Running the Electric, 100amp service, unusual needs

I too was confused with the 110 reference - that was like, 'this dude does _not_ know what he is doing!!!!'

Breakers really should not trip. They are not designed for many cycles. If you are designing a system where a breaker will trip kinda often, then that right there is 'dangerous'.

Using a 100 amp main breaker & feeding (4) 100 amp subs is dangerous. You can't do that. I understand the plan has changed now - that's good.

Saying this is insane & will just have to do temperary & must be done regardless is a BIG RED flag that shortcuts are being made & this will not be a safe situation.

It is fine to have insane plans. I've had many myself. I'm not comfortable with plans that can harm others or put them in danger without their knowledge. If you ask your family to go cliff jumping or bungie jumping, the danger & insaneness is obvious, those that want to go have fun - up to them. Do-it-yourself wiring can set up 100 different traps that will hurt people tomorrow or 30 years from now.... And I'm not sure the other people involved in this will be aware of that.

Friend wired his own bin site on the farm. All looked fine for a couple of years. One day he was standing in a puddle & leaned a hand against a bin. He got a strong tickle. Had an electrician out, there were several things done wrong. 220v, 200 amp was a possibility there on his hand. He was lucky. He has 2 small children, they like to play in water puddles....... He sells seed corn, I know I leaned up against one of his bins myself one year....... How insane, how rushed, how many corners do you _have_ to cut here? What can be the cost?

Parts of your electrical plans were/ are not very good. Bothers me that others can get hurt from this. With the septic or water system, wrong moves will just cost you money & time. With electrical, wrong moves can cost a lot more than that.

Main line design is not as simple as it looks, and your confusing of terms & basic flaws are big red flags on this. As others say, a few bucks to a qualified person to set up the design would be money _well_ spent, could even save you some materials in the long run, and you can still do the work, save labor.



Like I said in your other thread, enjoy reading of this project, and wish you well with it, I hope you keep posting about it here, and I don't want to be a wet blanket. Just have to be honest with my feelings on the electrical issue as I see it from a distance is all.

--->Paul

Actually I am not at all allowing any hidden dangers. I have told everyone how I have done wiring but not this kind. I have told them trailers are more dangerous than houses with this stuff. I told them maybe we should just get someone to do it. They said that I "could do it". So I have expressed my reserve about it.

Now that said, I don't know of any terms I have missused (not that I would be surprised, I am not an "electrician" so I don't know the terms - so I may have used a word I didn't mean).

We have been in contact with the company and as I had said, now that we have gone to 200amp service we will have to have an state inspector look at the wiring job before they will hook up. Not that there are laws there - but they wont take the chance of losing their system LOL.

So it will be inspected (wheeew).
I don't know how much that will cost? I guess maybe $200??? I have no idea.

200amp, 120/220v into the main panel. This panel has either 4 - 100amp breakers and one 15amp breaker or 4 - 60amp breakers and one 15 amp breaker (it of course is overruled by the trailer's box).
The lines going out (I am not sure yet of the run but am guessing 1/0 gauge) 4 wire (2 hot, 1 neutral, 1 ground) go to each panel that has had its neutral and ground un-bonded. So I don't know what makes that hard. It seems strait forward.

I know about the rules about conduit and such. How it has to extend 6 feet up the pole and also up to the point at the trailer (3 feet I think, without checking).
Depending on the gauge I end up using will solve the conduit size.

So if my plan is wrong what should I do?
I dont see the problem with the idea.

I also remember that one trailer I am almost sure has modern copper wire, I am not sure of the other one (haven't checked it yet but I would guess it will too).

Would what I am saying be clearer if I sketched it out and posted it?

Thanks again,
Mike

Looks like your on the right track,

check with a electrician, or the inspector, some times your neutral wire can be down sized, I am sure the ground can be a smaller sized wire.

also check in to the price difference of copper and aluminum wire, the copper can carry more power on the same size wire,

example: , #1 aluminum or,#3 copper for 100 amp for less than 100' of run,
http://www.egr.msu.edu/age/aenewslet...brook11_03.htm

so you may be able to use copper for the similar money and if you can copper is better than aluminum,

could save you some money. but check first.



this a good book I have a older edition and it is very good, well worth the money,

"Practical Electrical Wiring
Residential, Farm, Commercial and Industrial"

19th edition, Based on the 2005 National Electrical Code®
Herbert P. Richter and Frederic P. Hartwell
http://www.electricwiring.com/PEWtoc.html


this is kinda a short version of the above book (personaly I would get both, the paper back is a good reference and the larger one is more in details and tables, and both are picture filled,

"Wiring Simplified"
Herbert P. Richter and Frederic P. Hartwell
http://www.electricwiring.com/toc.html

the little book doesent have the tables and that kind of information, the large one does,