Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Property Projects & Construction Electrical Underground 100 amp?

Has anyone here had the electric company run 100 amp service for you underground? And if so how far did you go? The company here said they would only go 200 feet from the transformer on the top of the pole? Does that sound right or can they go farther than that with 100 amp wire? Do they need a repeater box to go farther or something? I really need to go about 225 feet underground and then up the pole but they said I can only go 200 feet total.

Thanks for any input on this. I am kind of green to all of this electrical stuff.

RC51, If you go 225 ft with 100 amp service you would end up with about 60 amps at the plug. Longer distances (for 110 volts) would require that you send 220 volts and split it to 110 at the box. 220 volts X 225 ft would be around 180 amps due to voltage drop. Hope this helps.

I think the distance depends on the wire size. Bigger wire for more distance. To go real far, I think it is more efficient to go with high voltage and step it down near the end.

I agree with RAH that you can go with larger wire and it will carry "a certain amount" more voltage over a distance but it gets to a point where there are diminishing returns for the money laid out. It is cheaper to go with a good size wire to start with and run 220 then break it down to 110.

Ya just need the correct size conductor and conduits for the job. I would do the 220 for the initial run and split off what 110 stuff you want.

They usually don't like to go past 300 feet from the transformer. In our case, we pulled in the power over 2000 feet underground and put the transformer at the end of the run, about 75 feet from the current structure and 150 feet from the proposed future structure. Our upcharge to go from 200 amps to 400 amps was about $300.
Think twice and don't pull up short. Ask what the upcharge is for 200 amps.
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What are you powering?....your new cabin?

220 gets you no more power for a 110 circut. You simply have two 110 cycling at different times. Each one can be put in a circut with the ground/neutral to get 110, or the two 110s can be in the circut to get 220. Correct me if I am wrong. If your running a line, I agree that 220 is wise, because you can use more 110 things on the different circuts and you can use 220 appliances, but you won't get more power to any one appliance.

Hey guys thanks for the advice. Bretski yes I am putting power in for my new future cabin. It will be about 24 x 36 when done. I never thought about putting in 200 amp for just in case. That way I would have in case I do need it later down the road right? I am not going to have a bunch of stuff on the box just the cabin and an aerator for the most part maybe a yard light.

It's all up to the JHA anyway on what can or cannot be done.

JHA stands for, "Jurisdiction Having Authority" and these people are the ones who need to be satisfied.

Yeah they told me I needed to meet out at my land with an engineer from the electric company before I do anything else. So I guess that will be my next step. The person on the phone gave me the information about the 200 feet. So she may not be exaclty on Q. I will find out for sure when I talk to the engineer. I just want to be prepared some as to what to expect cause he pretty much could tell me anything and I woulnd't know any better? So thanks for the info guys it will help. When I go to asking him questions about what can I do or not do.

eelectrical underground . . .



If it is Eelectrical, do you really need the power company?

Yeah yeah sorry for the bad typepo i never claimed to be good at typing. I didn't even notice that I did that! Maybe a new form of underground current coming your way!!

YOU TOOK ALL THE FUN OUT OF IT BY CORRECTING IT!!!

I did not even catch it because I was so excited about Ken posting the Colorful EEL - Great! We need color.

Spelling is such a personal thing anyway. Reserve that for board rooms, lawyers and courts. The rest of us can misspell, and even make up our own words

"If your running a line, I agree that 220 is wise, because you can use more 110 things on the different circuts and you can use 220 appliances, but you won't get more power to any one appliance." Yes, it is wise due to being able to use smaller wire gauge.

If you run 220, you can power more things with a given wire size. Wire size is the limiting factor as it relates to the current(or power) that can be delivered. Voltage drop in a wire feed is equal to I(current) X R(resistance) of the wire. That is why there are high voltage step down transformers in neighborhoods. The voltage on the high lines is several thousand(dont know how much) and is dropped back down to 220 for distribution.

Example: 22,000 volts across the high lines and delivering 10 amps current on small gauge wire= 220,000 watts or 220 KW.

When dropped down to 220V, the same network can supply 1000 amps. 220V X 1,000 amps still= 220KW.

Eel-ec-tri-cal banana.

Yeah I don't type I text!! Burger thanks I apprecaite the breakdown. I want to do this right the first time that's for sure. I will take all this info with me when I talk to the Entergy fella. I am hopeing to talk with him sometime next month. Thanks again to everyone for the advice.

Just to reiterate, 220 is just two 110 lines cycling opposite one another. You cannot combine the two 110's into a single 110 circut - just can be combined to make a 220 circut. Therefore, running 220 has no affect on each 110 line. The same size wire is needed to run a single 110 appliance using a 220 connection or a 110 connection.

RAH's last statememt is exactly correct. If you have equipment that can run optionally on 220 or 110, always opt for the 220 vac option due to the earlier discussion. Also highly advisable to place a local ground rod down to permanently moist soil.

We never did discuss transformers. If I had a long run, I would go with the highest voltage for that and pop in a transformer at the end for lower voltages, or, I may just size the conductors and conduit correctly and go with that.

It all depends on how you do it.

A ground rod is a must for safety, and is very likely required by regulations. Good catch JKB.

Thanks guys for the advise i will make sure I print all of this before I do anything!! I appreciate it very much!

Check on the length of the ground rod, if one is required. Here, it has to be 8' long and can't stick up more than 6" IIRC.

Heck, we make up our own words all the time and then when someone questions us, we just tell 'em it's Latin!

Kind of an update. Well it looks like I will be meeting with the engineer on June 7th at my land to talk about the do's and dont's of what I can do electric wise. I did find out that they run 200 amp service all the time now so I am just going to go ahead and put in a 200 amp box and be done with it. I'll keep you guys posted as to how it goes. I hope he is ok with what I am trying to do. Thanks again guys for the help and advise.

Thanks for the update. It'll be interesting to see what he recommends.