Barn Project 2024 Help

[cjgoebel35]

Running power about 300ft from main box at house down to a 36x40 pole barn, local utilities company said for 200Amp to use 4/0 Aluminum wire all the way down, what should I be looking for in the wire I get? just a spool of stranded 3 wire, or should I just put grounding rods in? Not really sure what all I need, any help is appreciated.

 

[dscheidt]

Running power about 300ft from main box at house down to a 36x40 pole barn, local utilities company said for 200Amp to use 4/0 Aluminum wire all the way down, what should I be looking for in the wire I get? just a spool of stranded 3 wire, or should I just put grounding rods in? Not really sure what all I need, any help is appreciated.

You need four wires from your main panel to the sub in the barn (two phase, neutral, ground). You will also need to drive two ground rods at the barn. Why do you think you need 200A at the barn? What are you doing there?

 

[cjgoebel35]

lights, outlets through the whole place, a large electronic bay door eventually.

 

[sparky 1971]

The ideal wire is going to be 4/0 MHF, but what do you have for a panel at the house? It's not like you can just snap a 200 amp breaker into a load center, and even if you could, it's would be a bear to land the wire. 200 amps for a barn with standard lights and outlets is a whole bunch of power, even if it does have a door.

And you will need to carry a ground wire to the barn as well as plant two ground rods no matter what size the feeder is.

 

[loganb]

Are you running from a conventional house main panel or a meter/main box mounted outside? As others said, putting proper size wire for a 200 amp service out of the standard 30 or 40 slot panel will be a challenge if feasible.

 

[BillK]

Not really sure what all I need, any help is appreciated. Lights, outlets through the whole place, a large electronic bay door eventually

I cannot imagine needing anything more than a 100 A panel in a detached garage at a house. My entire house is on a 200A panel and my detached garage is a 100A panel fed from that. Unless you are planning on some heavy duty equipment of some type.

 

[cjgoebel35]

Are you running from a conventional house main panel or a meter/main box mounted outside? As others said, putting proper size wire for a 200 amp service out of the standard 30 or 40 slot panel will be a challenge if feasible.

meter/main outside

 

[cjgoebel35]

Are you running from a conventional house main panel or a meter/main box mounted outside? As others said, putting proper size wire for a 200 amp service out of the standard 30 or 40 slot panel will be a challenge if feasible.

meter/main outside

 

[sparky 1971]

meter/main outside

Does it have an available spot for a 200 amp feeder? If it's a 200 amp and the feed through is used for the house, you aren't getting a 200 amp feeder to the barn.

If indeed you can get a 200 amp feeder to the barn, see post #4.

 

[mm08822]

Unless you have many large simultaneous loads, 200a service will be a waste of $$.

Put a 200a main cb 40 space panel in barn. Plenty of circuit space for later.

Add 125amp cb in main panel.

Run 2/0-2/0-1-4 mhf and you will be good to go w/o any extra hardware.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Running power about 300ft from main box at house down to a 36x40 pole barn, local utilities company said for 200Amp to use 4/0 Aluminum wire all the way down, what should I be looking for in the wire I get? just a spool of stranded 3 wire, or should I just put grounding rods in? Not really sure what all I need, any help is appreciated.

utility company is wrong. 4/0 AL is only good for 200a service entrance not a branch feeder. but utility companies dont have to abide by the NEC

you also need 4-wire not 3-wire

200a is way overkill for what youre running.

 

[mdeisenhauer]

I ran 200amp service from my main panel (panel at the transformer pole for RV power) to my 50x75 shop/barndo. I used copper since I went underground and my main panel had 200amp pass through lugs. Also, I was told that I had to bond my neutral at my main panel, but the sub panel at my shop can't be bonded. Added a ground to the frame of the shop and a ground rod.

 

[reader2580]

I feed my existing detached garage with 90 amps. My new motorhome garage will have a 70 amp feed from the detached garage. I have some leftover wire that will support 70 amps so that is what I am going with. My motorhome has a 50 amp connection, but I could turn on everything in the motorhome at full blast and not get close to 50 amps at 240 volts. What I have is probably overkill for my needs. (The original reason for the 90 amps was for solar, but I have since moved the solar off the detached garage panel.)

It is a rare person that actually needs 200 amps in a garage/shop. You would need to have some real big machines with multiple people running them along with a large lighting and HVAC load to require 200 amps.