anyone run electric to their coop? How hard is it to do?

[elsiehammer]

I think you should talk to your Uncle about the electric underground and about permitting - he has current info on both. He also had a great co-worker electrician give him advice and a day of labor recently. He rented a digger machine for the day (you know you could talk your DH into that, right?) and the electric company finished setting up the wiring (and billing, ick) just last week. Also, while you are chatting with Dear Uncle, perhaps you could mention that he could run electric for his own cold dark chickens

Watch craigslist for underground wiring. We just saw a couple listings. You'd need such a short piece that maybe we could work something out? I think the permitting thing is a piece of cake - at least it seems to be for Short Tract, just barely south of you.
Wow, wiring in the coop will certainly make a "Taj Mahal"!

 

[Jimmiaandboys]

Quote:
It sounds like a bunch of us are in the same boat (extension cord across the yard)! We'd been talking about "finishing" the coop in the spring. My DH installed a light, wall switch, outlet and timer so hopefully we'll not have the outdoor extension cord next winter, though it's buried under 2' of snow. An electrician in the family would be such an asset for whoever has one! Then again, it might be like the shoemaker's family. lol

 

[kman]

i just wanted to say, that do not know much about the permits(i live way out of the city so no permits for us) but i just wanted to say if you are requried to get a permit and inspection, then you will have to have separate ditches for electrical and water, this is a code set by the NEC 2008 code book, also but it in conduit no matter if it is direct burail or not to many times i have seen them short out all it takes is a pin size hole and a little rain, i would suggest a min of 1 foot ditch for electrical and at least 2 foot for water also it would be wise to come out of your panel on a new breaker if their is room in it, not knowing your distance i do not know what wire size but mine is 100ft form the subpanel, it is 220 volt 30amp breaker this goes to another sub and is run on 8 AWG this way i have two hot legs for the circuits i have lights,pulgs, and ventilation fan, and the barn running off of this panel, if it is no more than 200ft run then it will be a 1 day job assumeing you are whoever you have do it will use some type of digging equipment. hope this helps you out a bit

 

[Tala]

I have extension cords out the wazooo! lol I have some that have been in the yard so long the bermuda grass has grown "over" them

Believe it or not, I actually have uh, 3 cords that are NOT in use right now!!! I have an electric weed eater and a corded drill, among other things, so I'm heavily invested in quality, heavy duty power cords.

Next spring/summer I am going to give the coop it's own circut and probably hard wire it for electric.
I have to be really careful right now, because the same circut that has the only outlet on the back of the house also carries almost every other outlet on that end of the house - including the computers, alarm clocks, landline phones, upright freezer, etc. so add in 2 heated bowls and 2 heat lamps for the coops.....I have absolutely NO leeway to pulg in a space heater or electric blanket for myself

I should explain that the only 2 outlets NOT on that circut (very small house) aren't working right now either! I think the GFI outlet is busted from all the rain we had so it cut all power off but I ain't goin out to rewire it with frozen fingers!!!!

 

[thetajmahalcoop]

OH MY GOD I HAVE A STALKER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ELSIEHAMMER IS THE WIFE OF MY DEAR UNCLE AND COUSIN WHO BUILT THE TAJ MAHAL COOP!!!!!!!!!!! yayyyyy!!!!!! HI dear auntie!!!!!!!! Talk your hubby and son into coming over NOW I have plenty of stuff to keep men occupied here!!!!

 

[CARS]

Kman, 2'....... Heck, my hydrants go down 6"! You must be warm right now while I am -10 degrees F.

It all depends on you're codes. OBEY THE CODES!!! I'm sure you are right about the h2o and elect. together in the same trench. I just figured if they are a few feet from eachother they may be fine? Heck, they cross eachother all the time in cities!

