Electricity in the country

[cowboy1296]

Question that I have some concerns about. In my neighborhood we all have 5 acres. I made a mistake when developing my property by putting the transformer at the road and the meter close to the house some 250 feet apart. I have a new neighbor building and not sure which direction they plan to run his line. But if the light company hooks up between the transformer and my meter will that cause me grief while running the buddy. Worse case that i can think of when their well pump kicks on will the buddy see interference.

Your input would be great.

[steve_g]

Rick…
Does the power company have an easement to run across your property?
SG

[cowboy1296]

I am sure that they do. I put a call into the light company to talk to their tech support and was told they would call me back, thats like the check is in the mail.

[cowboy1296]

The guy who called me back is someone that i know. He is familiar with my set up and will take me into consideration when he meets with the neighbors in discussing their needs. problem solved.

[pkirby]

Funny you mention this. I built my house last year and installed 400 amp service. They started building another house beside me that is running off the same transformer and I noticed my lights flickering when they turned on their air compressor/ tools. I called the power company and they sent out their standard crew and they said everything was fine and that the transformer was plenty big enough to handle both houses. I kept pestering them and they sent out their "Electrical Engineer Problem Solver". Once I showed him all the equipment in my shop, they ended up ordering a transformer that is triple in size:D It should be installed within the next few weeks and will hopefully fix my problem. And to clarify about the lights flickering... the problem is believed to be more than just the transformer. The neighbor undersized their temporary power pole so when they start up a heavy motor load (like the air compressor) it sends a surge to the transformer which in turn flickers my lights.

[cowboy1296]

The light company rep even made a comment about increasing the size of the transformer. but that is something to think about. i think that i will print your comments to show to him. Now the main question is did the flickering ever cause communication problems with the bot.

[scottp55]

Only 200A service to my house(3 acre farm/forest zoned), and last house that can be built due to land trusts so small transformer on pole on road and then 175' to meter. My 220 compressor causes lights to flicker, but no comms issues. BUT it is a Desktop with a UPS, so probably UPS is filtering surge and picking up the slack. We lose power a lot, but never had the Desktop running a file when it happens- hoping UPS is fast enough when it does. My 2 cents.

[tlempicke]

When they re-size your transformer to something that would handle business/industrial loads they will also most likely re-size your bill to something that business/industrial folks would pay. Their rates are a good bit higher than residential.

Something t think about.

[pkirby]

Rick,
I never noticed any problems with comm when the lights flickered but I don't want to take any chances.

Tom,
I spoke to them about the rates and they are going to remain the same since it's still a residence. I asked about 3 phase and they said it would be an installation fee of around $15,000 :eek:

[cowboy1296]

Its good to know that with an electrical flicker that comm issues were not a problem.

[jerry_stanek]

When my compressor kicks on the lights flicker also but no comm problems.

[cowboy1296]

Yall are making me feel better already.

[gene]

I am in the same thing . I have 6 acres with my house and shop on the same transformer , My EMC coop guy told me that if i have any problems that they would up the transformer at my request . if i am in the shop and my ac unit (5 ton) kicks on i notice that the lights dim for a second . so far so good . no problems .:)

[cowboy1296]

It came as a shock to me coming from Texas that you dont need ac in the mountains of Colorado. No ac here. Chances are the biggest momentary drain would be the well pump kicking on. My ace in the hole right now is the electric company construction boss knows my operation and will make the best decision when the neighbor cuts in.

[Brady Watson]

I asked about 3 phase and they said it would be an installation fee of around $15,000 :eek:

That's cheap. It cost me 3X that...BUT I've got my own transformers and don't have to share it with anyone else.

I specifically went over the paperwork with a fine toothed comb to make sure that future installations in the area would NOT be running across my fields to feed anyone else. They can pay to pull it back off the road just the same as I did. Take no one's word for ANYTHING - get it all in writing & read it three times to avoid sad stories in the future.

-B