Electrical Question

[Believer]

I bought an old place and am thinking about an electrical service upgrade. The transformer is on a pole about 150 feet from an old pole that has the meter. From the meter are old overhead wires to the old house.

I was thinking about a new meter base on the transformer pole and prepare for service to the house, to a well, and to a barn. The well and barn are not there now. Can the meter be put on the transformer pole? How should the setup at the meter be designed so I can make the house connection now and the well and barn connections later. The well and barn would be underground wire but I may keep the house on overhead. The house may be torn down later but for now it's good enough for roughin' it.

 

[kthompson]

Believe you will have to ask your local code people or even the local utility people on some of this. Here don't think legal to put any of your owned on the utility company's poles so that would be no. Here the meter and service on a free standing pole is limited to mobile home or temporary service for building or such.

 

[MikeInEburg]

This is the type of question that should be answered by a professional. Rules are different from region to region and the stakes are just too high to not get it right.
Mike

 

[jayste]

I'm going to have to agree with the other fellows. I can tell you that my transformer and meter base are on the same pole along with my 200 amp disconnect under that. Sounds like your setup might be after thought or upgrade situation. I'd call the utility co. like before mentioned.

Jay

 

[Believer]

Let me narrow the question some. After I figure out if the meter base can go on the transformer pole, what should I be thinking about after the meter so I can run service to three destinations--home, well, and barn? Again, the well and barn aren't completed yet. Should I put three disconnects on my side of the meter? If so, should I have an electrical contractor put everything in a single panel? I want to have a well thought out result.

 

[kf4uda]

As stated in previous reply's, what you "can do" is up to your local utility company. I would contact them and ask if they would send an Engineer out to meet with you and your electrical contractor. Some of your options may be installing a meter/load center combination on their pole, your pole, or your house. Then you would distribute power to the well and barn from it in the future. I would suggest going underground with the power from the utility pole if allowed. In the future you could feed the well and barn underground as well.

 

[Kays Supply]

Again I am in Illinois. I have seen a setup where you put in two short poles and connect them. They put a meter base and connect it to a disconnect / breaker box that you can take as many outlets as you need. I have a setup like that on the end of my house that feeds the house and out building. I also backfeed my generator from the barn into the house when the power goes down.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

Generally anything you do after the meter as long as it is up to code is your business, the power company could care less, I would think if I understand what you are wanting to you would be better off to have the power company run you a service either overhead or underground your choice to a meter pole or meter pedestal and from there bury a pedestal ie underground box with the feed from the bottom side of the meter coming to said underground box from there you can feed out of pedestal connectors ie multiple tap connectors to sub panels ie house,barn and from house or barn panel to well etc. Generally the power company will drop you an overhead service for free, underground some utilities will charge you a fee depending on the distance, this is by no means the only way to do what you want to do, just one suggestion of many on how it could be done. Hope this helps, good luck.

 

[Believer]

Lineman, this helps. Can you explain a little more (to someone who doesn't know much) what's in an underground pedestal and what are pedestal connectors? Do I put service disconnects in the underground pedestal? Why would I bury the pedestal as opposed to being above ground and then running the wire underground to the destinations? Thanks again.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

Lineman, this helps. Can you explain a little more (to someone who doesn't know much) what's in an underground pedestal and what are pedestal connectors? Do I put service disconnects in the underground pedestal? Why would I bury the pedestal as opposed to being above ground and then running the wire underground to the destinations? Thanks again.

A UG pedestal is nothing more than fiberglass box with a fiber/concrete lid usually 2'x3' that you make service connections in, it is hollow and is buried flush with the ground level, the ped connectors are insulated multi-tap connectors meaning the feed from your meter comes in and depending on how many services you want to feed out ie house, barn etc, feed out of those connectors, you can get as many as 8 hole connectors meaning you could feed out to 8 different locations, not that you would want that many in your case, probably 4-hole would be plenty, you could have your main disconnect at your meter pole and from your pedestal connectors your house service would branch off to your house to lets say a 200 amp panel, from the same pedestal connectors your barn service would branch off to your barn to lets say a 150 amp panel and you could feed your well from whichever panel is the closest to it. You dont have to use a pedestal like you said you could just go underground from your meter pole, but every service has to have a pipe coming above ground and up and you have to have room to make up all those wires and a 2'x3' pedestal is easy to work in and everything is out of sight, think of it as a trough like you see on the side of a lot of commercial buildings where their electrical leaves the meter and has to feed several different panels except yours will all be hid underground ie nice neat job, all of the items mentioned can be purchased at an electrical supply house,one other good thing about doing it this way is there is only one meter to read, most utility companies charge a fee to read each meter on your property, around here about 10 dollars per meter. Like I said earlier this is by no means the only way of accomplishing what you want, it's just the way that I would do it, one of many ideas to meet an end goal.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

I forgot most power companies won't allow you to put a meter can on their poles as it creates a hazard to lineman climbing the pole,also whatever you do don't direct bury your wire put it in pipe someone will thank you someday,I have probably forgotten some more things to tell you, but I tried.

