From

Location

Message

Date Posted

Western PA

Moving my patch to new ground in my front yard. I will have to get electric around 360 feet to get to the patch.

My question is, what would be the minimal wire diameter you would recommend for me to get to the patch to run 5-6 fans ??

Will heavy duty extension cords work, or should I try to get one continuous pc of heavy duty outdoor wire and bury it ??

I ran 300 feet of extension cords last season to a patch in back yard, and it seemed to be ok. My fans may have been running a little slower than they should have been.


In the spring I would possibly run 4 heating wires, but I don't believe they draw as much as the fans.

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

3/6/2022 7:28:41 PM

Syracuse, NY

My only advice for today is: Don't get ZAPPA-ed!!!
Ohhh!!!
No, really, there was a discussion and I'll see if I can help by just finding it -
Everyone else, please reply - eg

3/6/2022 7:46:17 PM

Syracuse, NY

Well, search is disabled due to the auction, so, here is MY advice, or, idea rather:
You could theoretically have as much current available at your patch as you'd need by doing what I think is a great idea: Chop off an extension cord and connect the bare-wired ends to a terminal strip. 'S'far as I know this is what happens at a substation. Then, the more current you need, put terminals on each bare wire and then you can stack 2-3 onto each terminal strip connection. You could also use 3 bare pieces of metal of ANY KIND to attach the terminals to (Black, Green and White wires to each, singly);
Please consult an electrician, anyway! All must be oriented the SAME weigh...
Wherever one of these 100-foot lengths ends, it just needs to be under a 5-gallon bucket with a piece of plywood under it and a rock on top of the bucket. Used, junky extension cords and terminals, terminal strips and final outlet boxes, blah blah, blah...it'd be neat-o to see it work someday. Someday I'll do it, lol---Good Luck, nonetheless!---eric g

3/6/2022 8:03:33 PM

Pa

Assuming each fan runs about 1 amp with a 10awg copper wire ran 360 feet would be about 115v. if you use 12awg copper wire it would be about 111v. which could explain why the fans seemed to run at a lower speed. The thing with extension cords is they're stranded wires which usually has a lot of resistance in the wire. id say if you plan to keep it there for awhile get some 10awg minimum underground wire and burry it from the house to an outdoor GFCI then from there run the extension cords to each fan. As for the heating wires im not sure the amps but i know most baseboard heaters run about 750w which is about 6.25a assuming its a 120v heater so id assume it be close to about the same. you can figure out the amperage by dividing the watts by volts. as for voltage drop their is a formula for it but you can go on google and type in voltage drop calculator and type in the settings there to see exactly how many volts at what distance and what wire size to use. i hope i helped lol

3/6/2022 8:30:25 PM

Colorado

at 360 feet your looking at pretty big voltage drop. The cure for voltage drop is increasing wire size. The problem with just running #10 gauge extension cords is you still have only #12 or 14 from your outlet to the panel. You can use the voltage drop formulas but honestly you could just run some extension cords and put a voltage tester on it and see how bad it is. Most of the formulas are worst case with full load. You could always get an estimate from an electrician to run wire and set a small subpanel on a pedestal(post). If you do all the digging and back fill it will be cheaper.

3/7/2022 4:19:14 AM

Colorado

Im guessing the heating wires will run more power than the fans depending on the size of the fans. Heating is always a power hog.

3/7/2022 4:23:02 AM

Syracuse, NY

I feel that connecting wires in parallel effectively increases the wire size. Connecting them at terminals rather than the plug-in type plugs eliminates point-of-contact resistance and risk of fire/loss of power there, etc. I'm thinking, too, that if you do do extension cords, there'd be no need to bury anything - e.g. (cool!) I've always wanted to make a hose/cord reeler-upper with a small wooden power company spool, lol---eg

3/7/2022 5:05:51 AM

Colorado

The problem with doing wires in parallel is if you don't get them the same length and type, or if they are not run close together you can have one wire running more load than the others. If you don't keep the matched hot and neutrals together you will get conductive heating. I have seen this done by a rancher or two and it does work for a while. I've seen some crazy stuff on service calls to the remote homesteads of colorado and wyoming. Honestly if your going to go through that much trouble its best to just buy a piece of direct burial triplex.

3/7/2022 5:18:01 AM

Western NY

Any chance of running 220 out there and then splitting it up?

3/7/2022 8:13:50 AM

Grittyville, WA

I am trying to warm my soil with clear plastic. About 80 degrees under the plastic today. 50 degree air temp.

Maybe more growers should try this, rather than heating cables?

3/7/2022 8:15:12 AM

Springfield, VT

You should be fine to run that distance with small fans. The worst case is a low voltage at the plug when all are running. The motor on typical store fans are the universal type and will run a bit slower with lower voltage. The wire is not a problem as long as you don't run more amps in it than it is rated. If you were running soil heating cables the lower voltage would reduce the output of the cables to below their rating.

3/7/2022 8:38:02 AM

I did mine the same way josh from Pa had mention about. Having the GFCI in place is a smart and safe move. If there is a problem it will kick off due to anything electrical or weather!

3/7/2022 8:42:32 AM

Syracuse, NY

Okay, thanks;---eg

3/7/2022 1:37:57 PM

Sault Ste Marie, MI 49783

I ran power to my new green house last year. was unsure of how much power I needed but in the end I ran a 100 amp service out to it which is about 225 feet from my house. I used a direct bury cable like you would use to power a house trailer. Biggest thing is its aluminum and cheaper than a 10-3 underground copper cable. My advice is to run more power than you think you need.

3/7/2022 8:59:47 PM

Syracuse, NY

I'm sure that I'd know to keep anything I used as identical as possible, although I did say 'junky'; I'm thinking of someday also connecting each ENTIRE extension cord, cut off and wires stripped and terminated TOGETHER as though each one were a single wire, X 3 - attached at every 100 feet by probably the aforementioned terminal...
In other words, three cords would become ONE set (one 'hot', one 'neutral' and one'ground');

There IS more to this in that I did read briefly that variations in even the conduit that a conductor runs through can cause a problem amongst varied conductors, so, thank you, Scott, and looking into the biggest cable that can be afforded as in just above this reply seems promising to ME; Don't just do it - OVERDO IT! YEAAAHHH!!! And THEN grow some Bigguns, lol---I am done---eric g

3/12/2022 5:14:29 AM