Owner is building a very nice house with wonderful view of mountains. Does not want utility to bring highvoltage line into property, impact of view. He wants to set up meter loop on pole for service drop then go underground to a outside, nema 3R panel w/200 amp main breaker. Panel will feed outside branch ckts, and also 200 amp main panel in house. This 200 amp panel in house would be fed by 2 pole 200 in outside panel. Distance from service drop to outside panel is 700 feet. When i do the voltage calcs for 200 amp, 240 volt, 3% on feeder comes up to 500 MCM's. What is the best way to work with 500's in gear that is not at all user friendly with this big of wire. A 200 amp main breaker is not even rated for 500's. I was thinking about bringing the 500's into a nema 3R junction box next to the outside panel and tapping down to 2/0. Also, what about the 200 amp meter loop, same idea? Also, i was thinking about running a three wire from the meter loop to the outsidepanel. All direct bury, no metal conduit. Drive a ground rod and bond the nuetral to the ground. Call it my new service. Sooo, am i all wet on the volt calcs, ideology, intent? Just the expense of 2100 feet of 500's is over $6000.00 I have not done a nuetral calc to see if i could drop the nuetral size yet. I am still in the planning stage, and with the cost of all of this, i want to get as many options as possible. This is a lot of money for the owner, so I want to give hime the best possible job I can!
thanks everyone, this site is great!
thanks everyone, this site is great!