Hi all,
We have a well house with an elec sub panel in it with a few extra
breaker slots and wanted to run a buried line out to our gate so we
could power say 2 150W flood lights..
The thing is , the run would be about 300 feet! Can this be done? And
if so , what sort of wire would we use? I have seen 250 ft spools of
wire, but would we not lose too much from a run of that length?

Any help much appreciated
G

You need underground wire. The insulation and jacket are specially designed
to withstand punctures from stones, etc. Go to your local electrical supply
house, they should have it. Get the thickest gauge wire you can afford. Even
with the long run, 8/2 with ground should be more than enough. You're only
drawing about 3 amps, but you have to think about future use also.

"AustinScoobee" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi all,
We have a well house with an elec sub panel in it with a few extra
breaker slots and wanted to run a buried line out to our gate so we
could power say 2 150W flood lights..
The thing is , the run would be about 300 feet! Can this be done? And
if so , what sort of wire would we use? I have seen 250 ft spools of
wire, but would we not lose too much from a run of that length?

Any help much appreciated
G

Here is a voltage drop calculator
http://www.electrician.com/vd_calculator.html

"AustinScoobee" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi all,
We have a well house with an elec sub panel in it with a few extra
breaker slots and wanted to run a buried line out to our gate so we
could power say 2 150W flood lights..
The thing is , the run would be about 300 feet! Can this be done? And
if so , what sort of wire would we use? I have seen 250 ft spools of
wire, but would we not lose too much from a run of that length?

Any help much appreciated
G

A electrical wholesale house will either have or can order 1000 foot spools
of UF cable. Not likely that they will cut it.

You could always run conduit.

What you are looking for is called "UF" underground feeder cable, made for
direct burial in the ground. Currently all copper wire is very expensive so
unless you plan to increase the wattage out there in the future, I wouldn't
go overboard on the size. 14/2 or 12/2 will be perfectly adequate and
standardly comes on 250 foot and 1000 foot reels. Some electrical supply
houses will cut it to order, but if not, you can buy underground wirenuts
(King one step) or other brands and connect two pieces of cable



"AustinScoobee" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi all,
We have a well house with an elec sub panel in it with a few extra
breaker slots and wanted to run a buried line out to our gate so we
could power say 2 150W flood lights..
The thing is , the run would be about 300 feet! Can this be done? And
if so , what sort of wire would we use? I have seen 250 ft spools of
wire, but would we not lose too much from a run of that length?

Any help much appreciated
G

"AustinScoobee" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi all,
We have a well house with an elec sub panel in it with a few extra
breaker slots and wanted to run a buried line out to our gate so we
could power say 2 150W flood lights..
The thing is , the run would be about 300 feet! Can this be done? And
if so , what sort of wire would we use? I have seen 250 ft spools of
wire, but would we not lose too much from a run of that length?

I'd run #12 wire for direct burial. Find out how far down it should go.
IIRC, 12" is minimum. I'd also put a receptacle at the end. You never know
when you may want to plug in an electric tool down there. You know to use a
ground fault also.

I had a similar situation as the original poster. I needed a light on a
pole, and decided to put a receptacle in case I needed it. I used # 8
stranded in conduit. At my supply house, it turned out to be cheaper than
buying a 1000 ft. spool of #12 UF.

"SQLit" wrote in message
...

"AustinScoobee" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi all,
We have a well house with an elec sub panel in it with a few extra
breaker slots and wanted to run a buried line out to our gate so we
could power say 2 150W flood lights..
The thing is , the run would be about 300 feet! Can this be done? And
if so , what sort of wire would we use? I have seen 250 ft spools of
wire, but would we not lose too much from a run of that length?

Any help much appreciated
G

A electrical wholesale house will either have or can order 1000 foot
spools
of UF cable. Not likely that they will cut it.

You could always run conduit.

AustinScoobee wrote:
Hi all,
We have a well house with an elec sub panel in it with a few extra
breaker slots and wanted to run a buried line out to our gate so we
could power say 2 150W flood lights..
The thing is , the run would be about 300 feet! Can this be done? And
if so , what sort of wire would we use? I have seen 250 ft spools of
wire, but would we not lose too much from a run of that length?

Any help much appreciated
G


#10 will provide 4 amps (480 W) at 300 feet. That
is sufficient to stay within the 3% voltage drop
that is the standard. Use underground wire (romex
or equivalent). Wire larger than #10 will start
getting costly.

Edwin Pawlowski wrote:
"AustinScoobee" wrote in message
oups.com...

