Getting electricity for barn!

[Moonbeam Guineas]

I need electricity in my barn /guinea coop. What are some suggestions for lighting and outlets.
I was thinking of just putting an outlet on the ceiling so I could change out or add lights, move lights, like led plug in shop lights. Will that work?
Should all my outlet have outdoor covered outlets?
Should the outlets be up on the wall where I need a ladder to get to so my horses dont mess with them? I will use the outlets for heated buckets for horses and in my guinea coop. Any advice from your experience would be great. Thanks

 

[blackdog043]

Outlets on the ceiling work great for plug in LED lights, that's what we have all through our barn lower floor. For your water buckets and such, I think the outdoor plastic covered receptacles will work, if you don't want the horses pulling plugs out. You still have to secure the cords though, so they don't hang loose, they may pull on them. We don't have horses, but I have the cord going into the goat stall fastened to the wall, for their heated bucket. I have the coop stall cords fastened as well, because the goats can go in that stall also, from the outside run and they will/do try to get the cords.

 

[Quatie]

All plugs in the barn need to be GFI protected. They don't require plug covers in covered area. There are plug in lights that you can get and it does allow you to move them easier or potentially add more. If you are not comfortable with electrical, I would highly recommend having an electrician wire it. Poorly wired plugs can cause fires.

 

[neo71665]

My outlet is near the ceiling because I use it to plug a light and my heater in. It's low enough I can reach it from the ground but horses aint allowed in the coop. Some areas might require an open barn to have covered plugs. The local code at the end of the day is put on the local code enforcement. I can tell you the NEC codes but that is just the bare minimum and some places take it further. Where code says here I can run exposed romex, in your area they might require it be run in conduit.

I done my own wiring but I'm an electrican. I'd agree contact one if you don't know all the codes for your area. If you do your own wiring they expect you to know and follow codes. They might also expect you to have it inspected. Also being a volunteer firefighter I'll say electrical fires aint fun to put out. It is legal for a homeowner in the US to tackle their own wiring. If something goes wrong the insurance can deny a claim if they can prove it it your fault. They will always try to deny everything they can to save money.

 

[DParker75089]

What all do you plan on using electricity for? Just lighting, or other things as well? Do you already have AC power run to the barn and you're just trying to decide how to make it available on the inside, or have you not taken that step yet?

 

[Acre4Me]

In our barn workshop we installed a metal ceiling, and replaced all bulb receptacles with outlets. Now that area is illuminated with thin LED shop lights that have magnets to stay on the ceiling, but can be easily moved, and they plug in the ceiling outlets, do cords are not an issue.



For the coop, the electrician installed an outlet in the areas we put a waterer in winter. That outlet is approx 3feet above the coop floor. We have two more outlets up high on different walls. One has a programmable temp controlled outlet plugged in, which can turn on a vent fan if temp too high, or turn on a heat light if temp very low. Third outlet has nothing plugged in, but could be used for an electric fence. We also installed an outdoor rated timer so the lights would turn on/off at specific times daily, and we can change that as the seasons change.

All work was done by an electrician. An area of the barn had some damaged wire from mice, So that needed replacing. The electric panel for the barn needed to be updated To correct some issues, and we wanted some outlets specific for certain tool plug-ins that were not your standard plug.

 

[jwsmith1959]

How far is it from your electrical source? Will it have its own meter and breaker panel? Make sure you provide enough Amperage to take care of your needs. As Quatie noted, all outlets should be GFI protected in a barn.

It is a good idea to keep any cords out of reach of horses as they can be plenty curious or even destructive when they get bored.

Good luck and all the best.

 

[neo71665]

Just to add when it is said all outlets need to be GFCI protected it does not mean you have to put an GFCI in every outlet hole in the wall. That gets real expensive real fast. You can wire plain outlets off one GFCI so it protects everything in that circuit.

Example: if you have 9 outlets you can get away with only 3 GFCIs. One GFCI can protect 2 plain ones down stream in the circuit. When a GFCI is $20 and a plain outlet is $1 you can see the savings (cash numbers pulled out of thin air)

 

[StewamEmiya37]

I support the advice about electrician services.

 

[DarylEustoquio]

As for me, a socket on the ceiling is a perfect solution for a barn or barn.