Question about wiring up a storage building

[learfxr]

We are buying a new house and looking to buy a 10x16 Garden Style building from Lelands. I would like to run elec to the building for lights and at least 1 outlet. Lights are good to have, and need an outlet to run the Battery Tender for my riding mower and I'm sure there will be something else.

I'm sure I'll have to call in someone to do the install, but it would be nice to have an understanding of what is needed. I'd love to do the work myself, but I have very minor experience in the field.

I'll attach pics that I took at the new house when we did the home inspection. The breaker box is in the garage at the location you see the panel on the exterior of the garage. One issue is the box was full when I looked the other day, so I would assume we will need a larger box installed. Then I would need to know what wire to select and how to properly do the install. I would bury the wiring, likely in PVC. Not sure on distance yet. How deep to you need to bury the conduit? Any tips? Maybe I can knock out some of the labor and then call in a pro?

Any tips?

The pics aren't great. The driveway is rock, so you can get an idea of the driveway area and there is a wire fence to the right side. The wire fence in the back yard will be gone, along with the metal gate, it was fenced for horses. I'm ditching the fencing back there and plan to build a wood fence off the back corner of the house to close up the land for our dogs. I also plan for a 60x40 shop back there later. Want to be able to just extend the rock drive back to a shop. Hoping I can fit the 10x16 building along the south fence and run the rock drive across the front area of it later.

That little metal building will be gone

 

[learfxr]

This is the style building we are looking at. 10x16 for around $3k, depending on shipping cost.

It will be along the south fence line.

 

[vtxcandyred]

I'm not a certified electrician but I do work in the field. Did you take the cover off of the fuse panel? Usually there are spaces for more circuits and you have to figure out how to get the conduit back out the garage. I wired my garage with 240 and ran it from the box in the house. I had to run it through conduit and flexible conduit to the back of the house because of the driveway then underground to the garage. I used four four wire. That’s four gauge wire with four wires. It’s the same as house drop wire. But its 240 volts and you probably are going to wire for 120 volts so a good eight gauge should suffice. I don't know the codes there but up here if the wire is buried it has to either be in conduit if buried less than four feet or no conduit if more than four feet. The buried grade of cable is more than the conduit but I do have access to a lot of the material. There’s a lot more to see and do like renting a trencher to dig the trench to bury the cable and the new circuit breaker for the house and a panel to put in the shed. Some times if you can flag down an electrical workers truck (your electric company) he can give you a decent price for the actual electrical work (on the side). If you’re not too timid about it you can do it. If I can wire my entire garage with two forty any one can do it.

 

[Norcal]

Be aware that 4 AWG in the situation poster #2 stated is only rated for 85A assuming THWN conductors which means a 90 ampere circuit breaker maximum. See NEC table 310.16 , 310.15(B)(6) does not apply.

 

[kbs2244]

Have you considered solar?
If all you need is lights and battey charging it should be easy.
With bottom fallen out of the building industry,
the panels have gotten a lot cheaper.
Charge batteries for 12 volt lights and you automaticly have a charger for the tractor.

 

[Torque1st]

12V LED bulbs are available also that will work well off solar.