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About a month ago I had a 200 amp underground service activated. The power company charged just under $1000. For that, they provided about 150 feet of 350 MCM aluminum feeder wires, a meter, connectors to my existing transformer, foam to fill the top of the plastic conduit, two "call before...

Subject to your tolerance for the expense of larger and longer wire, definitely put the generator far away from the house. If you can put the garage between the generator and house, all the better. My generator is behind my garage, so any sound needs to go through both garage walls to get to...

Three phase power may or may not be expensive. You need to check. Mine would have been very expensive because I already had a transformer and the other two phases were a long way off. You may have to install a transformer anyway, so it may not be that much more expensive to install a three...

Before you do anything else, call your power company. That may significantly constrain your options. I asked about three phase power (which is what I assume you mean by "split-phase"). Three phase power would have cost $8,000 for three new transformers, plus $30,000 to run the extra two...

Less than two weeks ago I had my new 200 amp service activated to my shop. Here, in no particular order, are some of my experiences, with corresponding recommendations. These may or may not apply to you. Before you do anything else, call the power company. Your options may be fairly tightly...

Absolutely put in at least one additional conduit. You can cap each end for later use or run elbows up above the ground. I also agree with using larger conduit. Who knows what you'll want to run between the garage and house in the future? You're going to be sore tomorrow from digging - make...

According to the materials on the Viega website, ProPress fittings are suitable for compressed air up to 200 psi, with temperature from 0-160 F. Page 19 http://www.viega.net/cps/rde/xbcr/en-us/724582_w_PP_System_BR_USA_0110_FA.pdf Page 12...

Now that you're starting to get into really big wire, you might think about aluminum. It's fairly common in large sizes, and cheaper than copper. It's only considered evil when it's used as regular in-house wiring. I think the rule of thumb is that you have to go one size bigger than copper...

The 107 lumens per square foot should be OK. In this forum, there's a post "New garage lighting with low voltage controls." It has pictures of my new lighting. There are a couple of pictures with the lights off and lights on. My lighting is about 105-110 lumens per square foot (depending on...

WEG makes motors up to 70,000 horsepower, and is one of the biggest motor manufacturers around. While we don't know the specifics of the motor on the Quincy, there's a chance that it's a decent motor. At least your money would be staying in the western hemisphere.

You may be thinking of ProPress fittings. They're great, and are easy to install. They require an expensive ($2000+) handheld press tool. The tool is about the size of a Sawzall. The fittings are also more expensive than soldered copper fittings. I suspect that a good rental service will...

We had a tank when I was a kid. There are a couple things I remember. Check with your gasoline supplier to see what requirements they have. We installed our tank, and they wouldn't fill it until we installed a hose and nozzle that met their requirements. It's been a long time, but I think...

Have you checked with your local electrical supply house? I've been pleased with the service and prices from my local supply. Since the economy has been down, many formerly wholesale-only places have become more reasonable.

I'm painting mine with a roller using the brightest, whitest latex paint I could find. I didn't use a primer. I bought two five gallon buckets, and I think I'll use it all. I have about 210 linear feet by eight feet high, which is 1680 square feet. It absorbs more paint than plywood because...

Lights off and lights on.

Attached are some pictures of the lighting setup in my new garage. The system uses GE RR7 low voltage control relays. These are latching type relays, activated by a short pulse to an ON or OFF coil. They then mechanically stay in the ON or OFF position. The control box is designed to keep...

Three phase power would have cost $8,000 for transformers and $30,000 to bring the extra two phases from a mile north of me. That's not too bad compared to the $116,000 that the phone company wanted to run DSL (although, in fairness, the phone guy ran the numbers "just for fun".) The conduits...

Check your county building department. They will have info on all the setbacks and clearances. The building will probably have to be placed at minimum distances from everything else. That may significantly reduce your location options. Hopefully they'll have all the standards and forms on...

Brandon, It's for a shop. We looked at various options to power the shop. I'm fortunate that I have a nice pole in my yard, with my own transformer. The power comes in on the 7200 volt primary from the power company. The distance from the shop to the house would be the same 100 feet as from...

You might consider a two inch conduit for phone and cable. You may want to run some cat 5 wire for internet, or ... who knows? You don't mention how far you have to run. Here in Seattle, ten foot 3/4 conduit costs $0.98 and 2 inch conduit costs $3.78. Even if you need to run 100 feet, that's...