How far away from the house is the barn going to be? That will help determine the wire size. I went to my local wire supply house-not home depot-but a real one with that info and they gave me the size. I had to go around 800 ft. For water I ran 1 inch 300 psi black plastic well pipe. For data I got a roll of underground wire from the phone company. I think it is something like 4 or 5 pairs twisted wire with a heavy copper foil shield. Works great.

 

Why don't you just run a bunch of conduit? Run a 3" for juice, a 2" for cable, phone, internet and a 2" for your water line.

 

and a 2" for your water line.

Bigger isn't always better. Depends on the water pressure. If you have low water pressure and you run a large water line, you'll lose a lot of pressure over the distance.

 

3/4 or 1" should be plenty for the water, alot of old houses i have rehabed or worked on only had a 1/2 water main! and they seemed to have enough pressure!

 

I ran 1 inch black plastic line 250ft to a 60 gallon tank which pumps to other outlets in the barn went that route so i can run water heater and got better pressure to Power Washer. On the power end of it i am on 3 Phase

 

Barn will be about 100ft from the house.

 

Run a 2in PVC for the electric and an 1 1/4 for the phone/cable. Not sure about the water. How about a gas line?
Another thing is depending on your layout of the property and the road it would be better to do a seperate drop from the road to the barn for power

 

Another thing is depending on your layout of the property and the road it would be better to do a seperate drop from the road to the barn for power

X2, I put the meter at the pole and ran seperate 200 amp service to house and shop.
lot better than sucking 100 amp off the house and watching the lights dim when air compressor or welder are working.
now both can be used at same time.

You need to decide how much work you want to do in the shop, full time or just playing around.

 

In my location, I had to run separate power due to the distance. But the city (my electricity supplier) calls this second service "commercial" even though it is not. So they charge a minimum of $30/mo for a minimum 100kw usage, and a much higher rate after that, than what I'd pay for the household electricity.
These are all things to be considered.
I hardly use any electricity in the barn, so when I do plug something in like the electric golf cart, I call it "free" electricity since I pay for it whether I use it or not. Hardly free, but it makes me feel better

 

I wasn't saying use the 2" conduit for water, just something to snake a 3/4" line through.

 

a larger / oversized water line will not cause pressure drops. a undersized line will. a oversize line will cause a lowvelocity, and crap in the water can settle in the pipe. water mains in the streets are 8" to 12". if you have city water, don't bother going bigger then the service to your house (most are 3/4", some are 1"). you can measure the street side of your meter, under the coupler.

 

a larger / oversized water line will not cause pressure drops. a undersized line will. a oversize line will cause a lowvelocity, and crap in the water can settle in the pipe. water mains in the streets are 8" to 12". if you have city water, don't bother going bigger then the service to your house (most are 3/4", some are 1"). you can measure the street side of your meter, under the coupler.

First off you are wrong. A larger line will have a pressure loss. If you only need a 3/4", 1", 1-1/4" line don't go with a 1-1/2 or 2" just because. If you don't have good pressure you can't move volume of water. They work together. You have to have good pressure in order to move larger volumes of water. If you don't have good pressure thats why you have booster pumps.

 

I think I'm going to run 1" plastic water line. I will have to call my electric co-op and ask them about costs on installing another meter or just run from the house. I won't be working in the barn full time, just a couple of times a week.

 

I didn't run 2 meters, 1 meter and Y below the meter in an enclosed box and sends 200 amps to house and barn. my co-op made me put in the box to split the lines but regular power companies let me Y out of the 320 amp meter base on other jobs.

yea, working a few times a week may turn into everyday later.
I like to do it right the first time like you want to do.

 

Mr. Plumber: I have an old house that some of the original pipes have grown small from corrosion. I have very little pressure at the faucet. Now granted, I might have more pressure at the well pump because of this, but when you come out to fix my problem, you are not going to put in smaller pipes, are you? And BTW, years ago I was a sub-contractor in the building trades, and a general contractor told me the plumber was the smartest of all the subs. He said the plumber has to know that **** runs downhill, and payday is Friday. The others just need to know that payday is Friday.

 

Mr. Plumber: I have an old house that some of the original pipes have (1)grown small from corrosion. I have very little pressure at the faucet. Now granted, I might have more pressure at the well pump because of this, but when you come out to fix my problem, you are not going to put in smaller pipes, are you? And BTW, years ago I was a sub-contractor in the building trades, and a general contractor told me the plumber was the smartest of all the subs. He said the plumber has to know that **** runs downhill, payday is Friday, and good plumbers don't chew their finger nails. The others just need to know that payday is Friday.

(1) Isn't this an oxymoron?
(2) Smaller pipes only if you want me to.
(3) Will you pay travel time and fuel surcharge?

Each fixture in the house(lavatory, toilet, shower, etc.) has a different load factor. Once the load is figured out I use a chart that uses pressure, distance and size of city meter, to figure what you need for the correct piping.

 

I see, my meter is on the back of the garage where I will be pulling power from, the house breaker box is on the opposite side of the wall of the meter. I will check with the co-op next time they bring one of their trucks in to get worked on! I know what you mean about turning into everyday, I seem to get more side work all the time.

 

Don’t forget the sewer lines.

 

What I did

I ran 3/4 water. and 2'' for my power. I only ran a 100 amp service to my shop. I don't think I will run any combination of things that will require any more.

On the water pressure topic... Where I live the main thing that controls the pressure is called a pressure regulator!!!. I have a 1" main going in my house and it is regulated by my pressure regulator down to 55psi. I bypassed the regulator for my shop. All I have is a hose and a sink. and if you have bought a faucet lately you know they have flow restrictors in them so the only place I get more pressure is the hose.
If you have a 1" main that you are going to tie into then don't go any larger. If you are going to only run the water 100' then 1" or 3/4 will be just fine..

 

Most meter sets are 5/8" or 3/4"

 

My barn is 120ft from my house. I ran 1" black plastic water line inside of 4" plastic drain pipe in case it has to be replaced. I ran the phone line and 100amp service 4 wire by 2/0 for the power from the house in 2" schedule 40 CPVC. Put a seperate ground rod at the barn and did not put the binding screw in the panel. I had to add a seperate strip in the panel for the ground wires. This way allows me to have GFI oulets without having random trips in the barn.

Oh yeah the TV cable goes through the 2" conduit as well.

 

I would do a 100 amp panel for your barn & that should be enough if there isn't going to be welders, a/c, RV plugs, etc. all running off of that panel. Run a 2" PVC for you main electrical supply coming in to make pulling easy & a 3/4" - 1" for telephone & 3/4" - 1" for TV. As far as wire size goes taking voltage drop into consideration you could run #2 THHN for you hots & nuetral & #6 THHN for your ground. As far as a water line goes I would think a 1" line would be good, but I'm an electrican not a plumber.