OT: Wiring a Workshop Need Advice

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  • ckelloug
    Senior Member
    • Mar 2007
    • 1052

    OT: Wiring a Workshop Need Advice

    Hi all,

    I need to redo the electrical service at my house to run my new shop. After consulting with the electrical supply, they suggest a 320A continuous, 400A intermittent rated meter base with two integral disconnect breakers as service equipment. I'm planning on running a feeder from one 200A breaker to the shop's new panel and another 200A feeder off the other breaker to the house's old 200A panel.

    The catch is I think I'm going to have to run the wires back to the house in Rigid or Intermediate Metallic Conduit so that it only has to be buried 6 inches and doesn't need to be concreted over. (My desire to dig around tree roots has run out after the sprinkler system. . .)

    I wanted to double check here whether my plan to run the 2/0 copper 200A feeder from the service back to the house through 2 inch RMC sounded good.

    Thanks in advance,

    Cameron
  • pcarpenter
    Senior Member
    • Jun 2005
    • 2283

    #2
    You are able to get by with smaller entrance wire like that because of the short runs. I didn't know that back when I re-wired my old house and when doing the service entrance put in 3 3/0 entrance wires in 2" conduit. Suffice it to say it was about like trying to feed rebar through conduit.

    I would think that would be fine....but probably overkill. I guess I don't know what your real shop needs are. However, I put up a 30x40 building a few years ago with a 100 amp service. With only one guy working (me) with about 30 Amps worth of overhead lights, the 220v air unit and the 220v air compressor running simultaneously, I figure I would still have to be able to weld with one hand and run the mill and lathe with the other to exceed 100 amps.

    Paul
    Paul Carpenter
    Mapleton, IL

    Comment

    • CCWKen
      Senior Member
      • Jan 2003
      • 8567

      #3
      Originally posted by pcarpenter
      I didn't know that back when I re-wired my old house and when doing the service entrance put in 3 3/0 entrance wires in 2" conduit. Suffice it to say it was about like trying to feed rebar through conduit.
      I can relate to that. I did the same from the service pole to the house. Buried it 18" - 24" for about 150'. That's no easy task in this South Texas concrete they call soil.

      The 2/0 seems a little small for a 200A service line unless it's a very short distance. But like PC said, you'd be a mighty busy fellow trying to use up 100A all at once. The Maximum Amps for power transmission uses the 700 circular mils per amp rule. While very conservative, it's a safe rule of thumb for underground or bundled wire.

      Comment

      • Yankee1
        Senior Member
        • Jul 2003
        • 597

        #4
        South Texas Soil

        Hello Ken,
        We used to call that soil Gumbo. You dig out a shovel full and try to throw it and it clings to the shovel. You brought back old memories.
        Chuck

        Comment

        • grand master flash
          Junior Member
          • May 2007
          • 4

          #5
          What is Required

          2/0 copper or 4/0 alunimum is all that is required for 200 amp service. Generaly voltage drop is not an issue with small services because under most conditions there is not that much of a load on them. You will need a 4th wire for a equipment ground between the disconnect at the meter base and the panel and the NEUTRAL MUST FLOAT in the sub feed panels. With a disconnect at the meter base the panels become subfed and a floating neutrial is required and the neutrals equipment grounds are tied together at the service disconnect.

          Grand Master Flash
          WV Master Electrician

          Comment

          • ckelloug
            Senior Member
            • Mar 2007
            • 1052

            #6
            Thanks to all and especially grand master flash! Despite being an engineer type, it's so much easier to get advice from people who do this kind of thing for real than to have to quintuple check one's own work.

            The nominal usage planned is this: Miller Synchowave 250 dx :100 Amps 220V (plugged into fist sized Cooper Crouse Hinds 100Amp outlet from Ebay). L&L specialty Furnace Company GS1714 toolroom furnace 25A 220V. Lights Nominal. Birmingham 14x40 Lathe 20 Amps. Bridgeport with VFD 20A 220V. Air conditioning XX@ 220V some day. Look on electrical inspector's face: priceless.

            Rigid conduit seemed the lesser of the evils than digging in tree root gumbo.

            Oh goodie, off to acquire a gigantic pipe threading die for threading the conduit cuts. I assume conduit uses ordinary NPT threads, right?

            Regards all,

            Cameron

            Comment

            • Forrest Addy
              Senior Member
              • Oct 2002
              • 5792

              #7
              First make sure your installation complies with local code and the NEC in all particulars. Second you don't HAVE to run 4/0:2/0 wire through 2" conduit. Moving up a size conduit makes installation so muck easier. Another trick is to lay out the wire along the ground and pass each length of conduit over it. MUCH easier than pulling it - especially if bends are involved.

              Bends can be a real hassle also pulling ells. Use plenty of electrician's snot on the wire. I once did a buried service install tha required several bends to wind past a concrete dech and a well house. I had a contractor make me a few conduit bends on oversized dies. Made a real difference.

              Edit. OOPS!!! Wiser heads than I pointed out that my lay it out on the ground trick is not to code which dictates the conduit runs have to be complete before pulling conductors. My apoligies to any who have been misled. Goes to show how reliable electrical information is on the internet and the need for all who solict it confirm it from expert sources before implementing it. My bad. I've done it many times and seen licenced electricians thread conduit on difficult runs in the past. I thought is was SOP. I should have looked it up.
              Last edited by Forrest Addy; 06-30-2007, 11:03 AM.

              Comment

              • pntrbl
                Senior Member
                • Aug 2006
                • 864

                #8
                I did a 35 ft underground run to put some lights in a shed. With a bend at each end I couldn't get nothing thru it for the longest time. What finally worked was string and compressed air. It was amazing! The string was pulsing out the other end just as fast as SIL could put it in there.

