Campground wiring

Hi, I am a fourth year electrical apprentice and am looking for information on or about wiring a campground. I did a search from Alta Vista and could not find anything.

I know there are a lot of special conditions such as terrain and distances. The terrain may have rocks, tree roots and creeks and the distances quite often is long.

I did see a suggestion of all above ground wires be no lower than 18 foot. I have seen that 30 and 50 Amp hook ups are normal now days. I know how to calculate voltage drop and see that you have information on this on your web site.

How do you add these hook ups to calculate the total service needed? What distances and wire size would be practical for use around a campground? Is it ok to use multiple transformers to keep voltage droop down? If so what medium voltage would you use for transmission around the campground? Would it be best to have different burial depths for sewer, water, electrical, phone and cable TV?

Any thoughts insight or information would be appreciated.

Thanks, Patrick

There are some rules for tent sites in Article 551 of the NEC. R/V parks are almost universally wired at 240/120 volts single phase underground. Voltage drop is kept low by performing a segmented demand calculations for each feeder segment as noted in the FPN to 551.73(D) and sizing the wire accordingly. Rules for burying conductors are found in Section 300.5 of the NEC.

We quit using random lay, all the cables in the same trench at different depths for the conductors. To much trouble over time. We use conduit for everything and keep the sewer and water in one wide trench 24-36 inches. The electrical cable in another. We do not typically run phone unless it is for local communication to the lot manager. Phone adds another complexity that parks do not have around here. Phone is available at the central shower/canteen area.

I inspected a lot of campgrounds with the state of Florida. The general consensus was that they would put no more than 6-8 sites on a 200a service using the standard 30a@120v/ 50a@240v post box. Even with that they still had to be careful distributing campers not to concentrate the bigger units together. A big RV with dual AC units and a bunch of electrical doodads can use a significant portion of his 50a We left serving the 200a panels up to the utility. They usually put the water in deep, the electric went in over that at the nominal 18" and low voltage was just deep enough to avoid tent stake hits. "Park model" parks will provide 100a to each site and expect the typical residential load. The utility will be responsible for serving these 100a meters. Florida now has a law regulating the upcharge park owners can add to electric rates so there is little advantage for the owner to have his own metering equipment.

50 amp hookups? Sewer, water, phone, cable TV? This is some new definition of "campground" with which I am unfamiliar. When I think of a "campground" I think of a clearing in the bush with, if you're at a particularly *posh* campground, a sign pointing the way to the outdoor biffies.

How do you use 50 amps in a tent?

Bill

On Sat, 22 May 2004 01:33:53 -0500 Bill Shymanski wrote: | |> I have seen that 30 and 50 Amp hook ups are normal now days. | |>

|> How do you add these hook ups to calculate the total service needed? |> What distances and wire size would be practical for use around a |> campground? |> Is it ok to use multiple transformers to keep voltage droop down? |> If so what medium voltage would you use for transmission around the |> campground? |> Would it be best to have different burial depths for sewer, water, |> electrical, phone and cable TV? | | 50 amp hookups? Sewer, water, phone, cable TV? This is some new | definition of "campground" with which I am unfamiliar. When I think of | a "campground" I think of a clearing in the bush with, if you're at a | particularly *posh* campground, a sign pointing the way to the outdoor | biffies. | | How do you use 50 amps in a tent?

When I think of *posh* camping, it's with a cushion pad under my sleeping bag and/or packing one of my ham radio HTs.

50 amps? I suppose I could start the campfire faster with that :-)

These "campers" pull in with a 50' RV and use every watt of that 50amp service. They will have 3 or 4 tons of HVAC gear on the roof, microwaves, TVs DVD players and enough light to blot out the stars for miles. True tent campers seem like a rare thing around here.

Those microwave sleeping bags add up fast.

--s falke

Really big, rechargeable, flashlights?