Small barn electrical work & meter

[ayrabz]

outbuilding will be under 'reconstruction' to turn into a small 2 stall barn with attached run in next week.

The local electrician we will be using explained that :
first step:We arrange for power company to come out and hang the meter (and we pay them directly) ...anyone know what this typically costs? The outbuilding is maybe 10 steps away from the actual electrical/light pole.
Also..do 'meters' vary? I mean, would we have to, at this time...have an approximation of what amp/usage we would want 'down the road' or is a meter a meter?

He explained that once builder is done with his work in the outbuilding, then he will come in and do all the wiring, switches, etc, and that THEN the elec. company comes back and approves it all.

Here is the scenario: this 'meter' will provide elec. for: two attached outbuildings. One, will be a 'workshop' area, where a boat will be stored, outlets/lights needed for working at the workbench, or plugging in battery chargers, etc. The other building is being converted to the two stalls, aisle, and attached run in. I will need lights, outlets, and power source for the electrical fencing hot rail / ramm fencing. Down the line, but not anytime soon, I will want to add a hot water heater or something for hot water source.

For those 'in the know'--- Can you enlighten me (haha..no pun intended) on what it sounds like I'll need?

I doubt I will ever have 'arena' lights...this is a small farmette, and my 'riding arena' is just going to be a fenced (dressage arena size), on grass for grazing as needed.--

I do know I must discuss with electrician the importance of his knowledge of agricultural/barn wiring vs. home wireing. (Conduit, etc) Are there specific type 'panels'/ switch boxes needed to be used as well?

If it makes any difference, this is in Virginia

TIA

[Chall]

In some places that second meter is considered commercial use and billed at a higher rate than your house. I would check this out, before going further as you might consider extending the house line to the barn.
This came up in a thread here somewhere.

[horsetales]

Call your electric company, the rates will differ greatly. In our case it was free from the utility pole to the 1st corner of the bldg, then it was $10/ft charge if you didn't want it at the 1st corner. The electrician came out and then the inspector and when it passed the power company turned the power on. We were told the other company that services down the road charges for the entire distance.

ETA The electrician put in our arena lights. He knew we would be hooking up a new well. I also showed him the winter electric buckets (complete with electric draw info labels) and pulled up info for the on-demand water heaters. That way he knew what kind of draw we were going to need

[Frank B]

What's the distance to the house? Unless you're planning on some very power-hungry equipment (welder, etc.), it may be better in the long run to lay an underground line from the house. Whether or not the power panel in your house is nearing capacity will be another consideration.

Make sure he is in fact familiar with farm codes. In some places, plastic conduit and fittings is required because of corrosion. Where he can use metal conduit, make sure he runs a ground wire inside the conduit rather than relying on the conduit itself as the ground conductor.

[ayrabz]

Thanks all...
Electrician did first suggest possible line from house, but after he evaluated both scenarios, he felt it would be too costly to run the line/tap in vs. the separate meter work.
I'll call the electrical co. and find out about meter costs/higher billing, etc... I cannot fathom (!) that they would charge 'commercial'...as its very (!) obvious this couldn't support a business, but ya never know and I appreciate the heads up!
However, any other insights into : amp needs /elec. needs per description?
Does anyone know if the panel, main switch, etc, needs to be 'different' for this as well?
Sigh. Perhaps I shoulda gone solar!:confused:

[Frank B]

Sigh. Perhaps I shoulda gone solar!:confused:

Then you'd REALLY be talking some $$$ !

[MistyBlue]

Solar is so expensive to put in these days that it's probably about 20 years of owning it before it pays for itself. :no:

I had to do the same exact thing OP. Electric company out to do the meter, building finished, electrician to come in and install electrical stuff, electric company back out to hook it all up.

Ask the electrician from the electric company what you need, explain what yoou will run off of it and add in a bit extra for possible fans or heated buckets or whatever. They'll give you what you need.

It was also cheaper for me to run from street to barn with a separate meter than from house to barn

[mellsmom]

In my case, the power company does not install meter boxes. My electrician did...to the tune of 1200. The Power company did not charge me to hook up the meter box to the transformer.... it's about 50 feet max. The county said that because it was a farm/ug use item, they wouldn't inspect it. I used mine to run the arena lights. I switch them on at the box. I also have an outlet on the box to plug into if I need to and my lights are set up to accept two more fixtures in the furture after I win the lottery. This box gets it's own seperate light bill.

[MistyBlue]

Mellsmom...mind if I ask if it's expensive to run ring lights?
My barn's electric did need to be inspected by CL&P, our local electric provider.
It's nice for us to have separate electric bills for the barn so I can keep an eye on how much that electric runs on average. It's not expensive...for 3-4 months out of the year the heaters on the auto waterers run and then for about 3-4 months per year the stall and roof vent fans run. Both are thermostat controlled. (not the stall fans, the roof fans are though) Due to our very cool and cloudy entire month of June so far I've gotten an extra month of very low electric bill for that. :D (it's averaged 65-75 here for more than a month)
On the 6-8 months where I have either fans or heaters running, the average monthly bills is $50-$65 and the other 4-6 months it averages $20-$25. I don't have arena lights yet though...mainly because the arena isn't finished yet and I'm not about to light up that mess until it's done, LOL!
CL&P said to not to run the electric from the house to the barn because the length was too far and would require another pole put in for the span. The cost of adding a pole was $1500 and had to be done by CL&P. :eek: From the street to the barn was less than 100' but the angle was sharply down hill and they weren't happy with the angle the line would have been in. So they ran it from the street to the pole halfway between street and house (my house is amost 400' from the street so there was already an extra pole in) and then from that pole down to the barn. They cut down the trees and branches in the way for free. The hookup was free, but took 3 weeks from when ordering it until they were able to come out. No big deal with that for us. I'm trying to remember the cost for the meter...can't off the top of my head though. It wasn't anything ridiculous though. It was a lot more expensive having the electrical work finished inside the barn...but they did a fantastic and very safe job so that was worth it. I also asked for a much bigger meter than we needed so I shouldn't have to swap it out if I add things later on.

