Electrical Question! Help!

[bufforpington42]

Goal: Bring electricity to my barn via extension chords as safely as possible (which I know is not the safest, but it's what we must do for now)

Information you may need to know before I start asking my questions:

• Last winter we ran 2-3 extension chords from our garage to our barn. Distance: 150-200ft (barn used to house our chickens, but now houses sheep and calves)
• This winter we would like to use one 200ft 12 gauge extension chord to the barn
• Last winter, we had a couple of issues with our animals getting shocked while drinking water out of our plastic tank, which has a 250 watt farm innovator deicer.
• Power being used in barn:
  • MAX of two 250 watt deicers and 3 led lights. (which I believe would be under 5 amps if I did the math correctly?)
• Breaker for the barn is either 15 or 20 amp.

Questions:

1. Is a 12 gauge extension chord large enough to run from garage to barn?
2. Will a GFCI outlet box help with animals getting shocked by drinking water? a) If so, should this be installed at the garage outlet with the extension chord plugged in after OR at the end of the extension chord where the deicer is plugged in directly? Link: GFCI Box (link)
3. Are there any other safety precautions? Advice?

 

[cavemanrich]

1. Is a 12 gauge extension chord large enough to run from garage to barn?

12 gauge should carry 20 Amps safely, and you are only using about 5 Amps.

1. Will a GFCI outlet box help with animals getting shocked by drinking water? a) If so, should this be installed at the garage outlet with the extension chord plugged in after OR at the end of the extension chord where the deicer is plugged in directly? Link: GFCI Box (link)

That can be at ether end. A simpler solution is to have a permanent one installed in your house/garage outlet, where you will plug your extension cord. Less cash than the one you linked to as well.

1. Are there any other safety precautions? Advice?

If you want more safety, then get PVC pipes, and create a sleeve to run your extension cord inside. This way your extension cord is protected. You can simply duck tape the joints, rather than permanently gluing them. When not in use, simply dis-assemble 10 foot units and store for next time.

Ask anything else you need to clear up.
WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[aart]

I believe @TARDIS37379 is an electrician, and might be willing to advise.

 

[cavemanrich]

Last winter, we had a couple of issues with our animals getting shocked while drinking water out of our plastic tank, which has a 250 watt farm innovator deicer.

Just wanted to clear this up. Shock was result of heater/deicer having electrical leak into water.
It will be tripping the GFCI like mad.

 

[mcdze]

if theres a problem with the device it needs to be replaced .. but im sure you could eliminate any 'normal' grounding issues with a piece of rebar driven into the ground a couple feet then run a grounding wire to any metal part of the device OR tap into the ground wire at the coop end, there should be a 3 wire connection all the way, just wrap a bare single strand wire around a few times or screw it whatever the case calls for ... if that setup is tripping any breakers, the device needs to be replaced though ..

 

[MrFluffyandGirls]

12 gauge running that far causes a drop in voltage so I would use a lower gauge. I would install the ground fault ahead of whatever your plugging into it, deicer included.

 

[TARDIS37379]

Here are a few issues:
1. Legally, you can only use a drop cord for power for 30 days and this is especially true if your barn is insured.
2. 200 ft is a long way for a drop cord. Voltage drop comes into play and there are formulas to calculate it.
3. Of animals were getting shocked, the odds are that polarity on the circuit was backwards
4. If you must run a temporary circuit, I’d get a 250’ roll of 10/2 with a ground UF cable and use it. It can be directly buried later so leave slack. The 10 gauge wire will eliminate the voltage drop and provide a steady voltage to the devices.
5. Load, you’ll have 500 watts of heat and lights, for the ease of calculating the load. Let’s assume the lights use 100 watts of power (they won’t).
600 watts
120 volts
Amps= Watts/Volts
So 600/120=5 amps.
be careful not to overload it. Your absolute maximum is 16 amps on a 20 amp circuit. Which is 1900 watts, so with a huge amount of caution and reducing risk, I’d go no more than 1000 watts maximum.
I hope this helps.
I’ve been an electrician for 38 years and I’ve wired everything from a porta John to a nuclear plant.

 

[bufforpington42]

if theres a problem with the device it needs to be replaced .. but im sure you could eliminate any 'normal' grounding issues with a piece of rebar driven into the ground a couple feet then run a grounding wire to any metal part of the device OR tap into the ground wire at the coop end, there should be a 3 wire connection all the way, just wrap a bare single strand wire around a few times or screw it whatever the case calls for ... if that setup is tripping any breakers, the device needs to be replaced though ..

This is what I was wondering, we got these deicers used from a relative. Good to know now that it was the deicer's fault rather than the fact we were using an extension chord.

 

[bufforpington42]

Here are a few issues:
1. Legally, you can only use a drop cord for power for 30 days and this is especially true if your barn is insured.
2. 200 ft is a long way for a drop cord. Voltage drop comes into play and there are formulas to calculate it.
3. Of animals were getting shocked, the odds are that polarity on the circuit was backwards
4. If you must run a temporary circuit, I’d get a 250’ roll of 10/2 with a ground UF cable and use it. It can be directly buried later so leave slack. The 10 gauge wire will eliminate the voltage drop and provide a steady voltage to the devices.
5. Load, you’ll have 500 watts of heat and lights, for the ease of calculating the load. Let’s assume the lights use 100 watts of power (they won’t).
600 watts
120 volts
Amps= Watts/Volts
So 600/120=5 amps.
be careful not to overload it. Your absolute maximum is 16 amps on a 20 amp circuit. Which is 1900 watts, so with a huge amount of caution and reducing risk, I’d go no more than 1000 watts maximum.
I hope this helps.
I’ve been an electrician for 38 years and I’ve wired everything from a porta John to a nuclear plant.

This is what we originally wanted to do from the get go, but we don't own this house and are very thankful that this house comes with my husbands job on a farm.

Thanks for the info!

 

[TARDIS37379]

The most common fault points are the male and female plugs, the cord attached to the heaters.
You’ll need to check the polarity going out to the barn. If the neutral and the hot wires are reversed then that could cause a shock when you touch the metal.
A touch less tester is easy to use and to discover problems.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Klein-T...E5DPM0opol-8u2WJFnEaAiQ9EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds