Electricity needed in Pole Barn

[KJF470]

I want to get some power to my barn which is about 200' from my house. I have access to a box on the back of the house which used to power a hot tub and the breaker for this hot tub in the Main panel is a 2 pole 50 Amp. I want at least a 100 Amp panel in the barn to run an air compressor, welder, lights and outlets, I will be the only one working out there about 90% of the time. What wire and supplies are needed to run power out there and what am I roughly looking at for expense! Any help is appreciated, thanks in advance! Kelly

 

[Charles (in GA)]

Well, forget the hot tub circuit, as you noted, its only 50 amp. If you don't have room in the main panel for another double pole breaker, you could remove the unused feed to the hot tub outlet and put it there. You will have to run new cable from the main panel.

If you are not electrical savvy, you would be best to hire an electrican. Get one to give you a quote. Make sure there are not any water lines or other buried cables in the path from the house to the outbuilding.

Charles

 

[KJF470]

I wouldn't have a problem with a new breaker and wiring to the spot where the hot tub was! Basement is unfinished so getting the wire to that spot would work ok. I would need to use conduit or schedule 80 from the house to the edge of the patio area and then trench 2' down and angle toward the barn. There are no water lines or sewer lines in the way and it is sandy soil so a shovel might be a workout that distance but definately do-able. I know I need to have a grounding rod at the barn to ground it seperate from the main panel of the house. Just wondering about roughly how much it would cost. Right now I run some heavy extension cords to the barn but that only runs lights, radio maybe a hand drill and is a pain to move for mowing and won't power an air compressor as the power drop is too great for the distance. Any help is appreciated!

 

[SteveU]

I have something about identical to you in distance, soil, etc. They ran 6 ga underground wire off a 60 A breaker in the house & connected it to a breaker box in the barn. Runs lights & small power tools ok but the lights dim when the tablesaw (3hp Baldor) or the compressor (5 hp Eaton) kick on and though I have never blown the breaker at the house I always turn the compressor off if I am going to use the tablesaw to keep them from running at the same time. There is a power pole & transformer right next to the barn & as soon as I get the money I plan on getting a dedicated 200 A service put in which should run all the toys without voltage drop or overloading anything as each heavy draw tool will be on its own circuit. Given the cost of heavy gauge wire you might be better off to see if putting in a separate service drop woudn't do what you want better.

 

[Tscott]

Steve,
I am not sure of your situation, but be careful applying for service for you pole barn. I work for an electrical coop in north florida, and if thge barn was not permitted, you may have issues. They are pretty tight with the codes down here do to hurricanes and such. Just an FYI




As for the origional problem of power to the barn. I did some calculations on the computer here at work. and if you run 1/0 wire the 200' you will only experience a voltage drop when something big kicks on. The program at work tells us the exact number only if it within our spec of 5%, and with 1/0 you will experience over 5% voltage drop or what we call "Flicker", which is basically what happens when something big turns on and your lights flicker. mostly associated with larger motors. If you run 4/0 wire then you will have a steady state voltage drop of 1.97% and a Flicker of 3.07%, both of which are very acceptable.

Now our software is set for houses, and I figured your barn as the smallest house I can (1500 ft^2). I think this gave a pretty conservative number, so I would suggest 1/0 wire and you will most likely be ok.

Tom

 

[Junkman]

When you start to consider the cost of the meter charge that the electric utility charges every month, you will rapidly see that it might be less expensive to upgrade the house and to take a line off of the home to the barn. In Ct, it is about $12 per month for the meter charge. At $144 per year times the number of years that you are going to be paying for that meter, you can realize savings by not having a second meter.

 

[KJF470]

I've talked to the Power company already and it is $575 to hook on and $5 a foot to dig it in plus the cost of the meter, wire and getting it into the barn! The barn is about 450' from the box in the ditch, they will not set a pole and go overhead. Then as stated I would have the monthly charge also. I don't have alot of extra funds for this so I want it done right with the least cost out of pocket! Thanks for the input!