Barn is done..framing and wiring questions.

[newchickmom]

Our pole barn has it's own service panel. We have 1 outlet and 1 light fixture per stall and other areas, plus isle-way lights. We have 5 stalls, hay area, tack room, 6x12 chicken coop, utility room that has water and electric panel and outside lights at front and back.
It's all dirt floor except for the coop, which is cement(was already there when we bought our home) and that was why we decided to put our extra coop there. I'm not sure what the area was used for before, but the cement floor seems to work very well. It's not insulated but has a heat light over the roost area.

I hope this helps.

 

[LynneP]

Brahampooter- we have an elderly horse in our barn, and to protect him from the dust that chickens produce when grooming, we used recycled windows on the side of the coop that's in the barn aisleway.
It's worked really well.

 

[patandchickens]

It *is definitely* more expensive to run a separate service for the barn -- not just the installation, but all the stupid non-kilowatt-hour-based fees per month can really add up. My barn is separate, adn although we use essentially no electricity at all out there -- literally just a couple kilowatts a year IIRC -- we pay about $25/month for line charges etcetera. Sigh. I'd suggest avoiding it if at all possible.

HOWEVER sometimes that's what you need to do to get the am't of electricity you want. And when wiring the barn it would be smart to have some extra capacity, because you may discover you want to run a 250w heatlamp for a brooder, or the farrier may sometimes need to plug in the fan for his, whatchacallit, furnace thing you heat horseshoes in (having brain fart

), or the vet's xray machine; and I guarantee you WILL sometimes be using power tools out there, and are likely to decide at some time in the future that you need more lights and/or more heated buckets. That sort of thing.

Good luck,

Pat

 

[ChickenTender63]

Quote:
Most of the time, if your in an area that will give you farm exemption, the additional service will only run the minimum monthly charge which is around $25. Then you have the cost of the panel and wiring. Your wire cost is going to be less, because you are not going to have to run a large size wire from the house panel to the barn also.

With that size house, and all appliances electric, and possibility of pool again someday (never know who) and 1/4 of power already feeding garage, I would not recommend feeding the barn off of the existing panel. Overloading the house service and burning it down is not worth it.

Please consider installing a new farm pod and at minnimum, a new 100 amp service panel for the barn.

Even though today you may be fine tapping into the old, but one day if you sell, it could be a bigger issue, or even worse, someone comes along and plugs everything back in, including the pool, and then the house is gone, and possibly taking an innocent victim with it. It's not worth the gamble for the little bit of additional cost, which will be minnimal.

You would have to install a sub-panel in th ebarn anyways. The wire will be more expensive running from the house to tie in (wire is extremely expensive right now anyways because of the war), will be quicker and easier to just go new panel.

Hope this makes sense to you and that you understand.

Good luck

 

[SSO202]

The electricity issue in this post is the most serious issue and I agree with the others who suggest a seperate service panel. You will benefit from this greatly in the future and it will be far safer. The money you may save by running it from the house wouldn't be worth it when something burns down causing damage to property and certainly life of some sort. Good Luck!

 

[LynneP]

Our base cost for the barn is $18/mo and even with the brooder we didn't exceed the minimum allowed. We run lights for about 3 hours a day in winter and heater tape whenever it's below 35 F, and we'll have a heated base under a galvanized waterer this winter. So even if you add a separate service and have to fork out up front, the added safety and low monthly fees are probably worth the expense. It's also good to know that if you haul your mitre saw down there you won't trip a circuit breaker, and it saves you lugging everything to another work area for construction. My first egg cost about $1200, so I know how you feel!

 

[RockyToggRanch]

Thank you all for your advice. The house is 300' off the road and the barn another 200' back. The garage sits between the two. All of the lines are buried. I don't understand how it would be cheaper to run a whole new line, but I totally agree with the safety issues! I would not want to risk that!

If I have a seperate bill for the barn I would surely hear about my expensive hobby on a monthly basis. Although...perhaps if we put the garage AND the barn on a new meter together..and bribe him with a new workshop since my hay will no longer be in his garage.... yay

that just might work.

How do I go about getting a new meter? Who would be responsible to dig the 500' trench and bury cables? How will they know where the existing lines are buried?

Couldn't I just put a larger panel in the house that could do the same thing or does it have to do with the wire from the road? Can more power run through the same wires that are there now? into a larger panel? Just curious.

 

[SSO202]

I think you are very wise to consider giving him his garage back! I wish I had a nice workshop, but my boat is in there along with the camper trailer. You need to consult with your local power company about getting a seperate service installed. They will probably charge you an arm a leg or two, but well worth it for the reasons previously mentioned. Good Luck!

 

[ChickenTender63]

Quote:
Usually, the power company will run the new electrical service from the pole to the new meter socket. In many places, there is no charge for them to do this because they look at as a new customer and an investment. That is why it actually may be cheaper for you to run a new service.

You can not add a larger panel to your home. You would need to just add another 200 amp service panel to run through and then still have a sub-panel at the barn. You would not be able to do this without changing out the incoming feed line to the existing panel, it will not carry the load.

You can call and have a crew come out and maek all underground utilities, so they are not cut when they are trenching in the new one. This is a free service, and is required by law before you do something like this. Then, the power company will trench and bury the new feed line.

If you have to run a large enough line from the house to the barn to supply power, you are going to be better off and cheaper installing the new meter and having the power company foot the bill for the wire. You really don't want to pay for that much wire, your husband will probly not like it very much. But, by installing the new service, you will never have to worry about having enough, and more than likely will never go above the minnimum usage rate which is usually around $25.

I have had several set-ups like this myself, as well as installed many for others and it has been the best way to go, and the safest.

Good luck