Service Line Sizing

[Schuter]

Ok, I don?t think I fit into the DIY category according to this thread , however I don?t want to break the forum rules. If I am wrong, let me know and I will not post any further questions.

I have worked with electricity for almost 20 years in the military, everything from simple DC circuits to 20,000+ volt power supplies for radar systems. I hope this qualifies me to ask questions on this forum????

I am building in the country so there are no local inspections, however I am paying an inspector to inspect just like it was in town so I can put a 10 year warranty on the house. I want everything to be within code, no shortcuts.

So after the longwinded "who am I", here is my question;

My meter/disconnect pole is 235 ft away from the main panel. The load calculates to be around 154 amps (most major appliances are propane). What size conductor would you run from the disconnect to the house and what material (copper/aluminum)?

Remember, this is for MY house so I don?t want to skimp, but I don?t want to throw money out the window....remember I am cheap.

Schuter

 

[charlie b]

Re: Service Line Sizing

This may seem arbitrary, but my ruling is that this is outside the rules. Therefore, I am closing this thread.

I wrote the reply that is cited in the top line of the question above. So perhaps I should say why I am drawing the line differently in this case. The person asking the question in that other thread, Steelbuster, had been a professional electrician, a lineman. Persons who do that job do not often work with the electrical devices and the wiring means and methods used internal to a building. But they are familiar with power distribution systems and with the means and methods for safely performing electrical installation and connections. So it was a difficult call by the Moderators to allow a former lineman to obtain assistance from this Forum for home electrical work.

The person asking the present question was involved in electrical components in the military. But he was not an electrician in his military service. Or so I infer, as he has not claimed to have worked on any building wiring systems. Familiarity with DC systems and radar electronics does not a person give sufficient background to perform residential electrical work.

Schuter, I have to close this thread. Our concern is that you may get only the answer to the question that you ask, and get no answer to the thousand other questions that you should have asked, but did not know that you needed to ask. The thousand of other questions are the ones that electricians, electrical engineers, and other professionals in the electrical installation business would have known about, and would have understood the answers to, as part of their years of training in this particular field.

?A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.? The Owner and Moderators of this Forum do not wish to risk allowing you and your family to be placed in danger, by giving you too little information.

This is one time that it may pay you to not be cheap. If you hire an electrician to install the service, you will never have to worry about some problem lurking in the background, never have to worry about whether you did something wrong that will someday make itself known. An electrician is not a window, in the sense that money thrown in that direction is wasted money. What is the price of safety? It can never be too high.