Bruce,

It is exactly what the power company recommends. In fact, it is the same
brand, type, spec., etc. that they use for 200 amp. service. I already
told them that I was running hundreds of feet and I wanted 200 amp. service.



j/b


"Bruce L. Bergman" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 18 Sep 2007 21:38:03 -0500, "jusme"
wrote:

I will have around 700 feet of two conductors of 4/0 with one conductor of
3/0 or 2/0.

This is called triplex and is for underground and rated for 200 amps.

It is aluminum; who can afford copper?

It may be around 2.25 per foot.

It is great for running 200 amp. power to your shop.

It is great for the /power utility/ to run a 200A feed to your house
or shop, since they are allowed much larger liberties on derating
ampacity of the wires on their side. Once the power passes the meter
and belongs to you, the derating on the wires is different - depending
on the insulation (60C 75C 90C) it might be only good for 150A or
180A. Even less if you start figuring in voltage drop.

And the code might have big problems with the reduced gauge on he
neutral, but I'm not going looking for the chapter and verse right
now. You can use that reduced gauge wire as the safety ground and
another piece of AL 4/0 for the neutral.

-- Bruce --