Pond Boss Forums AERATION Systems questions electric to pond

well i dont if im in the rigt place but here i go

trying to get power to pond for 3ea lights, bojo bug light

& vertex aerator

Vertex SafeStart™ Compressor Technology
• UL, 115 volt, single phase, max 35 PSI
• Thermal overload protection
• 1/2 hp (0.37 kW) for exceptionally low monthly electrical costs
• 4.2 amps and 4.2 CFM at typical 10.0 PSI operating pressure


problem is, pond is 1000 ft from pond.

was planning on running 10/3 direct bury to provide 2ea 15 amp breakers 1 for lights & the other just for aerator.

anyone here done this at this distance. any input would be appreciated. hate to spend the $1400 for 1000 ft of 10/3 & find out it wont work.

any suggestions would be appreciated

thanks john

Hey John,

I am no expert but folks here may have a better solution for you. I know a few guys here that are running the air line 8 or 900 feet which last I checked is a lot less money then running 1000 foot of 10-3 electrical line!! Air can be pushed a long ways!! Maybe someone will chime in and head you in the right direction, but DONT buy the wire just yet!! You did good by coming here first!! Hold on for some good money saving advise!!

rc51

thanks for the input.i understand i can run the air line that distance but i still need the electric for lights & bojo. bought 2 bojo 3 years ago & still havent been able to use hate to have that type of money & bugs sitting around & not using them. if 10/3 would work, that would take care of both problems.

please all comments appreciated

Oh hey no problem. Not sure on that long of a run? I used 12/2 to go to my pump but I only went about 100 feet. A 1000 feet is a long ways to run wire! Hopefully someone here will have an answer for ya!

John,
If we plug in the #s heres what we get.

2 x 12.9 x 1000 x 4.2 / 10380 = 10.4 VD Thats a little over 8% which code allows 3% on branch circuits less than 600v

If we do it with #8 it still only gets you to 6.5 VD which is around 5% which is not Quite there but pretty close.

Another option with the HIGH price of copper would be to use direct burial URD (Aluminum)

If your interested let me know I'll run the numbers.

Sorry to ask a ? on your post but what about 12-2 with ground going 400 ft. That's what I'm about to do. Will that be ok

All depends on Amp draw.let me know and I,ll figure it up.

I'd be asking a licensed electrcian.

I am.

R&R, it's sweet when you can write such a short and pointed response.

About a year ago, I had our power company give me an estimate for a 1500 foot run to my camp. $15,000.00 on poles and $22,000.00 underground.

Dudley,
I remember a time when they used to hook you up for free.

I'm interested. PLease do

Dennis,
Hopefully John will post the Amp draw on the Bojo lights and I will calculate everything at once and try to give all the options.
Without those numbers known I would probably lean towards a #2 Quadplex URD. If I'm going to bury 1000' of something I wouldnt want to wish I'd allowed room for future expansion.
Another option might be to bury the air hose while taking just a single circuit for the lights(Requiring Triplex instead of Quad.Cheaper)
If your dealing with a similar situation give me some numbers and I'll be glad to help.
Everyone keep in mind when dealing with electricity and water that a GFCI is an absolute MUST.
Thanks Rob

Holy sh*t.... I had the power company put in 800' overhead and 250' underground when I built my house and it only cost about 4k???

BGK, What year was that. I feel your pain, The house I,m in now(I built in 1995) was free from REMC for a 400Amp service.The property were planning on building on the prices were 9K For them to run it 500'. I oppted for 3K For them to cross the road set a pole,transformer and meter and I'll take it from there.

thanks for all the comments....

i spoke with an electrician & he suggested a multitap transformer which is designed for this application & would boost the power back up to acceptable levels.

anybody heard fo this?

left message with temco transformer co. pprobalby wont hear back till monday. will update this post when i find out.

happy fathers day to all you dads out there

oh yea, R&R im not sure of amp draw on bojo i just know bob hunnicut advertises it usung just 65 watts per night. will confirm amps when i get back home for 4th of july

