Electrical advice.

[cooperino]

Originally Posted by nophun

In a similar situation, I used a #2 Aluminum service feed (2-2-4 I think) and drove a ground rod, which will carry 100a but fits in a 50a breaker; ran it thru 1 1/4 conduit. I can upgrade to 100 amp just by switching the breakers when I expand the shop.

That being said, I have 200a to the house due to no longer used resistant baseboard heaters (120a worth)

The old feed to the shop was 3 wires on one breaker plus a 12/3 to another...but it was OK because of the garden hose conduit
Yeah, there's no codes or permits out here.

NO CODES?? That sounds dangerous. Be careful with garden hose. It rots fairly quickly.

[nophun]

Originally Posted by cooperino

NO CODES?? That sounds dangerous. Be careful with garden hose. It rots fairly quickly.

Not really no codes; AFAIK the NEC is default everywhere in the US that doesn't have local code boards, but with no permits or inspections people do stupid things sometimes.

Let me clarify the other, the garden hose and multiple feeds is what I ripped out. I didn't want to come home to an ash pile in my yard.

[J-Mech]

Illinois doesn't have anything in place that keeps anyone from doing anything electrical. You can wire your own house with no permit or license. You can wire your neighbors house. But the city or municipality or even county may have rules, or required inspections. Obviously, when you sell, the buyer generally has the house inspected. While there is nothing to prevent you from doing your own work, there are "codes". If it's not right, you have to pay to fix it, but they can't fine you. I know it doesn't sound like it makes a lot of sense, but basically nothing in the second worst state does.

In the oilfield here, all the wells are powered on buried electric, direct burial cable. Miles of wire in the ground out there. Lots of farms bury lines to the sheds, but always in conduit. Direct burial is cheaper, but like Lance said, on a home lot, conduit is a lot safer. More apt to dig a hole in your lot and forget where that wire is. Don't want to hit it. Out in the oilfield, it's buried very deep because most oil wells are in farm ground. They do have a lot of blo outs due to lightening. I wouldn't do direct burial on a homestead.

[DoubleO7]

Originally Posted by J-Mech

Yeah, if you have a gen set running, you better have a transfer switch, wires or meter pulled. They came and inspected me at the shop one time when I had a gen set running. I didn't have a transfer switch, but I pulled the wires in the panel. They were fine with it then.

WOW, you are lucky they are so lenient.
Last summer we had a hurricane knockout power.
I pulled the meter AND the 200amp breaker downstream.
Then hooked up my generator.

Power crew drives by looking for damage to fix before powering up the neighborhood. They see the empty meter box and boss man has a conniption fit.
He said the penalty is they disconnect your service at the fuse on transformer. Then you have to go to the county and go thru the entire permitting process as if it were new construction.
Plus pay a fine to the power company to reconnect, all of which might take a month.

Anyways, after I pointed out that I had doubled the safety factor by pulling the meter and the main breaker, they decided to let it slide and we had power back about 30 minutes later.

[DoubleO7]

Originally Posted by olds45512

The house was built in 1935 but was completely rewired a few years ago.

I am surprised the rewire did not include at least a 150 amp service.

But anywho, if you install the shed service with your local building police and permits involved, they might want you to upgrade other stuff before they will permit the shed power.

I would get with a local electrician friend that can look it over and tell you if you can do what you want at an expense you can live with.

Before contacting the building poo poo.

[J-Mech]

Originally Posted by DoubleO7

WOW, you are lucky they are so lenient.
Last summer we had a hurricane knockout power.
I pulled the meter AND the 200amp breaker downstream.
Then hooked up my generator.

Power crew drives by looking for damage to fix before powering up the neighborhood. They see the empty meter box and boss man has a conniption fit.
He said the penalty is they disconnect your service at the fuse on transformer. Then you have to go to the county and go thru the entire permitting process as if it were new construction.
Plus pay a fine to the power company to reconnect, all of which might take a month.

Anyways, after I pointed out that I had doubled the safety factor by pulling the meter and the main breaker, they decided to let it slide and we had power back about 30 minutes later.

Jeez. You know though, so much of the time it depends on who the guy is. We've all ran into inspectors, city council members, HOA boards..... cops, who get a hard-on for something stupid. Even when common sense should take precedent, like what you did. I mean, you were only looking out for the power people's well being, and safety. A "duh" moment in my opinion.

[olds45512]

I will not be discussing any of this with anybody before i do it. It's going to be bad enough paying for it so there's no need to be getting extra people and fee's involved.

[J-Mech]

Originally Posted by olds45512

I will not be discussing any of this with anybody before i do it. It's going to be bad enough paying for it so there's no need to be getting extra people and fee's involved.

That's what I would do too.

[green 4 acres]

Originally Posted by J-Mech

Illinois doesn't have anything in place that keeps anyone from doing anything electrical. You can wire your own house with no permit or license. You can wire your neighbors house. But the city or municipality or even county may have rules, or required inspections. Obviously, when you sell, the buyer generally has the house inspected. While there is nothing to prevent you from doing your own work, there are "codes". If it's not right, you have to pay to fix it, but they can't fine you. I know it doesn't sound like it makes a lot of sense, but basically nothing in the second worst state does.

In the oilfield here, all the wells are powered on buried electric, direct burial cable. Miles of wire in the ground out there. Lots of farms bury lines to the sheds, but always in conduit. Direct burial is cheaper, but like Lance said, on a home lot, conduit is a lot safer. More apt to dig a hole in your lot and forget where that wire is. Don't want to hit it. Out in the oilfield, it's buried very deep because most oil wells are in farm ground. They do have a lot of blo outs due to lightening. I wouldn't do direct burial on a homestead.

Think you are confused by the way they word the electric codes on state level , Mo. Is worded the same as Il.
But you need an electrician to hook up power to a box , run lug lines , even hook up an outlet , or ceiling fan, light
You can run lines to have it ready to do ...legally.

[yettrbomb]

Originally Posted by green 4 acres

Think you are confused by the way they word the electric codes on state level , Mo. Is worded the same as Il.
But you need an electrician to hook up power to a box , run lug lines , even hook up an outlet , or ceiling fan, light
You can run lines to have it ready to do ...legally.

Boy they’d hate me then. I did all mine myself. Called an electrician buddy to ask what size wire I should run, but that’s all. The less “they” know the better IMO.