Triplex Wire

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carlos cainas

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We need to re feed Triplexs wire from power pole to weather head.Power company will not come to this site in the middle of no were for a Girls Scout Camp.Its for a 200 amp service,I know that 4/0 Aluminum is code from the weather head to the meter.It would not be feasible to run 4/0 up to the pole.We disconnected a #6 solid copper from pole.This wire is in very bad shape and needs to be replaced.We have never had this issue before. The power company usually runs this cable.Is there anything in the code book.
 
carlos cainas said:
We need to re feed Triplexs wire from power pole to weather head.Power company will not come to this site in the middle of no were for a Girls Scout Camp.Its for a 200 amp service,I know that 4/0 Aluminum is code from the weather head to the meter.It would not be feasible to run 4/0 up to the pole.We disconnected a #6 solid copper from pole.This wire is in very bad shape and needs to be replaced.We have never had this issue before. The power company usually runs this cable.Is there anything in the code book.
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Wait, the POCO won't run an extra 200 ft of overhead triplex? Where is the meterbase? how far is the pole with the transformer? If you have to run the triplex under the NEC, I would suggest a calculation rather than just saying 200 amps. 230.23 will hinder you(IMO). If the meterbase is on the side of the building, see if the POCO will call the weatherhead the point of delivery if you supply the wire. That way you could possibly get by with something as small as #4Al.(depending on load calcs)
 
Thank u for the reply.We are definitely not in a normal situation.Power company in Riverview FL will not even take the clips off to de energize the power to this site.This is a girls scout camp in the middle of the woods.The clips and power company transformer is about 300 feet from were I disconnected the damaged wire when the old 30 foot power pole came down.We have done plenty of panel up grade, commercial and residential. Run overhead wires from pole to pole.Never had to run wires to the power companys pole.Is there any info in the code book,we have plenty of 4/0 Aluminum Triplex in the warehouse.
 
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carlos cainas said:
Thank u for the reply.We are definitely not in a normal situation.Power company in Riverview FL will not even take the clips off to de energize the power to this site.This is a girls scout camp in the middle of the woods.The clips and power company transformer is about 300 feet from were I disconnected the damaged wire when the old 30 foot power pole came down.We have done plenty of panel up grade, commercial and residential. Run overhead wires from pole to pole.Never had to run wires to the power companys pole.Is there any info in the code book,we have plenty of 4/0 Aluminum Triplex in the warehouse.
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Again... 230.23
I would run the numbers though before I committed to 4/0 OH TPX.
 
230.23 is not very long,but helpful.I'm inst rested on the last post, what chart did u find 1/0 is fine for 200 amps.If there is 50 amps on each leg would be to much.We got the 4/0 Aluminum at the shop,as long as we could run that .
 
I assume this is customer owned equipment otherwise why won't they do it?

Is it beyond or ahead of metering equipment? I understood you to mean this is service drop from transformer to where metering equipment is located.

I understand many POCO are not doing anything for customer anymore or are charging for things they used to do for free. You would think they would at least come out and make sure there is no connections that bypass metering:slaphead:
 
I find the installation of aerial triplex/quadplex but other than POCOs an interesting area (challenge)
You see a fair amount of it installed, however, most, if not all, triplex I have seen is in reality not a NEC listed conductor but ends up being approved by the AHJ.
With that in mind, the following chart provides ampacity ratings for Southwire's triplex:

http://www.southwire.com/ProductCatalog/XTEInterfaceServlet?contentKey=prodcatsheet34
 
Remember that these conductors are in free air, so you can use table 310.20 (not more than 3 conductors supported on a messenger). But this table won't get you to 200A with 1/0 aluminum. You could do a 200A service with 1/0 copper or 3/0 aluminum unless you have a listed 90C termination device. In that case, you could use 2/0 aluminum.
 
suemarkp said:
Remember that these conductors are in free air, so you can use table 310.20 (not more than 3 conductors supported on a messenger). But this table won't get you to 200A with 1/0 aluminum. You could do a 200A service with 1/0 copper or 3/0 aluminum unless you have a listed 90C termination device. In that case, you could use 2/0 aluminum.
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I was seeing the same thing you were. He stated he had plenty of 4/0, but I don't think he got the point of my suggestion. Many electricians just put up a 200 amp service because it is easier to oversize than to calculate. I still don't understand his situation completely. Is this a cabin, or a central meeting house for the camp? At any rate, if he will do his calculations, he may find that he can get by with something as small as a 100 amp service, and then he could go to something like a #2 which is lighter, so there won't be a need for extra guys (guy wire), easier to string up, and common enough to be extremely cheap.
 
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