Power pole question
- Thread starter Chuck McB
- Start date
hilld
Well-known member
The meter box should go on the outside of the house, unless you are looking for a temp setup during construction, then a simple pole should do the trick, it is not going to stay there very long.
It will be permanent. My home is located a rather long way from the street and the power company has a secondary pole located between the street and my house. I will have to locate an addition pole of my own between the secondary pole and the house. I thought I could mount the meter box on the pole I install then run underground to a 200 amp power panel mounted on the exterior of the house. I'll be running 4/0 quadruplex with the bare wire removed.
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STINEY
Well-known member
I used a good used pole.
I needed to upgrade to 200 amps from 60, and needed to send 100 amps to my shop, so I killed a few birds with one stone..
And I don't like a meter box cluttering up the side of my house. Just a personal taste thing, no offense to those with that setup.
Since our local power provider covers the cost of overhead wire to the meter, I placed the pole as close to the shop as they would go realistically, then branched out underground to the house and shop. I also was able to incorporate a disconnect at the pole, which is a nice feature as I can shutdown the house and shop separately and the local firefighters really appreciate as well.
Doing it this way cut down on the amount of expensive wire I needed to buy.
My labor was cheap as well.
I needed to upgrade to 200 amps from 60, and needed to send 100 amps to my shop, so I killed a few birds with one stone..
And I don't like a meter box cluttering up the side of my house. Just a personal taste thing, no offense to those with that setup.
Since our local power provider covers the cost of overhead wire to the meter, I placed the pole as close to the shop as they would go realistically, then branched out underground to the house and shop. I also was able to incorporate a disconnect at the pole, which is a nice feature as I can shutdown the house and shop separately and the local firefighters really appreciate as well.
Doing it this way cut down on the amount of expensive wire I needed to buy.
My labor was cheap as well.
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Speedy Petey
Well-known member
Do you need a pole or a pedestal?
Speedy Petey
Well-known member
Not really. Most underground services I do have the meter on a pedestal away from the house.
Above is how I chose to do my panel. It is 400a and feeds the 200a to the house and 200a to the shop as well as having some breakers in it for the well pump an maybe some future outdoor lighting. The extra circuits served for construction power during the build.
lg
no neat sig line
p912s
Well-known member
Several years ago I had to do something like this to supply power to a house and 3 garages/barns. The driveway was 1100' long and the house was at the end.
The buildings were in 2 different directions from the house. And near where the detached garage for the house was to be built I built what looked like a 3'x3' outhouse using 4x4's for corner posts. It had a shingle roof and T1 siding. Inside was a 200 amp main panel to supply power to each building.
The meter was mounted on the backwall (faced the street) behind the panel.
Had the same siutuation with the power company, they set one pole on the property midway between the road and the power building.
The buildings were in 2 different directions from the house. And near where the detached garage for the house was to be built I built what looked like a 3'x3' outhouse using 4x4's for corner posts. It had a shingle roof and T1 siding. Inside was a 200 amp main panel to supply power to each building.
The meter was mounted on the backwall (faced the street) behind the panel.
Had the same siutuation with the power company, they set one pole on the property midway between the road and the power building.
Stuart in MN
Well-known member
Will the service go overhead from the utility pole to your pole, then underground from there? Or is underground from the utility pole to your pole, where it pops up to the meter and then back underground for the rest of the way to the house? If it's all underground you don't really need a pole, you can accomplish the same thing with a couple treated 4x4s bolted together. Also, remember that you're going to need a main disconnect at the meter as that will be your service entrance point.
Speedy Petey
Well-known member
Um, no. That was an ether/or question.
Are you coming up into a meter and back out the bottom underground?
Or are you coming overhead and down into the meter and out the bottom underground to the house?
STINEY
Well-known member
The pole is roughly 25' overall and is in the ground 5'
I simply dug a hole with my backhoe and dropped the pole in and backfilled. Worked great.
The connector thing for the overhead line to fasten to I sourced used from a local electrical supply house. They said just take it - I gave them a $10 and said order a pizza or something.
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Speedy Petey
Well-known member
Then you need a real pole. Your POCO can give you the specs on what is required.
Don't just stick in any old pole you find.
The first thing is to check your PoCo requirements those will vary from company to company, here in PG&E territory a 25 foot PG&E approved pole set 5' in the ground is required, YMMV, but even if the electrical passes inspection the power co. still has to approve it, and if they don't like it ,no power.......