[shakeytails]

Here's how it works around here...

1. Get permit if necessary.
2. Call power company to site the meter, i.e. tell you where they want the meter installed. They leave the meter base for your electrician to install. ($75, I think.)
3. Electrician wires from meter base to panel, and provides pipe either overhead (providing wire up to the weatherhead0 or underground for the power company's wire. The electrician will also "rough-in" the wiring. The rough in is where conduit, boxes, and wire are installed, but switches, lights, etc. are not.
4. Inpector is called to inspect the "rough-in". At this point, the inspector can approve "temporary" power, and you call the power company to turn it on. The power company does not charge a fee for this unless they have to provide an extraordinary amount of underground wire or set more than 1 new pole.
5. Electrician completes wiring, hooking up everything.
6. Inspection is called to do a "final" inspection, at which point you get a green sticker for your panel and everything is hunky-dorey.

[mellsmom]

Right now I'm paying about $8 a month because it's summer and I have not been riding at night :-) The light project started in November and concluded three days before daylight savings ended this spring. I have ridden under them twice. I have two 1500 watt sportslighters. That's what my electrician recommended over some of the other options, so that's what I got. We wired them to some tall pine tress, so I wouldn't have to pay for poles. I still have the option to run the electric to the barn ...which means adding another pole....for about 1,800. bahahaha......... I am not expectin that my personal 3 days a week at most use of mu lights for 2 hours at a time max is going to cost all that much though.

I did have the option of 3 dusk to dawn lights about about 60 - 70 a month plus some installation cost if installed by the power company, BUT the ring is right beside the neighbor's house and I really like them... so I decided against that idea.

[MistyBlue]

Thanks. :)
I have to dusk to dawn lights on the outside of my barn. My barn isn't near any nieghbors though and the people on my street were all thrilled when I had those installed. Our area does not have street lights so after dark it's *really* dark around here. (very heavily wooded area) After the outside barn lights were installed everyone had a referrence point on the street...my barn is close to the road and those lights flood the road there too. Now they know where they are on the road at night when they see my lights, LOL! Mine don't cost that much to run though. I like them because if I have to run down to the barn after dark I don't veer off into the woods, off the ledge into a pit...and it keeps nosey folks and critters away. The barn swallows and frogs love them because they can bug hunt all night too. :D
I probably wouldn't use rung lights much either...I can ride during the day in winter. But once I get that ring finally finished I'll add ring lights anyways.

[KnKShowmom]

Procedures vary depending on your area and building codes, but usually new buildings on a farm do not require a permit and therefore will not need to be inspected by the County.

The billing rates for your farm should be the same as your residence, but I would recommend putting a new meter on your barn rather than loading off of your home. Based on your intended useage, you will probably need a 200 amp meter and you might be able to pick it up from your power company for no additional charge.

You will need to call for a temporary meter base to be located near your building and the nearest power pole. This will serve power during construction. The power company will send someone out to approve the site and location.

Once your electrician has finished the wiring, he will place the permanent meter on the outside of your barn nearest the pole. He will run the connecting line to a high point of the barn (usually a peak). Then the power company will come to hook that line to the power pole, again, usually at no additional charge.

Depending on whether you are using a power company or a co-op electrical, this procedure may vary - believe me, the co-ops usually make you jump through a few more hoops .

Finally, it will cost more, but your electrical wiring should be 100% conduit, caged light fixtures and weather proof switches and GFCI outlets, even on the outside of the barn. It will cut down the fire risk and you will probably get a discount on your insurance for these safety measures.

[AKB]

Make sure you get enough electricity coming to your barn. We have an underground line coming from our house to the barn. I didn't think I needed much electricity since we only have a few lights, 4 small fans, and 4 heated buckets. I forgot that the farrier truck uses a lot of power. If he has all of his equipment on at once, we blow the breaker. Get more service than you think you will need.

[Nes]

You don't want solar - you want wind!

I'm not the electrician, hubby is, so I'm not really good an explaining what he does but I do know he usually installs panels into barns that have room for extra breakers down the line. You never know, you may decide in 2 years that you want 3 more horses & you're going to want to be able to build onto your current barn (not trying to jinx anything :D). I believe the most frequent service he does is for 40 amps, for a small house or barn - but I may be way off.

Definetly get a bigger service then you think you will need.

[KnKShowmom]

You can get 100, 200 or 400 amp meters. Most homes used to be 200 amp but with the increase in electronics the new ones are being built with 400 amp service

With 2 buildings running on your meter with fans, tools, hot water heater possibly outdoor lights, I would think you would need atleast 200 amps, but ask your electrician. Better to have more than you currently need than to come up short in the future if you expand.