Anyone an Electrician? Got a few questions about electrical for new home

[eblend]

Hey guys, anyone happen to be an electrician? I just got some questions about running electrical power to a rural property from a utility post. Thanks

[arcticcat522]

You can do it, when complete, call Fortis to hook it up. Get an electric permit and call the inspector to see if he wants to see the trench. Suggest pictures for him to speed it up....depending how far it is, you will probably need to mount your meter on a post 10m or so from property line. Then run to your place from there.

[eblend]

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You can do it, when complete, call Fortis to hook it up. Get an electric permit and call the inspector to see if he wants to see the trench. Suggest pictures for him to speed it up....depending how far it is, you will probably need to mount your meter on a post 10m or so from property line. Then run to your place from there.

Thanks, yah I got the basics down, my main concern now is with required equipment. It will be a 200A service and doing some calculations with the help of other forums a 350kcmil ALU wire will do the trick, the problem is nothing seems to take a 350kcmil wire, so not entirely sure how I can hook all this up.

My utility post is 90M away from the house and I want to do underground service. Picture below outlines my site, ignore the "distribution panel" in this picture. I would love to have the meter at the front and direct cable entry under the slab into the home (this is slab-on-grade build), but looking at CSA approved equipment I can find anything that will take a cable that size, and it has to be that size for the voltage drop requirements for this distance.

[arcticcat522]

Use one of these..

[arcticcat522]

Or you could use a "farm service" (meter and breaker in the same box on the post) since the service cable will be "breakered" you could run to a splitter before the 200a panel. Something like that.

[The Cosworth]

Feel free to send me a PM if you want to discuss options.

[arcticcat522]

It's been so long since I've done this....do you know if you need a disconnect before the meter? Hot or cold sequence metering? Pin lugs are the best bet unless you want to run to a shop and the house. If that's the case put a splitter at the meter location....

[eblend]

Thanks guys. Since I posted this I read more about the pin plugs as I was aware of them but saw some reference that they can't be used at meters.

[eblend]

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Or you could use a "farm service" (meter and breaker in the same box on the post) since the service cable will be "breakered" you could run to a splitter before the 200a panel. Something like that.

Yah I have been looking at farm panels as well, not many CSA approved ones, at least not that I could find. Someone also called them "ranch panels". Ideally it would be a single panel with a meter socket, 200A main breaker, and passthrough lugs, and a space for a few local breakers, so that I could set this thing at the front of property and feed 120V from it as well for the front gate/gate lights ect, but they seem to be non-existent in that flavor in Canada. I hope I am wrong and just haven't been able to find them. Lots of those in USA but not CSA certified unfortunately.

- - - Updated - - -

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It's been so long since I've done this....do you know if you need a disconnect before the meter? Hot or cold sequence metering? Pin lugs are the best bet unless you want to run to a shop and the house. If that's the case put a splitter at the meter location....

No disconnect required before meter, at least according to Fortis. I think hot sequencing based on my google search, all disconnects are past the meter.

[ExtraSlow]

Not really relevant but you want a disconnect so you can power your property with a generator. I think. What's that called?

[eblend]

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Not really relevant but you want a disconnect so you can power your property with a generator. I think. What's that called?

A transfer switch I think is what you are referring to?

[arcticcat522]

Transfer switch for the generator, yes.

I would go meterbase to disconnect to splitter to house. Then you could come out of the splitter to a small panel at the meterbase for Gate power. Also a good spot for a RV plug....

If you are adding a generator, keep in mind you might want 2 panels at the house. One for essential stuff the generator will power, one for everything else. Unless the generator will do the whole house.

[littledan]

350 seems like overkill for a 200a, 90m run service. Is it the voltage drop that is pushing you to that size?

[eblend]

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350 seems like overkill for a 200a, 90m run service. Is it the voltage drop that is pushing you to that size?

Indeed, has to be under 3%

[arcticcat522]

300kcmil is common even on city sized lots

[eblend]

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Transfer switch for the generator, yes.

I would go meterbase to disconnect to splitter to house. Then you could come out of the splitter to a small panel at the meterbase for Gate power. Also a good spot for a RV plug....

If you are adding a generator, keep in mind you might want 2 panels at the house. One for essential stuff the generator will power, one for everything else. Unless the generator will do the whole house.

Any idea why they don't sell these combo panels in Canada? It's so annoying having to have so much individual equipment when in the states they have it all in a single box.

Regarding the multi panel for generator, I was actually looking at the whole Generac PWRCell system down the line with solar as well and their PWRGenerator DC generator to charge the batteries directly if no sun ect, but that's all down the line. They also have a PWRManager load management system which is basically a switching relay which you mount under the panel, that way you can route your critical loads through the relay and it automatically controls which circuits have power under a power outage situation. With this setup you just have your main power panel, no need for secondary critical loads panel. It's all neat, and all of it is not yet available in Canada as it's not CSA certified, but my understanding is that they are working on it. I am leaving provisions for generator stuff for down the line, it's not gonna happen for a few years at least. In an ideal world an automatic transfer switch for that system was CSA certified now so I could throw it in during construction, but it is not, so I will have to fudge with it all down the line.

This is probably what I would be using. With a breaker in it, would that at least count as a disconnect and save me from having another one? From this I could go to a splitter box and then directly to the house I think, right under the pad and come up into the main breaker panel inside.

[littledan]

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Indeed, has to be under 3%

If you know the demand factor I believe you can use that load vs the max 200A load when calculating the voltage drop to get within that 3%. Maybe triple check to make sure you aren't overkilling without needing to.

*disclaimer: fire bad, electrons good. herp derp.

[eblend]

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If you know the demand factor I believe you can use that load vs the max 200A load when calculating the voltage drop to get within that 3%. Maybe triple check to make sure you aren't overkilling without needing to.

*disclaimer: fire bad, electrons good. herp derp.

Yah, I had a discussion about this on another forum. At 90M 350 kcmil is actually 3.03% voltage drop in aluminum, and that's calculating on a 160AMP load (80% of main circuit braker). Actual loads are unknown but it's an expensive ass cable either way, so might as well put a bigger one in there while the earth is torn up, so it's future proof so to say.

Even if I move my panel closer to the house I don't think I will get away from 350 kcmil, unless I have the utility install another post closer to the house, which would be fugly so I rather buy a thicker cable.

[Nufy]

Aluminum conductors ?

[eblend]

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Aluminum conductors ?

copped would cost an arm and a leg, both nuts, a left eye and half a brain.

Aluminum is a cheaper metal and is used often outside the home. Inside the house it's all copper.