Electrical Service to Ag lot/Contractor's Service

[hamlet]

For an ag lot, such as Fern Forrest, does one need a building permit to bring power in? I'm going to want HELCO at the front of the lot, mainly for service/contractors, both during and after construction, but eventually, the house near the back will be all solar.

Having a permanent meter & say 60A service available to plug into during repairs or emergency would be a good thing imo.

[jerry]

You need a building permit to get power but it can be for something very simple like an Ag shed or garage. 100 amp is the smallest size service.

Jerry

[hamlet]

Thank you. I did several hours searching and reading here about electrical/construction matters, but became more confused than enlightened.

I suppose a small Ag building is what I'd need to start with. Can I pull the permit myself for an Ag building and electric work, or do I need an ARCHITECT, ENGINEER, ELECTRICIAN
involved? If this becomes too onerous or expensive, then it might be more cost effective spend my $ elsewhere, like more photo-voltaic and legal fees.

[DanielP]

hamlet,

You might want to consider just getting a generator for your construction needs. Paying your SSPP fees plus permits plus labor and materials for your pole and panel will add up to at least $5K.

I started with a 3200W generator, bank of batterries, inverter, and a 70amp charger. Used it for 2 years for all my power needs. An air compressor is probably the biggest demand for electricity and a smaller compressor will usually be sufficient.

Dan

[hamlet]

Alright, thanks Daniel. Hell with it, I'll just use a generator for now, then p.v. later.
You can get quite a few solar panels for $5k. I have 5000 watt Heart inverter/charger,
which might be the ticket with a couple of deep cycles, mounted on a small trailer.

I'm thinking of going with a simple A-Frame with 1/2 loft design this time around.

[Rob Tucker]

I spoke with someone yesterday that has a Perkins Diesel generator to sell. He didn't mention a price. Diesel engines are long term dependable and Perkins is one of the best. Diesel can also be run on biofuel.

[TrevorKane]

I've done quite a bit of construction (circular sawing, drilling, power screwdriving, mostly) on a Honda 2000 inverting generator. It's only 1.6KW continuous rated, but it is very fuel efficient and quiet.

Even if you don't care what your neighbors think about the generator noise, I find it much more pleasant to work around, and I can leave it running all day since it throttles back when there's no load.

We rented a gas powered cement mixer and own a gas powered water pump, but so far have managed without hooking up to the grid, even though the supply pole is right there.

Hamlet: where did you get your Heart Inverter? I just did a Google search, but the first page I clicked on wanted to "do a security scan" of my PC for me, "click here to start the scan for free..." had to go to the Task Manager to close the window.

[hamlet]

Thanks for the leads. I love diesel gen-sets, but wow, very noisy. Those Honda 2000 are sweet, and I hate Honda.
Having a generator drone on all day long is really annoying and stressful. I had a 5500 Honda, the quiet model, and it
was nice to live with, auto throttle and all, but the parts were expensive.

I bought my heart back in '99 for $700. I got it from West Coast Marine, mislabeled pricing, couldn't pass it up.
Heart was bought out by someone, I forget who, maybe Trace, who was bought by someone else. Rock solid, never
any trouble with it.

With an A-Frame home, if I orientate it North-South, then I'm not going to have any south facing roof for p.v. An E-W orientation
gives me roof space for p.v., and perhaps solar hot water (if that would even work in F.F.), and perhaps catch a little
trade-wind coming, or going. Of course, the backside might grow moss and mold, as it would never ever see direct sun...

Everybody has their own opinion as to what's cool in a home design, but what works in F.F.? My criteria is: 2 people, wood heat, small.
An a-frame seem to fit the bill, with outbuildings for everything not domestic (shed roof huts for shop, parking, storage, etc.) Also, an
a-frame is easier to clean out the gutters

[Jay Bondesen]

I'm not the expert but I think an A-frame is way to steep for good exposure for either panel at this latitude so that orientation may not be the issue. You could certainly build a support but I wouldn't worry about setting the house just so in order to mount solar panels. Perhaps a smaller lean-to structure either attached or detached woud be better for them. Speaking of gutters if you are using catchment the A-frame footprint won't catch as much as you might want. And one thing for sure here is that you never can have enough dry storage space under roof.

Jay

[Seeb]

pitch of your panels sould be about the same as your latitude