John,
Keep us posted I'd be interested in the price of the transformer. I've used some buck/boost transformers but only in an industrial application and they were quite pricey.
Also if your load is ever changed you may have to change your taps on the transformer to accomodate.

spoke w/ transformer manufacturer & he stated that the buck/booster would work but they would need to know voltage at both ends to determine which one would be needed/ sized. but i found that 15A 108 up to 115 runs abour $130 give or take which manufacture brands you go with. but it does have to be sized & configured.

this doesnt really help me since i dont have the wire in yet to determine the numbers they need.

so im still comfused as to what to do.

spoke again w/electric co engineer they qouted $600 for 1st 300 ft then $5 per ft after that, but that would at leave me with a 100 amp panel for future improvments but also a 2nd meter bill every month D#@ so about $4500 for 1000 ft run estimate 3 poles

Ouch! I'll bet R&R can give you a good educated estimate on the size needed if he's given the amp load of the things you want to run. When all else fails, bigger is better in my book!

For my purpose I need about 5 amps for a compressor, enough for just a few 100w bulb fixtures, and maybe to power the occasional skill saw. my run will be about 650'

John and Dennis, I'm going to try and address both of your sitiuations at once here.

First I 100% agree with Essup. You will never regret going bigger.

Dennis, If your dead set on copper it calculates out to using #6, If your open to Aluminum keep reading.

John, I'll pre-qualify my comments buy saying that my preference (along with 99.9% of electricians)is always copper.
That being said if I were doing this for myself I would do it how I'm going to suggest with no reservations whatsoever.

You can rent a ride on trencher for around $200/day or $500/week. 1000' of 3C #2 URD is about $1070.00. For the same thing in copper (Tray cable) the cable is $5,830.00 . Thats todays price.(very volatile market) It changes sometimes daily.

I'm telling you this with the Do-It-Yourself menatallity.Which around my area the homeowner is allowed to do it.

Also if you have a tractor and blade you could get a walkbehind trencher cheaper. Depends on the amount of rock you think you would encounter. I like the riders.

John/Dennis The #2URD is very common at your big box suppliers it will keep you both within 5% VD at 10amp load.
(more than you both stated) Leaving more room. The thing with voltage drop is If you lower your voltage you increase amperage which in turn increases heat build up reducing efficiancy.

At least if you do the grunt work yourselves you could hire a liscensed electrician to make your connections and save quite a bit. Sorry for being long winded. Trying to cover all the bases. Let me know if you have any questions and I welcome any other input from other PB'ers.

Oh and PS. If you bury it yourself Code requires 24" of cover. Thanks

Thought of something else.

Maybe keep the compressor at the house run 10/2/g uf and bury in same ditch. Thats adding To RC51's post of the 8-900' air line runs.

R&R

I did just what you suggested when I switched from overhead 100 amp service to underground 320a service (at least that's what Nipsco said for amperage). I put the "H" frame with disconnects about 85 feet from the house and did all the work myself. Nipsco came and blessed the "H" frame and meter, depth of wire & ground rods, main and disconnect installs. I rented a walk behind trencher and had a licensed electrician make the connections and swap the screw-in fuse main box in the house to 200a breaker box. I got lucky, I figured that I needed 100 feet of wire, so I bought 105 feet (aluminum - this was done during the high copper price time of 2008) and I had 1 foot extra.....

Ride on trenchers are a whole lot better than a walk behind, especially when you need to trench from both directions, get close to where you trenched, hit a rock and drop one wheel in the trench that you just dug. It was a bear wrestling out the walk behind trencher from the trench by myself. I don't think a rider would have jumped over like the walk behind did.

you'd make top Project Manager in our shop for figureing that one so close. One foot the other way and you'd been fired though.LOL Yeh you wrestle a walk behind for a 1000' you probably wont be fishing for a few days.

thanks for the input R&R. I think I'll just bury airline for now, and run a genreator when I need need the electricity. And sorry for highjacking JOHN