Move electric? Trench it? Suspend the service drop?

[papp101]

Just finishing the build on my 24 by 26 garage in Minneapolis. hoping to someday at all my pictures back to a nice build thread. However my one-year-old and three-year-old take priority! This forum has been super helpful with all the decision-making and research.

the service drop for this property comes from across the alley. I live on a corner. You can barely see the service drop above the garage it's currently gently laying on the roof. Waiting for me to do something about it. Here are my options and would love your input. the end goal is a hundred amp box in the garage.

1: find an appropriate device as a proved to suspend the wire coming to my house three foot above the peak of the garage. Then trench from the house to the garage and put it in a nice sub box there. This would also involve updating the wiring from the meter and updating the box inside the house to support two hundred amp service.

2. Find it appropriate device that's approved to suspend the service drop over the garage at least three foot. Leave the house box alone. Add a new box on to the garage, there's an extra $8 a month charge for another meter, but that's not that bad.

3. Install a new service drop to the garage that's 200 amps. Trench to the house and feed that sub box with a hundred amps. Remove the meter from the house. if the garage ever burns down, I won't have electric to the house for a bit.

They all have their pros and cons.

Let me know what you think!



Sent from my Pixel 2 using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[Sawdustmaker]

Choice #1. That way you are updating the house and having ther garage secondary to the house. Choice #2 would wok too, but updating the house would be nice. That's where you live. Of course there are cost considerations.
My 2 cents.

 

[rsanter]

I would bring the main service and meter to the garage.
The box on the house then becomes a sub panel.
Why?
I don’t like the idea of having a live electrical line going over my garage to my house

 

[wyliesdiesels]

So the main service panel is in the house?

How would you rerun the wire going to that?

If you move the service to the garage and feed the house off of that, the wire feeding the house panel will need to be changed to 4-wire.

And if you feed the garage, you will need to run 4-wire to the garage so you will have the same feeding concerns.

Is the service entrance wire readily accessible in the house?

How far from the meter is the main service panel?

Also, if you switch the house panel to a subpanel, you will need to convert it to 4-wire. means adding a ground bar kit or 2 and removing the neutral bonding screw. If your panel is older and obsolete this may prove to be a chore.

keep in mind that an additional service on the same property may incur additional monthly fees and/or higher KWhr rates

 

[James-W]

I have a separate 200 amp service going to my garage. I have to pay an extra meter charge because I have the house service which is 100 amps and the garage service. But rather than upgrade my house service and run power to the garage from the house I went with the separate service. In the long term it will cost me a bit more money because of the extra monthly meter charge, but this way I have all the power I need in the garage and I didn't have to screw around upgrading the house service. If I had to do it over again I would do the same, I am VERY happy with the way I have it set up. Not saying everyone should do it this way, but I tend to think if you were to go with a separate service you would pretty happy with it as the years go by, especially if you decide to get some equipment that requires a substantial amount of power.

 

[Stuart in MN]

As mentioned, bringing the overhead service to a new panel in the garage and then feeding the house from there could be a good solution. The connection to the house would need four wires like others have said, but you'd have to run new wires anyway.

I have a separate 200 amp service going to my garage.

Xcel Energy is the electric utility in Minneapolis, they won't provide two separate services to a residential property like this.

 

[James-W]

Xcel Energy is the electric utility in Minneapolis, they won't provide two separate services to a residential property like this.

I wasn't aware of that. I wonder what their reasoning is for not doing it? No matter I guess, if they won't do it then they won't do it and their reasoning is of no consequence.

We have W.E. Energies (electric and gas) and they are very accommodating on stuff like that. As long as you can pay for it, they will do pretty much (within reason) whatever you want done. They do most of it for free too, well maybe free isn't the best way to put it, you end up paying the meter charge and that is a monthly charge which does add up after awhile. Still, they ran the power from the street to the garage for free and connected it up to the mast head.

 

[Jim greengo]

Take option #3 also.

 

[larry4406]

I think I would take Option 3 with a slight twist.

At the garage, then put in a transfer switch so you can use a generator. Store the generator in the garage, wheel it out when needed, plug it in and flip the transfer switch and good to go. Or go with a fully automatic standby unit and locate it over near the garage so less noise in the home.

 

[Jim greengo]

I think I would take Option 3 with a slight twist.

At the garage, then put in a transfer switch so you can use a generator. Store the generator in the garage, wheel it out when needed, plug it in and flip the transfer switch and good to go. Or go with a fully automatic standby unit and locate it over near the garage so less noise in the home.

 

[itslow]

If your local code allows, another option might be to use a meter box that can feed two service panels. I used such a meter (Milbank U3000) on a home renovation with detached garage to feed the house and garage separately. This gets around the need to have two meters and trying to fish 4 wires into your home's existing panel to get to (or from) the garage).

You'd still need to figure a solution for the drop from the pole to the meter location, though.

 

[DOHC427]

I have a separate 200 amp service going to my garage. I have to pay an extra meter charge because I have the house service which is 100 amps and the garage service. But rather than upgrade my house service and run power to the garage from the house I went with the separate service. In the long term it will cost me a bit more money because of the extra monthly meter charge, but this way I have all the power I need in the garage and I didn't have to screw around upgrading the house service. If I had to do it over again I would do the same, I am VERY happy with the way I have it set up. Not saying everyone should do it this way, but I tend to think if you were to go with a separate service you would pretty happy with it as the years go by, especially if you decide to get some equipment that requires a substantial amount of power.

I'm finishing my new workshop now and did this exact thing. 200 amp because my workshop is 55 feet from the pole. House is 125 feet from the pole. Glad you like it because I wasn't quite sure I wanted to do it this way but I could easily add more capacity to the workshop this way.