Hi all,
We have a well house with an elec sub panel in it with a few extra
breaker slots and wanted to run a buried line out to our gate so we
could power say 2 150W flood lights..
The thing is , the run would be about 300 feet! Can this be done? And
if so , what sort of wire would we use? I have seen 250 ft spools of
wire, but would we not lose too much from a run of that length?


I'd run #12 wire for direct burial. Find out how far down it should go.
IIRC, 12" is minimum. I'd also put a receptacle at the end. You never know
when you may want to plug in an electric tool down there. You know to use a
ground fault also.


You could get by with #12, bulbs may be a bit
dimmer than with #10, but any tool you use should
be under 3 A. And what to you use for a breaker?
Do they make breakers for less than 5 amps?

"George E. Cawthon" wrote in message

You could get by with #12, bulbs may be a bit dimmer than with #10, but
any tool you use should be under 3 A. And what to you use for a breaker?
Do they make breakers for less than 5 amps?

Why would you need a 5A breaker? Reality is, it will work, has worked, I've
done it. we build a house with #12 run over 300 feet on a temporary line
and used plenty of power tools.

you need to know what size house breaker, length and gauge of wire from
the house, and subpanel main breaker are involved first, less the well
pump power in use, to see what's available for use at the well house.
then you'll want to trench and bury perhaps in pvc or conduit the
proper gauge wire to your locally required depth for a least two
circuits and want additional shielded cable for the camera and some
conductors for doorbell/telephone/gate sensor and control circuits. you
may even want to trench below the frostline and send some water there
or sprinkler system lines for the future. this is a good time to check
for your underground buried cables with a local hotline and make sure
your gate is inside the property line on your survey. whether you'll
need yellow buglites or maybe use a low voltage, decorative, LED
lighting system will be options. maybe pick out an attractive
distinctive fixture with an address plate and name.
this project will be more attractive then the cheap dim solar units
with the now dead batteries from 3 years ago.

Don't be to concerned about the slight voltage drop. This is not an
inductive load. If you loose a few volts the worst that will happen is your
bulbs will last longer



"RBM" rbm2(remove wrote in message
...
What you are looking for is called "UF" underground feeder cable, made for
direct burial in the ground. Currently all copper wire is very expensive
so unless you plan to increase the wattage out there in the future, I
wouldn't go overboard on the size. 14/2 or 12/2 will be perfectly adequate
and standardly comes on 250 foot and 1000 foot reels. Some electrical
supply houses will cut it to order, but if not, you can buy underground
wirenuts (King one step) or other brands and connect two pieces of cable



"AustinScoobee" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi all,
We have a well house with an elec sub panel in it with a few extra
breaker slots and wanted to run a buried line out to our gate so we
could power say 2 150W flood lights..
The thing is , the run would be about 300 feet! Can this be done? And
if so , what sort of wire would we use? I have seen 250 ft spools of
wire, but would we not lose too much from a run of that length?

Any help much appreciated
G

Edwin Pawlowski wrote:
"George E. Cawthon" wrote in message

You could get by with #12, bulbs may be a bit dimmer than with #10, but
any tool you use should be under 3 A. And what to you use for a breaker?
Do they make breakers for less than 5 amps?


Why would you need a 5A breaker? Reality is, it will work, has worked, I've
done it. we build a house with #12 run over 300 feet on a temporary line
and used plenty of power tools.


Sorry, I temporarily lost my mine about the
breaker. On the use of tools, you can. I run my
compressor and a circular saw on a long extension
cord and it seems to work. But it is a lousy
practice to run motorized tools where the voltage
drop is more than 3%. I'm not sure what the
voltage drop would be on a 300 foot run of #12
with a 10 A motor but it would be down in the
motor damaging range.

George E. Cawthon wrote:
Edwin Pawlowski wrote:

"George E. Cawthon" wrote in message

You could get by with #12, bulbs may be a bit dimmer than with #10,
but any tool you use should be under 3 A. And what to you use for a
breaker? Do they make breakers for less than 5 amps?



Why would you need a 5A breaker? Reality is, it will work, has
worked, I've done it. we build a house with #12 run over 300 feet on
a temporary line and used plenty of power tools.

Sorry, I temporarily lost my mine about the breaker. On the use of
tools, you can. I run my compressor and a circular saw on a long
extension cord and it seems to work. But it is a lousy practice to run
motorized tools where the voltage drop is more than 3%. I'm not sure
what the voltage drop would be on a 300 foot run of #12 with a 10 A
motor but it would be down in the motor damaging range.

I swear this thing hates me. It is suppose to
read "lost my mind." If I lost my "mine," I don't
remember it, so it's no big loss.