Question about running electricity to the coop

[horsewishr]

We want to run electricity to our chicken coop today. The shortest run would be to run it from the barn--but we'd have to go through the horses' paddock to do it. It's compacted clay. Even when it's really mucky, I've never seen the horses sink over hoof-deep in it. But I'm still worried about burying the electric deep enough. Mr. horsewishr wants to put it in conduit.

Does anybody know what kind of electric wire I need to use, and how deep I need to bury it?? Is freezing weather a factor? Obviously it gets very cold here.

Thanks.

 

[arlee453]

Bury at least 18". The easiest way to do it is to rent a ditching machine to cut the trench.

What wire to use depends on how much juice you want out to the coop.

If you just want to run like one light and one outlet, then 14/3 run off an existing outlet from your barn would probably be OK. Run it in below ground approved conduit (ask at the home improvement store if you aren't sure.

If you want more than that, I'd recommend running a pony panel from the panel in your barn. Do you have a separate electric meter/breaker box in your barn already?

If none of that makes sense, then you should call in an electrician.

Susan

 

[horsewishr]

Quote:
umm. I did a little on-line research in the last few minutes. I'm coming to that conclusion! thanks for the help, though