Outbuilding shut off

This doesn't really go here because it's not alternative energy but there are the most electrical wizards here.

The existing electrical is all fused, not breakers. I am going to run electricity to the chicken coop. It will be through buried conduit about 25 feet from the house. I am going to come off the fuse box in the house, through the wall, and underground to the coop. There are no more empty spaces in the fuse box. There is a fused shutoff on the electrical pole just below the meter and the line from the pole is buried and goes to the house fuse box.

I know there should be a shutoff on or in the chicken coop. I would like to put a breaker box on the outside of the house instead. This way I will run heavy guage wire from the main connections in the fuse box in the house through the wall to the breaker box (2 20 amp breakers in a 70 amp box) on the outside of the house and from there to the coop. Then the wire from the breaker box to the coop only has to be 12 guage instead of heavier guage.

I don't see any safety problem with this but I don't know if putting the shutoff on the outside of the house instead of the coop will meet code? What do you think?

I can put the ground rod at the coop or at the house. It would be better at the house from the standpoint that I may want to upgrade to grounded service in the house. Can I do this or should I put the ground rod at the coop?

The coop will have a GFI on each circuit.

[Harry Chickpea]

Honestly? Once you start adding to a system that is below current code, 99% of the time it won't be to code.

Proper grounding is generally deemed to be a 10' ground rod AT THE MAIN SERVICE ENTRANCE. Not anywhere else. Yes, outbuildings may have a secondary ground, but at the distance you are describing, that would be overkill.

I think you already know the proper way to do the job is to have a licensed electrician come in and replace the old fuse box with a larger breaker box, run a new sub-panel and verify that your existing ground is up-to-snuff.

I could make suggestions more than this, but I'll just say that if you want to meet code, this is a job best left to a pro and inspector.

[SolarGary]

Hi,
It seems like if you are going to go to this much trouble, maybe the time is better spent replacing the existing fuse box with a CB box with some extra positions, and put the chicken coop on one of the new breakers.

You can do all this yourself and get a permit and get it inspected. Its not a trivial job, but its not rocket science either. I've done it, and I'm not a licensed anything Around here, pulling the permit costs $45, and my experience is that a) if you know its going to be inspected you do a better job, and b) the inspectors can actually be helpful with questions as long as you do most of your homework first.

Gary

[nadja]

OK, along with everyone else , I will chime in and say that it is time to replace that old out dated fuse box. If they were good, they would still be using them. When I remodled my place a few years ago, the first thing I did after gutting all the interior was to pull all new wire, replaceing the old wire. Then, since the old fuse box was on the interior, I installed a new 200ano breaker box on the outside. Yes , in most places this is legal, providing it is an OUTSIDE breaker box.

Once you apply for a permit on the electrical, just remember , any and all wiring and boxes gfci's etc better be up to snuff. Otherwise you could find your entire house shut down until it is all corrected.