 

[Ken H]

Depends on how far and how much you are willing to spend. You could use a shovel with a flat blade and not dig a trench at all. Angle the blade vertically and jump on it to slice into the ground then work the shovel back and forth to form a 'V' to the desired depth. Continue till you have a 'V' running from your power supply to your termination at the coop. The cheap black plastic pipe used for irrigation will work good as a conduit. If you have more than 100 ft to go a common fish tape would not work. but a ping pong ball with fishing line attached to it and a vacuum cleaner sucking at the terminal end will suck the ball from the starting point to the terminal end will work. Heavier 1/4" twine is tied to the fishing line and pulled through the length of the plastic pipe. Then the electric wire(romex) is pulled through with the twine. If you are willing to spend the money a 'Rat-Tail' rig could be rented and turn the running of the conduit into an easy job. A Rat-Tail is what irrigation companies use to run plastic pipe without digging a trench. Ths cresent shaped blade is hydrolically driven to the desired depth. The bottom of the blade has a bullet shaped steel plug welded to it that is slightly larger than the plastic pipe. As the machine advances the pipe is pulled along with it. As the operator walks behind the machine he steps on the '1/2" wide slit closing it. If you were interested in this method, you could call a lawn irrigation company for a quote. It would probably not be much more to run a separate water line at the same time.

 

[CARS]

Quote:

Wow man.....

 

[Jeff in Colorado]

Wow, lot's of info to absorb!

1. Don't dig a trench until you have utility locates completed. It is a free service that utility companies will come out and flag phone lines, gas lines, cable lines, fiber optic, etc. etc. Look in the phonebook or call a local excavator to find out the phone number of who to call to do the locates. Different parts of the country have different ways of contacting the utility companies. It's required by law.

2. Dig the trench for the electrician. He will tell you to either trench to the outlet on the house or back to the main panel. Either you can do it or go to your local labor service and hire a young guy to do the dirty work for you. Plan on 18" deep minimum (tell your hired help to go 20" as they never dig as deep as you tell them to). Electricians don't like to get dirty, wet or cold. Unless you are rich, don't ask them to dig. BTW they also don't like to get permits unless absolutely neccessary, listen to their recommendations on this.

3. Hire an electrician to wire it if you are unsure of what you are doing. The wire size is based on the circuit breaker size not how far you run the wire. If you are running water heaters the electrician may want to run a separate circuit. If you only need a light and outlet he may just tap into your existing outlet depending on what's already on that circuit. A 15 amp breaker will use a 14/2 w/ ground wire, a 20 amp breaker uses a 12/2 w/ ground. The conduit is better than direct burial wire as it is harder to damage the next time you need to dig a hole and you forgot where the wire was buried. You will want to make sure the circuit is GFCI protected. This just means it is wired like a bathroom or kitchen outlet that will trip if you drop a hairdryer into the tub. You don't want to get electricuted washing down your coop.

4. If you run conduit, don't worry about a pull string yet. Just keep a shop vac handy for when the electrician is ready for it.

5. Have the electrician finish the conduit connections at both ends. Depending on the electrician, he may want to install a slip connection at the house so if you have the soil frost heave that the conduit doesn't break as the soil move in winter/summer cycles.

6. If the conduit is short the electrician will just run a fish tape through the conduit to pull the wire back through. If it is long (over 50') he may want a pull string. If so, attach the shop vac with duct tape to the end of the conduit and turn it on. Go to the other end of the conduit and start feeding pull string. It goes really easy if you attach a wad of something on the end of the string so it sucks easier. On 2" conduit, I commonly use a plastic grocery sack, on smaller conduit you can use a smaller piece of of the sack.

7. Let the electrician pull the wire and turn on the power. It should not take very long for an electrician to do the job. Ask for a price prior to them proceeding. Typically you will pay more if they just give you an hourly rate. People naturally are optimistic on how quickly and efficintly they work and usually a bid is better than if you pay just hourly.

8. Fill in the trench. Or better yet, give the electrician a beer and compliment him on his great work while the young guy fills the trench for you.

Let us know how it goes!

 

[CARS]

And I don't mean any offense to that last post. Just too much for someone who (sorry if I am implying anything) doesn't know what to do.

Ken, is irrigation pipe legal to run wires through?? It wouldn't work here. Heck, I can't even get my power company to bury my lines! (Alliant Energy)