500 mcm to 2 gauge

Ya I see lots of problems. For starters the grounding is 600 feet away.

Call the serving utility and move the meter closer to the home. Why pay for the wire when they will install it for free.

this calculator

Best thing to do is to put a handhole in the ground just outside the house service entrance. Terminate the 500 Kcmil conductors in a set of terminal blocks, similar to what the power company uses when they serve multiple houses at the end of one secondary run. Then, run the #2 through appropriately sized conduit up the wall and into the panel.

Not necessarily. Its possible to ground at the service entrance (the house) rather than at the meter.

I'm guessing that the OP priced the difference between a 600 plus foot service (utility wires to the meter) and providing his own wire from the meter to the house. Our local utility can charge as much as $25 per foot for their system.

So 3 wires or 4 from the meter to the house with today's electronics?

Dean

And why pay for warming that wire.

OTOH, some utilities refuse to put meters very far offroad, depending on conditions.

We are Going to ground the meter separate from the house both will have separate ground rods

They want $11.00 per foot and then money for the transformer and ect...

2 runs of 500 (Hot) and 1 of 350 (Nuteral) And the house will be grounded at the house....

His neighbor is 1100+ feet from his meter

Holy voltage drop, Batman! I didn't think any utility had 120/240V runs anywhere near that long.

Near where my father lives, there are several new McMansions quite a ways back from the road. The feed to them is a bit unusual; it's along a road with old delta wired service at a fairly low voltage (small insulators). They put up a transformer for each house with the primary connected to two hots and the secondary has one lead grounded and the other apparently at a higher voltage, this goes underground. There must be a second pad mounted transformer at the house. I assume this is for a planned upgrade to a higher voltage wye service in the near future, when this is done they eliminate the first transformer and don't have to touch the second.

One of the local REAs has been running regular line voltage to a pad mounted transformer located by the house. This is in contrast to the overhead lines with a pole mounted transformer in the middle of the farmyard from earlier times. Even most farmers don't live 1100 feet from the road.

I did not say he was 1100 feet off the rod but he is 1100 feet from his meter which is on my friend property...

| "Phillip" writes: | |>His neighbor is 1100+ feet from his meter | | Holy voltage drop, Batman! I didn't think any utility had 120/240V runs | anywhere near that long.

There are a lot of places in West Virginia even longer than that. An uncle of mine back in the 1960's had a place with power going over

3000 feet to his home. He did have the meter at his house, through. The road up to the house was good. But I've heard if the road is not going to be maintained or is too long, they want the meter located closer to the main road, and will just put one in if they have to.

| Near where my father lives, there are several new McMansions quite a ways | back from the road. The feed to them is a bit unusual; it's along a road | with old delta wired service at a fairly low voltage (small insulators). | They put up a transformer for each house with the primary connected to two | hots and the secondary has one lead grounded and the other apparently at a | higher voltage, this goes underground. There must be a second pad mounted | transformer at the house. I assume this is for a planned upgrade to a | higher voltage wye service in the near future, when this is done they | eliminate the first transformer and don't have to touch the second.

Must be running somewhere between 480 and 2400 volts to the next transformer. I'd rather take the service feed at 480 to 600 if I could get it that way.

[snip]

Its also a matter of cost. Our local power co will put a line in almost anywhere. For $25 a foot. Since they (the utility) have an obligation to maintain voltage at the metering point, they don't run long services. There's nothing stopping a customer from increasing their load from a tiny cabin with a wood stove to an all electric house. Then, once the service was established, the utility would be obligated to upgrade at their own cost.

I have seen an installation with a 240V service to a meter pole at the road. The service fed a 240-2400V transformer and overhead primary line (all customer owned), which ran a mile or so back through the woods to a step-down transformer.

I believe the feed to the pad transformer is at the full line voltage for whatever voltage they plan to upgrade to, and they have been upgrading in that area. There are two reasons I say that: The underground feeder appears exactly the same as that used to feed a pad transformer directly from the MV distribution lines, with a substantial bushing. The first transformer can also has a substantial bushing on its secondary (larger than the two on its primary), and in fact appears to be the same can used in partially upgraded areas, where the main road has been upgraded to Y and a side street still uses the old lower voltage delta (single phase, two wires). An identical looking can converts between them, but in this case the primary and secondary are reversed.

I have a fuse assembly from a storm-damaged pole in the same area (crews didn't clean up well) which reads 4800V. Since the old insulators in the area are all the same size I guess this is what the old delta voltage is.

|> There are a lot of places in West Virginia even longer than that. An |> uncle of mine back in the 1960's had a place with power going over |> 3000 feet to his home. He did have the meter at his house, through. |> The road up to the house was good. But I've heard if the road is not |> going to be maintained or is too long, they want the meter located |> closer to the main road, and will just put one in if they have to. | | Its also a matter of cost. Our local power co will put a line in almost | anywhere. For $25 a foot. Since they (the utility) have an obligation to | maintain voltage at the metering point, they don't run long services. | There's nothing stopping a customer from increasing their load from a | tiny cabin with a wood stove to an all electric house. Then, once the | service was established, the utility would be obligated to upgrade at | their own cost. | | I have seen an installation with a 240V service to a meter pole at the | road. The service fed a 240-2400V transformer and overhead primary line | (all customer owned), which ran a mile or so back through the woods to a | step-down transformer.

What codes are applicable to customer owned MV? Sounds like a good way to avoid the voltage drop. But guess who has to trim the trees.

In Washington State, the NEC. Utilities are goverened by the NESC, which covers MV and HV line construction in much greater detail. The NEC references the NESC for guidance for systems of over 600V.