2/0 copper, 4/0 aluminum. I would not use aluminum, if I were you, and I would not run direct burial cable.
Home Depot used to have a nice booklet called “ Code Check Electrical”, showing the most recent code cycle requirements. If you cannot get it there, I bet Amazon or eBay will have it.
It has excellent drawings showing service entrance requirements for conductor sizing, grounding and bonding guidelines, conduit sizing, ground rod sizing, and lots more considerations.
Stop at a local residential jobsite around lunch , preferably on a Friday, with a cooler of ice cold beer. I’ll bet one of those guys will come to your house after work and show you just how to do it. Do not take advice from workers at Home Depot, I heard more wrong info being dispensed there than I can shake a stick at.
Anything in this discussion help?
The answer to your question is yes. You will be pulling some 3/0 guage for a 200 amp service (you growing?). The neutral / ground bus is typically grounded at the meter can or in the panel for older installs(house ground which is typically brought in with the service but separate) as well as @ the last step down transformer on the pole (the neutral/ground coming from the service is sourced here)
View attachment 53045
neutral/ ground wires in my panel w. labelled source .this is an old house, and the single ground rod is wired directly into the panel instead of the meter box which i believe would not meet code any longer where its installed
View attachment 53046
Bare conductor is your service ground
View attachment 53047
This is a nice drawing to sum it all up. Svc ground and ground rod both attached to neutral/ground bus in the main cabinet.(note the right panel has separate neutral and grounding busses but they all go to the same place). Don’t skimp on wire here, you need all 4. Your panel ground should never carry current, your neutral should handle all of it.
Do you have safety gear? These gloves are only $30 and protect you up to 17000 volts. Worth every penny imo
View attachment 53048
For my money i would be running bigger aluminum for such a long connection. The 00 wire in the link is really only rated for 175 amps and your distance is quite long, i wouldnt risk it. I would be running 250-250-250-3/0 aluminum wire. 300 ft of 000-000-000-00 Copper to handle 200 amps is gonna be well over 4 grand , the aluminum will come in right around the thousand@Jackthereaper do you think this a good choice for a 300' run from my 200A meter to my house panel? It will be inside of Sch 40 PVC, underground.
http://platt.com/p/452102
For my money i would be running bigger aluminum for such a long connection. The 00 wire in the link is really only rated for 175 amps and your distance is quite long, i wouldnt risk it. I would be running 250-250-250-3/0 aluminum wire. 300 ft of 000-000-000-00 Copper to handle 200 amps is gonna be well over 4 grand , the aluminum will come in right around the thousand
Copper
Aluminum
Either way, eat your wheaties that morning. Shits gonna be heavy and hard as fuck to bend and pull through condiut. Using the 53% rule for one wire you will need some fat conduit as well. Measure the cavle, calculate its cross sectional area and then divide by .53 and round up to the next size conduit available.
Other than that its just gonna be full tilt like a peterbuilt and get it done. You have quite a project cut out
The answer to your question is yes. You will be pulling some 3/0 guage for a 200 amp service (you growing?). The neutral / ground bus is typically grounded at the meter can or in the panel for older installs(house ground which is typically brought in with the service but separate) as well as @ the last step down transformer on the pole (the neutral/ground coming from the service is sourced here)
View attachment 53045
neutral/ ground wires in my panel w. labelled source .this is an old house, and the single ground rod is wired directly into the panel instead of the meter box which i believe would not meet code any longer where its installed
View attachment 53046
Bare conductor is your service ground
View attachment 53047
This is a nice drawing to sum it all up. Svc ground and ground rod both attached to neutral/ground bus in the main cabinet.(note the right panel has separate neutral and grounding busses but they all go to the same place). Don’t skimp on wire here, you need all 4. Your panel ground should never carry current, your neutral should handle all of it.
Do you have safety gear? These gloves are only $30 and protect you up to 17000 volts. Worth every penny imo
View attachment 53048
It sounds like your concerns are warranted. Can you please draw up the situation? English was my worst subject of study.
Never drew anything out officially but I figured out what would work for me, especially with your help.
Tell me this. I've laid 400' of 3" conduit with about 180 degrees of bend total, you think I could pull one run of 1/0 - 1/0 - 1/0 - 2 COPPER entrance cable or will there be hang ups?
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