 

[Kfbeal]

There's many utilities in Texas where the meter can and disconnect is on the xfmr. pole. Unsure of the reason, but it increases the cost to the consumer to purchase copper to run a further distance. At our coop we provide the service and pole at no charge unless it's over a certain cost estimate.

On our home, when we built, I planned to add our 30x40 garage/shop a year later. I installed a Mobile Home feed-through disconnect with 8 or 16 extra spaces on the outside. I then fed my home from the feed-through to an inside distribution panel. Then on the outside I have 8 or 16 spaces to use for my water well, garage, etc.

This installation has worked out well for us. On any underground we require it to be in conduit, anything above ground has to be Schedule 80 up to 6' or so above ground, and a marking tape/ribbon (provided by us with our phone number and name on it) has to be used. I would also use the long sweeping 90's for easier pulling.

 

[Believer]

Thanks guys. I called the rural electric and they said they would supply the meter socket and install it on the transformer pole. I think I've learned, with you help, what to do. After the meter socket, I'll install a 200-300 amp safety switch/disconnect on the pole. From, I go underground to a pedestal box. In it, I can have a few pedestals to distribute underground service entrances to a) house, b) barn, c) well. House and barn will have breaker boxes and circuit protection, but how to I get the well circuit protection? I'd like to wire from the pedestal box to the pump? Should I use a combo breaker (if that's the right terminology) for the main safety switch/disconnect at the transformer pole?

 

[MarkV]

I think you are going to find that your well has to go through one of your panels. It doesn't matter if it is the one in the house or the barn. I guess if you were going to build a well house you could put a panel in it though.

You should check and see if you service provider would provide the wire from the pole to the meter if you wanted the meter on the house. The service wire is expensive and if they will run that far for you may want to put your pedestal there.

MarkV

 

[Erik_in_Hoyt]

our electrical co-op sells service cable "at cost" to their customers -- I bought the 200 A underground rates supply for my house at abut $1.86 a foot when lowe's wanted twice that.
I also highly recommend putting a small service/breaker panel with disconnect in the well house -- that way it's easier to know the electricity is off when doing maintenance.

good luck!

 

[Believer]

As described above, I'm planning a disconnect at the meter, then go underground about 150 feet away to the house. At the house, I'll have a main breaker/distribution panel. Question about the disconnect: does it need circuit protection, i.e., breaker or fusible? Or do I just put a mechanical disconnect? Thanks.

 

[bdeboer]

One method that is common around here is to mount an outdoor circuit breaker panel beneath the meter on the pole or on an appropriately sized piece of plywood with one support leg being the pole and the other being a 4x4. The breaker panel will then house the 200 Amp for the house and 100 amp for the barn and maybe a 60 for an additional outbuilding. Another option to check into with utility would be the option of upgrading the outdoor meter/panel to a 400 amp service. The transformer on the pole etcetera may make this option too costly. The breakers in this panel act as the outdoor disconnecting means for the individual buildings.

My house built in 2000 has an outdoor 200 amp panel that feeds the 200 Amp indoor panel as a subpanel and has an additional 100 Amp circuit to feed the barn. The panel at this location is mounted to the side of the house next to the meter base.

Another property we own is an old farmhouse this has an older 200 Amp panel mounted to the pole with 2 100 amp circuits in it, one for the barn and one for the house.

It also doesn't hurt to have a few extra spaces for 20 Amp convenience receptacle circuits at the bottom of the outdoor panel.

 

[Erik_in_Hoyt]

my meter has a 200 amp disconnect and 3 sets of lugs - for house and outbuildings.
I buried 2" carlon and pulled cable to the house panel from there and when the new shop is dried in I'll do the same for it. I'll also wire a generator outlet to the shop so if we have a power outage I can throw the disconnect at the pole and run power from the shop back to the house.

 

[tommu56]

I would recommend meter at the house rain proof panel below it to feed house and barn and well. sub panels in the barn in the house and barn.

tom