Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
AC load is probably is what is pushing your Daily Summer usage High.
Would a Split System do better so only Cool parts of the home at a time?
Can you do a Bi-Power System, Solar + Propane GenSet? To the Powerwall? Might get you down to one Powerwall, Just a thought.
I suggested the Conduit, Two Years ago my Dad lost one side of his underground 200A powerline. (The night before Thanksgiving.. Perfect time to lose power) The "Odd" Breakers had Power. The local Electric company came out at 1am to put in a temporary line. (They literally ran it from tree to tree). A few month later they came out and put in a new line underground. But it was the Power company line that failed. But if the line is "Yours" to retrench would be costly, and time consuming.
1400 feet can be pulled thru a conduit. Where I use to work, "We" pulled two miles of Fiber Optic line in a conduit to replace a Copper line. The contractor attacted the 2 ?ropes? to the copper cable, then pulled it down the street, then used one of the ropes to pull the fiber back thru the conduit.
I've been a lineman for 33 years. I've ran direct bury at the utility I worked and ran conduit and hen I contracted to municipalities and private company's. Direct bury and conduit both have advantages. Direct bury can just be thrown in the trench, turns and bends are no problem. If it ever gets "dug into" (and this is a BIG one) you have a very simple repair of a splice or 2 splices and 5'-10' of cable. If it's in pipe, your buying a transformer (pulls the bushing out) and replacing the fused cutout at the pole and maybe the arm, pole ground. 1400' in conduit would be no problem for 1/0 primary cable. But I would also install at least 2, probably 3 handholes (pull boxes). In northern Illinois they usually will use a 3'x5' box, turn the conduit(s) up with a 45* bend at each end of the box. When you pull the wire, leave a hand coil around the inside of the box, that may spare you some expense if your conduit does get hit! We use 3" plastic conduit for 1/0 and for 4/0 secondary and 350 secondary. We always blow a line thru the conduit to pull the wire. Try to find a lineman to help you accompolish this. Splicing primary is t hard when you know what your doing, but not something I would recommend for a first timer. Also the pothead( termination) at the pole would have to be done by a "qualified" person who can safely work around energized conductors.
FWIW, if vertical separation is allowed, a water pipe six feet down is less likely to freeze than one four feet down.
Wow, that's deep. In southern PA standard water burial is 3.5 feet, and electric 1.5 to 2 feet deep, unless you're in a highway or railroad or something.
Wow, that's deep. In southern PA standard water burial is 3.5 feet, and electric 1.5 to 2 feet deep, unless you're in a highway or railroad or something.
I don't recall where the OP is at , but in MN the water lines should be buried 7 ft to be safe.
I would want the electric run to be engineered. You take the risk by guessing what size wire and not code for your area.Will the electric company install it?
I would want the electric run to be engineered. You take the risk by guessing what size wire and not code for your area.Will the electric company install it?
Primary voltage can run for many, many miles. 1/0 primary cable (and smaller sizes) run thru entire neighborhoods.
I've looked into solar (7 kW system) + 2 Tesla Powerwalls. The problem there is that those batteries last 10-12 years. They currently cost around $5500 a piece. So an $11,000 replacement cost in barely 10 years from now doesn't work out too well when looking at this. 7 kW worth of solar panels is between $14,000 - $15,000. So it'd cost me over double to go off grid. Trust me, I'd love to go this route, but the price of solar + battery hasn't come down quite enough to make it affordable vs connecting to the grid. Another thing is that in order to get most of the solar credits, you have to be connected to the grid to feed the unused power back to the POCO. This is a requirement with many of those credits. A 7 kW system would probably actually be stretching it here in the Summer time, where daily power requirements can exceed 33 kWh / day (a normal 7 kW system is about 25 kWh / day). I'd probably require a 10 kW system, and those are well over $20,000.
My <$4k system (1300W solar, ~1500 amp hours) runs my freezer, power tools, LED lights, 2800W inverter etc just fine.
Don't just look at sticker.
(I saved ~$36,000 over having power run out, and the lack of a monthly power bill will easily replace my batteries when time comes.)
You've gotten advice all over the map. Here's my experience:
Our electric coop has a simple rule: You can get power from the nearest pole. That's all they are responsible for. You pay to bring it your house. And only they can run the line. That way they know it meets their codes/needs/rules.
The cost varies depending on whether you want to string it on poles, or bury it. Buried lines are trenched 4' deep, in a 4"conduit. Nothing, repeat, NOTHING else is allowed in that trench. Believe me, I tried, begged & pleaded to get some other lines run, or at least conduit installed. No way.
I didn't want poles, so I paid for a buried line. Costs $12/foot, all inclusive (labor, conduit, etc). I had about 600 feet to run. Then they install a transformer where you want (as long as it's close to the final usage). That's another $2K. Plus some concrete pads, and meter costs, etc. Final cost was about $12,000.
They run 14,000 volts in the buried line. Transformer drops it to house current (120/220/etc). Then I had to pay a local electrician to run buried lines from their transformer to the meter, then on to the house & barns.
You've gotten advice all over the map. Here's my experience:
Our electric coop has a simple rule: You can get power from the nearest pole. That's all they are responsible for. You pay to bring it your house. And only they can run the line. That way they know it meets their codes/needs/rules.
The cost varies depending on whether you want to string it on poles, or bury it. Buried lines are trenched 4' deep, in a 4"conduit. Nothing, repeat, NOTHING else is allowed in that trench. Believe me, I tried, begged & pleaded to get some other lines run, or at least conduit installed. No way.
I didn't want poles, so I paid for a buried line. Costs $12/foot, all inclusive (labor, conduit, etc). I had about 600 feet to run. Then they install a transformer where you want (as long as it's close to the final usage). That's another $2K. Plus some concrete pads, and meter costs, etc. Final cost was about $12,000.
They run 14,000 volts in the buried line. Transformer drops it to house current (120/220/etc). Then I had to pay a local electrician to run buried lines from their transformer to the meter, then on to the house & barns.
Start by realizing remote living is not cheap if you want civilized utilities like electricity and water. Then arrange with the electric supplier to engineer and install a system like astrohip described and just pay for it as part of the mortgage. Same for supplying the water although I would check the cost of a well.
If I were building a place in, say New Mexico, well away from any utilities, I would be most concerned with supplying water. Electricity would be solar, as the load created by entertainment, computer and lighting is quire small since LED lighting. Heat and refrigeration would be by Propane and wood heat and AC by evaporative coolers. If I wanted heavier electrical loads like power tools and welders I would contact the folks that are involved with old fashioned Lister diesel generators for large short term loads.
If I wanted to hive in the New England boonies the energy mix would be different and water would be supplied by a dug or drilled well. Electrical would be solar/battery supplemented by a Lister Diesel co generation (electricity and heat) set. Most heat, including cooking would be by local wood and propane. The diesel would run on heating fuel or bio diesel fuel.
OP - If you are in southern or western Pennsylvania you should check on the availability of natural gas on your property. Check with the State Geology department.
Last edited by GregW; 01-20-2017 at 03:52 AM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
