What type of connector do I need?

[csp]

Background:
The property my home is on had electrical service (not turned on though) on it when I bought it which was huge. I believe that the wire coming from the transformer into the main meter and panel (located on a power pole) was either 1/0 or 2/0 aluminum. I can't remember which. The panel it fed was rated to 400 amp and the EMT conduit between the meter and weatherhead was 3.5". Coming out of this panel was the same 1/0 or 2/0 wire which went underground to an existing pole barn about 25 feet away. Unfortunately the service entrance panel and meter were in bad shape and had to be replaced when I started to build my home and needed the power to be turned on. I owned the property for six years prior and never had the power company turn it on.

The replacement meter/panel is a 200 amp combined unit which is a feed thru panel. The feed thru portion then goes to the house. The end of the wire that previously went to the pole barn was buried so that I didn't have to update the barn electrical as part of my permit for the house. This brings us to my current problem.

The feed thru panel has room for six to eight breakers and I want to add a breaker to feed the pole barn. The wire which is underground is too large to attach to a breaker, so I need to reduce it down to a size which will work on a 100 amp breaker. I'm just not sure what type of connector to use and what type of enclosure it might require.

Everything in the pole barn has been updated to code and a permit is in order.

Anybody have a suggestion?

 

[mrb]

ilsco, polaris, and others make junction blocks for this purpose. you may have another problem though -is the feeder to the pole barn three wires or four?

 

[csp]

Three wires. I can add another if necessary.

Are these junction blocks rated for direct burial with the correct insulation or do they need their own junction box?

 

[mrb]

you need four wires (two hots a neutral and ground). you cant just add another wire (unless you have individual USE wires sitting in a trench which i highly doubt), all circuit conductors have to be in the same conduit or in the same cable assembly.

to answer your question, ilsco SSK-350-Z is a direct burial splice good for 350 all the way down to #6, copper and AL.

 

[csp]

I do have individual wires in a trench.

 

[mrb]

I do have individual wires in a trench.

theyre not twisted together, but individual single wires (you could remove one without disturbing the others) ?

 

[csp]

Yes. I'll have to look and see if they are USE or USE-2.

I'm not sure why they didn't use SEU, but there are a lot of things about this building that have me scratching my head.

 

[mrb]

Yes. I'll have to look and see if they are USE or USE-2.

I'm not sure why they didn't use SEU, but there are a lot of things about this building that have me scratching my head.

cant put SEU underground.

 

[csp]

I may just remove what's there and replace it with smaller feed cable. The trench needs to be dug deeper anyhow and it's only about a 30-35 foot run.

 

[Aceman]

I may just remove what's there and replace it with smaller feed cable. The trench needs to be dug deeper anyhow and it's only about a 30-35 foot run.

That's probably the way to go. That's a pretty short distance and you'll have the benefit of laying the new wire in conduit if you like, rather than trying to reuse old direct buried wire that may be about ready to fail.

 

[csp]

I looked at the end sticking out last night and I was wrong, it is twisted together so out it comes.