Getting Power to Land: Phase 2 of Electrical Setup and Install

This post is the second post in sharing our recent project of getting power to vacant land. Here we will share the final steps of our power installation process.

We are finally wrapping up our power installation project! We shared Phase 1 of Getting Power to Land in a previous post, so if you haven’t seen that you can go read it here.

In summary, Phase 1 was all about the initial permitting process and electrical setup options, along with the prep work involved. We left off with awaiting the power company to come install the pole and pull wire from the pole to our main panel.

Now that the service drop is connected to our main panel, the next phase consists of running the power from our main panel to the subpanel in our pump house. (In our first post, we explained that our primary reason for getting electrical service right now is to power our water well. We did, however, install an extra two inch sweep of conduit from our main panel for future home development.)

We’ll break down Phase 2 of Electrical Setup and Install into the following steps:

1. Trenching from main panel to pump house
2. Laying conduit
3. Running wire through conduit to pump house
4. Installing subpanel in pump house
5. Connecting wires to main panel and subpanel
6. Backfilling trench

Trenching

We needed at least 24 inches of ground cover for our underground electric service from the main panel to the pump house. The distance is approximately 80 feet, and since we were planning on using 1 inch conduit, we aimed for the trench to be at least 25 inches deep (we made it a little deeper for safe measure).

This trench is on a steep hill, so we dug it entirely by hand. Luckily, we started in the spring when the ground was still soft. Although we did hit some hard rock sections that slowed us down quite a bit, overall, the trenching went pretty quickly.

Laying Conduit

As mentioned above, we used 1 inch electrical conduit from the main panel to the pump house. We installed two 90-degree sweeps, one on each end (from the main panel into the trench and from the trench into the pump house).

Before laying the conduit, we first spread sand in the trench to prevent and sharp rocks from puncturing the conduit. We then installed each section of conduit with PVC cement.

Running Wire

Once the conduit was installed, we used a fish tape to pull a mule tape through the conduit. We were then able to pull 8-gauge copper wire to the well house to secure the main service wire. This 8-gauge copper wire is rated for 600 volts, so it should have no problem with 240 volt electric service.

Installing Subpanel

The sub panel we chose was a Siemens brand (to match our main panel) 125 amp 8-16 indoor type sub panel. This means that the breaker space of this load center maxes out at eight 1-inch spaces, or 16 circuits max.

This sub panel fits flush between two 16-inch on center studs. With the sub panel securely mounted between two studs and the service wires in place, we can begin installing breakers and connecting wires.

Connecting Wires

As a disclaimer, we are in no way experts in electrical work. We highly recommend hiring a professional electrician.

We hired an electrician to help us with connecting wires and highly recommend doing so. No doubt, the process can differ in terms of materials used and methods, but our process consisted of 5 basic steps:

1. Making sure the main breaker was off
2. Installing a 20 amp double pole breaker into the sub panel
3. Wiring the sub panel to the pump starter box
4. Connecting the pump wires to the starter box
5. Installing a 50 amp double pole breaker into the main panel

We also installed a 20 amp single pole breaker for a light switch and plug in. Before energizing the system, we made sure all breakers were in the “off” position, and began energizing the system in stages.

Backfilling Trench

This last step is simple, but essential – backfilling the trench. Nothing complicated here, we just spread a little more sand over the top of the conduit and then filled the trench in with the dirt we had dug out.

Next Steps After Getting Power to Land

Now that we’ve completed the electrical installation project (finally!), we can move on to new projects. Since we now have water and electrical available, we have several new projects we’d like to work on. Stay tuned for more posts on our property development journey!