Aerial cable to remote dwelling

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ssdiver

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I have a 200amp main service entering the primary residence. This property also has a small dwelling approximately 50ft away that was originally fed by a 2wire old bx fed thru a cast drain pipe. We need to intsall EMON metering equipment at the small dwelling and replace the existing fuse panel.

My intentions are to remove existing bx cable. Run new 100AMP SER from main panel ==> outside and up building. Then run a quadplex aerial (since I need to isolate the neutral from the ECG since this installation, i believe, should be treated as a subpanel) to the small building, then down the small builder with SER.

Is this an acceptable installation (I'm getting mixed results from my peers), or may someone suggest an alternate safe installation.

FYI, the ground is almost all rock and digging is really not an option.

Thanks
 
You could tap the service conductors and have a second set of service entrance conductors ..
 
if there are no continuous metalic paths between the 2 buildings such as telephone, catv, water, ect.. then you dont need the 4th wire , just use se cable with triplex, either way you have to establish a grounding system at the sub.....
 
scwirenut said:
if there are no continuous metalic paths between the 2 buildings such as telephone, catv, water, ect.. then you dont need the 4th wire , just use se cable with triplex, either way you have to establish a grounding system at the sub.....
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As long as you are not on the '08 NEC.
 
ssdiver said:
The biggest debate was whether the triplex would provide the proper ECG
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Don't fuss about it too much. For only 50 feet, the cost difference between triplex and quadraplex is really only a couple bucks. Four-wire feed it, since that's the right thing to do, so to speak, whether you're on the '08 or not.
 
FYI on quadraplex cable: Unlike SPT cable (lamp cord), which has ridges on the neutral, quadraplex has a ridge on each hot conductor and no ridge on the neutral. Some brands have a heavy ridge on the one hot and a lighter ridge on the other hot, if you feel the need to tell the two apart. The neutral in quadraplex, however, always has no ridge.
 
mdshunk said:
FYI on quadraplex cable: Unlike SPT cable (lamp cord), which has ridges on the neutral, quadraplex has a ridge on each hot conductor and no ridge on the neutral. Some brands have a heavy ridge on the one hot and a lighter ridge on the other hot, if you feel the need to tell the two apart. The neutral in quadraplex, however, always has no ridge.
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This is NOT necessarily always the case. Just today I rebuilt a service to a boat dock. This boat dock had a quadraplex ran overhead, to power the boat lifts. The neutral was the only wire with a ridge on it and the two hots were smooth all the way 'round.
 
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