spencer]

Re: Spencer\'s Pole Barn Project

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( </font><font color="blueclass=small">( in my case they made an exception. )</font>

I'm wondering if they made the exception in your case because they realize they significantly under-sized the original cable for the "200 amp" service to your house.

I'd probably go ahead run the new buried cable to the barn - making sure it is sized for at least 200 amp service if not 400 - and put in the central distribution point. Then consider running a new 200 amp cable over to the house either now or later.

I think 135 amps is seriously under-sized for a modern house. Do you ever experience problems? )</font>

No actually they made an exception because I have a buddy that works there. He's also the one who got me the 320 amp continous meter trough.

I am planning on having a 200 amp service in the pole barn. I plan on doing some welding and maybe even get an old mill at some point but I don't think I would ever need more than 200 amps. Heck most guys are getting by with 60 amps or so. I thought a full 200 amps was overkill (and so does the electric company, the electrical distributor, and all the electricians at the electrical distributor who were all giving advice while I was there).

I haven't considered running new cable to feed the house with but I did want to hook it up to the same meter down at the central distribution point. That way I would only have one meter on the property but the electric company would not go for that. Right now I am paying 0.078712 cents per KWH on the meter for the house. They are going to charge me around .10 cents per KWH for the meter down at the central distribution point. If I didn't build the central distribution point and just let them put the meter on my pole barn, and then I wanted power to another building they would charge an extra .02 cents per KWH on that meter too. So this is the best case scenario I can get away with.

Its hard to answer your question on whether or not I have experience problems in the house due to that 125 amp breaker. I have had the electric company out here and they did a load test at the meter. Both sides were loaded pretty equally and the technician could not believe that I did not have significant voltage drop due to the 453 foot length of the cable. The only complaint that I have with power is that I seem to go through way too many of those KWH's compaired to my last house and I go through lightbulbs like crazy.

 

[Inspector507]

Re: Spencer\'s Pole Barn Project

Spencer,
At the risk of sounding uniformed......Here goes /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
I personally have never seen this type of metering enclosure used on a 200A 1Ø3W residential service before. The manufacturer says it's good for 1Ø3W or 3Ø3W. Do you know if you are to use the center terminals or not? That 5th jaw is for the 3Ø3W meter I believe.
There should be a neutral kit added somewhere to land the neutral wires which is bonded to the enclosure.

But I've been wrong before. Please check with your Power Company to make sure you have it wired correctly.