                Had a good laugh pulling the 3 wires later. The missus was pulling on the single wire I had pulled with the string. I was feeding at the other end. The black and white were on big rolls but I only had a 50ft for the green and all 3 were on a stick. 35 ft run. Should be fine. But pretty soon the green's almost gone?

                The missus got to the 3 wires and just kept on pulling .....

                SP

                Comment

                • Todd Tolhurst
                  Senior Member
                  • Apr 2006
                  • 546

                  #9
                  Originally posted by Forrest Addy
                  Another trick is to lay out the wire along the ground and pass each length of conduit over it. MUCH easier than pulling it - especially if bends are involved.
                  Yes, very much easier, but also in violation of the NEC, which requires that the conduit system be complete before wire is installed.
                  Todd

                  Comment

                  • wierdscience
                    Senior Member
                    • Jan 2003
                    • 22082

                    #10
                    Originally posted by Todd Tolhurst
                    Yes, very much easier, but also in violation of the NEC, which requires that the conduit system be complete before wire is installed.
                    Yup and if it's PVC the glue will burn nice holes in the insulation.

                    I ran exactly one wire run in conduit too small,never again.Besides the larger the conduit the more stuff you can add later.My nieghbor once asked what size to run 80' from his house to his shop.I told him 3" would be good,4" better,he thought I was nuts but went with the 3" anyway.When he went to add a phone line,then cable tv,then he got the point.
                    I just need one more tool,just one!

                    Comment

                    • Rusty Marlin
                      Senior Member
                      • Jan 2006
                      • 496

                      #11
                      Originally posted by Todd Tolhurst
                      Yes, very much easier, but also in violation of the NEC, which requires that the conduit system be complete before wire is installed.
                      shhhh! I won't tell if you don't.

                      I ran 150ft of 2/0 copper for 100 amps 220V to my shop. There was only one way to get that much wire through 2" conduit, by myself, with 4 90deg elbows and three 90deg Pvc Condulette Lb (I think that's what they are called).
                      Dug that mother trench 22" deep by hand too. Luckily we have soft sandy clay here.
                      I didn't run water or phone line out to the shop so I was able to ground rod it out there rather than run a 150' of solid ground wire too.
                      Last edited by Rusty Marlin; 06-29-2007, 08:56 AM.
                      Ignorance is curable through education.

                      Comment

                      • Evan
                        Senior Member
                        • May 2003
                        • 41977

                        #12
                        Run it overhead on a messenger cable. Much easier.
                        Free software for calculating bolt circles and similar: Click Here

                        Comment

                        • J Tiers
                          Senior Member
                          • Jan 2004
                          • 44236

                          #13
                          Originally posted by wierdscience
                          Yup and if it's PVC the glue will burn nice holes in the insulation.

                          I ran exactly one wire run in conduit too small,never again.Besides the larger the conduit the more stuff you can add later.My nieghbor once asked what size to run 80' from his house to his shop.I told him 3" would be good,4" better,he thought I was nuts but went with the 3" anyway.When he went to add a phone line,then cable tv,then he got the point.
                          That's another thing.....

                          Those are not permitted in the same raceway with 120/240 power wires......
                          CNC machines only go through the motions.

                          Ideas expressed may be mine, or from anyone else in the universe.
                          Not responsible for clerical errors. Or those made by lay people either.
                          Number formats and units may be chosen at random depending on what day it is.
                          I reserve the right to use a number system with any integer base without prior notice.
                          Generalizations are understood to be "often" true, but not true in every case.

                          Comment

                          • ckelloug
                            Senior Member
                            • Mar 2007
                            • 1052

                            #14
                            Rusty,

                            I think code says that there can only be 360 degrees of elbows between pull points.

                            As for the reason they want the wire pulled rather than assembled in the conduit , I suspect that it has to do with having the joints rotated with wire inside is more likely to score all of the way through the insulation than a single longitudinal scratch from pulling: just a guess.

                            I've got the 2002 NEC, and also the 2000 IRC (International Residential Code), which I believe is the one they're actually using for houses down here, and in fact the entire book set for a contractor's license. In those 3000 or so pages, there's a lot to forget when you don't do all of it every day.

                            Incidentally, the use of Rigid Metallic Conduit to avoid burying cables half way to China (deeper than 6") is specified in table 300.5 of my 2002 NEC. Bigger than 2" conduit isn't a real option for me because the service equipment I want to use has 2 inch knockouts in the directions I need to run the conduit. Electrical equipment in my experience, especially when it comes to grounding lug sizes and conduit knockouts, is usually sized to meet the requirements, not to allow for over-engineering.

                            Thanks for all the responses. I wouldn't have thought such a dumb question could have so many entertaining responses.

                            Regards All,

                            Cameron

                            Comment

                            • pcarpenter
                              Senior Member
                              • Jun 2005
                              • 2283

                              #15
                              You may save a bunch on a pipe die you may never use again. I needed a gentle bend added to myrigid entrance conduit installation at the old house and went to a local commercial electrical contractor/supply place. I paid a bit more for the conduit than I would have at Lowes etc., but they bent it and threaded the end either cheap or free. Certainly cheaper that buying a tool I would likely never use again.

                              I agree about going up a size whether you need it or not on the conduit. The exception is that if its in a very visible place on the house. It looks rather jakey to have what looks like sewer pipe running down the outside. On the other hand, maybe you can tell yourself it looks "commercial"

                              Dittos on the "elephant snot" too. Use it *before* you skin the insulation off by dragging it over an ell corner or something (don't ask). Rigid metal conduit makes you realize why people love to use PVC. PVC is slicker in addition to being easier to handle.

                              Paul
                              Paul Carpenter
                              Mapleton, IL

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