Under ground electric service distance
What is the longest distance that under ground 200amp service can go? I was told 300′ but always thought 400′ was the limit with 2 -0 AL. I also thought that copper could go further.
Thanks
What is the longest distance that under ground 200amp service can go? I was told 300′ but always thought 400′ was the limit with 2 -0 AL. I also thought that copper could go further.
Thanks
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Replies
Greetings
Our 200 amp service goes underground in conduit from the pole 5-600 ft to a pad mtd transformer, then underground another 75 ft to the meter on the house.
NW Oh, First Energy. They ran the service, can't fill you in on the conductor size.
The only real limit is based on how much you're willing to pay for the wire. The longer the run, the larger the wire you must use, and before long it gets cheaper to run HV underground to a more closely located transformer.
I went over this at great length with the Hydro planner when we started building. The factors to consider are cost (obviously), voltage loss (over distance), and size of conductors (which amounts to cost).
I think you are thinking correctly in around the 300 to 400 foot range. Our service terminates 425 ft from the pole, and no matter which way we juggled the variables, it was smarter and cheaper to bring the 14 KV primary onto our property rather than hanging a transformer out at the road.
If we had have insisted on the transformer at the road, we would either have had about 80 volts at the house, or we would have spent a king's ransom for über-huge conductors. Clearly, the smart thing to do was to avoid all this by bringing the primary onto our property.
We opted for underground, which cost more than poles, but didn't spoil the view. If I recall correctly, the cost was about $6K for the stuff that the poco did, plus excavation. I did the ductwork myself which was easy and cheap.