240v to an outbuilding

[Martin0095]

Firstly please forgive my lack of electrical knowledge hence my question. I have a building on my farm which is about 250 metres from my mains power. I would like to run 240v power to the buidling to run some led lights and also power some tools of about 2000 watts. I know this is a'how longs a piece of string question' but the answers I get will hopefully tell me is this is feasible. If so I can get some professional electricians to see about an installation.

 

[JohnW2]

Firstly please forgive my lack of electrical knowledge hence my question. I have a building on my farm which is about 250 metres from my mains power. I would like to run 240v power to the buidling to run some led lights and also power some tools of about 2000 watts. I know this is a'how longs a piece of string question' but the answers I get will hopefully tell me is this is feasible. If so I can get some professional electricians to see about an installation.

It's certainly do-able, but 250 metres is a long way. I might personally be tempted to consider battery-powered lights and a small generator for the power tools!

Would a buried cable between power source and the building go under 'farmed' land?

Kind Regards, John

 

[Martin0095]

I agree battery powerd lights via solar panels are an option and I do have a 2kva generator so that is an option. If mains power is possible the cable would be buried but this would not traverse farmed land.

Thanks
Martin

 

[JohnW2]

I agree battery powerd lights via solar panels are an option and I do have a 2kva generator so that is an option. If mains power is possible the cable would be buried but this would not traverse farmed land.

Well, that's one good thing - I was fearing that the cable might have to be buried super-deep in order to keep it out of harm's way if the land were farmed.

Merely digging a 250 metre trench would be an unthinkable and/or costly exercise for most people, but do you perhaps have the means on the farm to do that yourself?

Whatever, as I said, it's far from impossible - laying the cable is the only major issue. You would need to talk to an electrician about what size cable to use, and with such a length it is probably best to err very much on the size of generosity, since you don't want to be buying and re-burying 250 metres of cable a few years down the road when you decide that your needs are greater! It may also be worth considering installing cables for comms (phone, internet etc.) at the same time, in case you ever feel a need - but, again, the length of the cable run would have to be considered when deciding whether that were practical.

Kind Regards, John

 

[Notch7]

A quick calc gives a 5kw load needing 25mm cable which costs £4.50 or so a metre +vat in 2 core

Im not saying any of that is suitable, just a starting guide for you to have something to think about.

http://www.clevelandcable.com/calculator.php

 

[Martin0095]

I think the cost of the cable and digging will be too expensive so as I have a generator I will be sensible to use the resources I already have.

Thanks for the responses.

Regards

Martin

 

[JohnW2]

I think the cost of the cable and digging will be too expensive so as I have a generator I will be sensible to use the resources I already have.

Sound sensible - that's why, as I said, I would personally go with the battery lights + generator route

Kind Regards, John

 

[John D v2.0]

I think the DNOs won't go further than a few tens of metres from the street main , 250m is probably the furthest you'd go from the substation to a house in total! Probably on account of the cost and size of cabling.
You could always ask the DNO for a new supply and get them to worry about it! I feel like it'd be cheaper overall to pay for a transformer for the separate building and supply with 11kv to the transformer!

 

[oldbutnotdead]

Well worth talking to your DNO about a supply to the outbuilding- yes a gennie is fine if you only occasionally need power up there (and by the sound of it you're in a rural area so the noise isn't a big issue). You are the only person who can calculate how often you'll want to use power tools/big heater up in the shed, portable gennies have a real cost/hour to run so work out your fuel costs on a 5 year basis (including replacing the generator at the end of that 5 years) and see how the numbers stack up. Then cost the DNO option and the big trench and cable from the house option. While you're talking to the DNO, see how much difference there is between a single phase and a 3 phase supply to the shed (very useful if you want to use lathes and other big machines)

Digging 250m of trench isn't a trivial job but isn't impossible either- minidiggers are cheap to hire and fairly easy to use if you've got plenty of space, £1200 for cable is a chunk of change but in the scheme of things isn't that much money- you'll pay that for a Honda 2kw silent generator!

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Except he already has the generator.

And if it's a diesel one, he has the cheap red stuff to run it on.

 

[JohnW2]

... Then cost the DNO option and the big trench and cable from the house option.

If the OP were contemplating a non-genny approach (which I don't think he now is), it would certainly be asking them. However, depending on the 'geography', the OP's house could be the closest source of any electricity - in which case a 'DNO new supply' could well be a very expensive option (and the OP could well end up having to dig the trench, anyway, to mitigate the costs to some extent!).

Kind Regards, John

 

[oldbutnotdead]

Except he already has the generator.

And if it's a diesel one, he has the cheap red stuff to run it on.

Valid point Grasshopper- except I've not found a 2kvA diesel gennie yet, they're all 5kvA or greater and v v heavy or I'd have had one by now . And portable gennies don't last forever (got round to reading the manual on my Machine Mart inverter gennie the other month- apparently you should change the oil every 50 hours. Or in my world every 2 race weekends Fri-Sun @ 10 hours per day. No wonder the thing was rattling, not changed the oil for a year at least!)

 

[oldbutnotdead]

If the OP were contemplating a non-genny approach (which I don't think he now is), it would certainly be asking them. However, depending on the 'geography', the OP's house could be the closest source of any electricity - in which case a 'DNO new supply' could well be a very expensive option (and the OP could well end up having to dig the trench, anyway, to mitigate the costs to some extent!).

Kind Regards, John

I think the DNO will be the most expensive but always worth getting a proper price- I've occasionally been surprised by utility companies coming back with a price massively below what the job will cost due to some sort of service obligation or connection target or similar. In a previous life I used to love stitching BT up with their fixed price for installing landline connections on maintained PBXs- I'd do the easy ones and get them in for the rubbish ones that needed scaff and 300 metre cable runs )

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Valid point Grasshopper- except I've not found a 2kvA diesel gennie yet, they're all 5kvA or greater and v v heavy or I'd have had one by now

You can have one now:

http://www.stephill-generators.co.uk/products/super-economy-silent-diesel-range/SE3000D

Especially as you might have wrecked yours.

Are there two of you to carry it?

 

[oldbutnotdead]

You can have one now:

http://www.stephill-generators.co.uk/products/super-economy-silent-diesel-range/SE3000D

Especially as you might have wrecked yours.

OOOOOOH! Nice- ta. Shame they don't show prices on their website. Mine is alive and OK now I've changed the oil and retensioned the timing chain but not paying excise duty on the fuel appeals massively

EDIT Lordy- just looked at the weights. 69 kg for the 2.6kvA, 89 kg for the 4kvA. Have to have a think about that (maybe create a nest in the van with an exhaust port)