Help if it's not too late!!

Stubbie

Ahhhhh.....hush pups now were gettin somewhere. Ain't nothin better with fish. Unless it would be frog legs... I've never had crayfish but that is something I hear is darn worth the wait.

Cyndi:

I agree with John. I think I would call back I really think if you used the right wire and he sees a conduit 30 Inches down at one end he will be satisfied. He ain't no dummy and he knows that the trench was backfilled so you pretty well can bet that the conduit is at 30" all the way. give him a call and tell him what the deal is about the trench. I'll bet he will sign off on it with only one hole at the beginning of the trenches.

Cyndi

I gave up on the third hole. I dug 36" deep and 30 "wide and didn't hit anything. That third hole wore me out!!! I will call tomorrow. As a matter of fact, I left him a message and hopefully he will call me first.

Randy only found a 10 slot Cutler Hammer ground bar. Is that enough spaces for all the circuits that I am planning? Can a second 10 slot be added to the other side of the panel as well. There appear to be holes for a second one. I guess I need to see how many grounds I am going to have in order to determine if I even need more than 10.

Hope you all had a great day and I'll check my replies later. Thanks again!!

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Student of the great electrical GURU.....Stubbie!

Stubbie

Yes you can add a ground bar to the other set of mounting holes. You will have the #8 equipment ground of the feeder connect to a ground bar and the #6 out to the ground rods connected to a ground bar. So if using only one 10 hole ground bar those will occupy 2 set screw holes. That leaves eight positions. You are allowed two or more equipment grounds of the same size per hole. The specification sheet will tell you how many per hole on the panel cover. So if all the others are 12AWG for example thats sixteen grounds on that ground bar at two per hole.

Cyndi

16 auta-be plenty!!! Thanks again. Cyndi

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Student of the great electrical GURU.....Stubbie!

Silk

Thanks so much for the recipe Cindy, you are truly a doll for helping me out. I can't wait to taste these. That's what I was looking for, a good "home" recipe from a real southern belle

Cyndi

Silk-
If you like the buttermilk recipe, try adding onions to it if you like onions!! Yum!!!

Stubbie and Jrclen-

I did get the inspector to call me back this morn. He is going to let me just dig a hole every 50-60 feet or so just to let him see that the conduit is buried deep enough. Thanks for the tip!! That saved me a lot of sore muscles and exhaustion!!!

The electrical supply houses want 1.40 per foot on the #2 Alum new and 1.20 per foot for used!!! I guess we'll wait till HD gets more in at .47 per foot. What a difference!!!

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Student of the great electrical GURU.....Stubbie!

Cyndi

Stubbie-

I think I have everything that will be needed to complete the electrical system. The only thing that I will have to get is #10 wire if you think the #12 is not large enough for the 220' and 390' distance circuits. I also saw someone mention on another thread that if you run alum. feeders, you need some type of contact goop or something for the ends that go into the breakers.. If so, I need to get that too and I should be done shopping!!! So, do I need some type of goop or not really? As for the #10 wire, I can get that later if I need to.

The inspector will be out next Tues. and then I can proceed. Have a great weekend and Bye for now. Cyndi

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Student of the great electrical GURU.....Stubbie!

Stubbie

Cyndi

What your being told to use is called anti oxidant. There is no electrical code requirement to use it. Some electricians do....some don't. Aluminum alloys have come a long way from 20 years ago when anti oxidant was used all the time on the stripped end of aluminum wires. There are still electrical contractors that require their electricians to use it. My opinion is that unless specifically told by the literature that comes with an electrical product it is not necessary to use it. There are some electrical lugs that come preloaded with anti oxidant so naturally that manufacturer wants it.

Cyndi

HI Stubbie!

The 170' run had a 1250 watt heater last year with a sensored light that had two 250 watt bulbs. Then from that location another circuit was run with a shared neutral 220 more feet. It had the same load.

Now, I could make sure that I buy 500 watt water trough heaters for this winter and that would reduce the load if need be.

Those locations also at times need to have a heat lamp added to the receptacle if an animal gets too cold in their shelter. I usually run that with an outdoor extension chord because the shelters are just portable sheds that get moved around sometimes. I usually put a 150-250 watt bulb if needed.

Cyndi

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Student of the great electrical GURU.....Stubbie!

Stubbie

Ok so you have a shared neutral circuit that starts at the sub-panel goes 170' to a receptacle then you carry one of the hot legs and the shared neutral another 220' to a second receptacle.


Ok Cyndi let me give you some guidelines on what I use to calculate the size of heaters for a given outside average winter air temp and water tank
capacity.

First always figure O degrees and then get colder to size a 120 volt water heater.

Tank size 5 gal at 0 F needs a 250 watt heater these generally are your plastic buckets with a heater built into the bottom.

Tank size 5 gal at -20F needs a 500 watt heater

Tank size 25 gal at 0 F needs 500 watt heater

Tank size 25 gal at -20 F needs 1000 watt heater

Tank size 50 gal at 0 F needs 1000 watt heater

Tank size 50 gal at -20 F needs 1500 watt heater

So what tank size do you have?

I think the first thing to do is get the heaters sized properly or down size the tank so we can use a smaller heater on that 390 foot run.

Then we will take a look at wire sizes and voltage drops to get the most out of the heaters and heat lamps.

jrclen

JMHO, I like anti oxidant on aluminum wires. Especially in out buildings. I also torque the wires in the terminals, leave them sit while I do some other work, and then check them again after 15 min or so. I've been called out for many corroded and overheated terminal connections over the years. Usually in the middle of the night.

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John

Stubbie

Cyndi

I'm leaving on a fishing trip for 4 days starting tomorrow morning. Others will help you out if you need it. I'll check back on Monday.

jrclen

Good luck Stubbie. Have a great time.

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John

Silk

Who's going to hold down the fort while you're off playing?

Stubbie

Thank You.. should be fun , going to Truman Lake, Missouri....crappie are on the banks and the bass are doing their prespawn feeding. Weather is going to be decent so should be one of the better trips for catching of the year. I'm packing at the moment and wouldn't you know the fellow who we are staying with at the lake wants a couple motion lights set up with remote sensors. So now I'm out to the truck to gather my tools to take along. I'm going to forget the one tool I will need desperately to finish the job it never fails.

Well.... it looks to me like you are a prime candidate.......