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NEC Issues: Moving Service Connection from House to Existing Detached Garage?

Diesel

Registered User
Joined
Sep 21, 2021
Messages
5
Location
Ohio
Have done my homework on NEC for other electrical projects (permitted, inspected, approved), but this particular project is causing me some confusion that I hope you all can answer.

Current Installation:
- House has main power, overhead service line feeding house from pole in back of property. (Installed in the 50's)
- Detached garage fed from house power via buried line (conduit).

ISSUE:
- The current overhead service line crosses literally across the middle of my yard, and is very low above the detached garage.
- There are some potential obstructions (huge tree + concrete patio) that would make burying the line all the way from the pole to the house.

Solution A: Retain Home->Garage Feed, Add a Feed from Garage->Home
- Move the Overhead Service line to the back of the garage. (Weatherhead + Meter)
- Connect from meter to a main power kill switch in garage interior
- Run the appropriate cable through conduit inside of the garage, then underground to house main (in appropriate sized conduit)
- Note: Main power kill switch would effectively kill main power to house and garage

Questions:
- Does this setup violate the single feed rule? Technically the Garage is now feeding the house, and house is feeding garage.

Solution B: Switch Home->Garage feed to Garage->Home Feed.
- Move the Overhead Service line to the back of the garage. (Weatherhead + Meter)
- Connect from meter to a NEW main box in the garage

Solution C:
- Take down huge old tree, bust up concrete, bury line directly from pole to house.


I'd prefer to figure out how to make Solution A work, if at all possible. But wonder if the "bi-directional" feed is going to be a huge red flag. Or, if there's a way to make it work.

What are the thoughts of this group?
 
Having trouble visualizing what you are describing. I think that the concepts you have are certainly workable if you pay attention to the details.

Some thoughts:

Many jurisdictions have been requiring the main disconnect to be on the exterior of the house so that the Fire Dept. can shut off power to the building before they go spraying water all over the place. This was then added to the 2020 NEC, but was not a code requirement before that. This may not apply to you in your jurisdiction, but it is a "best practice". When the Fire Dept. shows up (especially at night) in a hurry to save your house, a disconnect hidden inside of or behind the garage may make things difficult for them.

I would run the utility to a meter at the garage, with a disconnect at that location, then run a buried conduit from the meter to the house, where I would have another main disconnect on the exterior of the building. From there, I would tie into the existing house wiring that also already feeds the garage. That way, none of your wiring downstream of that point would have to be redone, and the Fire Dept. can shut off the house and the garage with the one disconnect at the house.

I don't know if that is feasible with your set-up... it works fine in my head without seeing your property, lol.
 
Having trouble visualizing what you are describing. I think that the concepts you have are certainly workable if you pay attention to the details.

Some thoughts:

Many jurisdictions have been requiring the main disconnect to be on the exterior of the house so that the Fire Dept. can shut off power to the building before they go spraying water all over the place. This was then added to the 2020 NEC, but was not a code requirement before that. This may not apply to you in your jurisdiction, but it is a "best practice". When the Fire Dept. shows up (especially at night) in a hurry to save your house, a disconnect hidden inside of or behind the garage may make things difficult for them.

I would run the utility to a meter at the garage, with a disconnect at that location, then run a buried conduit from the meter to the house, where I would have another main disconnect on the exterior of the building. From there, I would tie into the existing house wiring that also already feeds the garage. That way, none of your wiring downstream of that point would have to be redone, and the Fire Dept. can shut off the house and the garage with the one disconnect at the house.

I don't know if that is feasible with your set-up... it works fine in my head without seeing your property, lol.

Thanks for your reply. I'll look into a shut off. I had considered installing the meter behind the garage, and then running conduit around the garage to the house. It will still involve busting up a ton of concrete/blacktop, but less damage than running to the pole from the house.

I wasn't aware of the requirement of having a power shut off, but could incorporate at the house where the existing meter is located.

Here's a graphic to help illustrate Solution A:

 
My first thoughts are talk to your local AHJ (inspector) and your local PoCo (power company) because no matter what solutions (code compliant or not) you come up with it won't matter if they won't approve it. PoCo might say it's fine as long as ____________, and AHJ might say it's fine as long as ____________ then you can see what solution you can come up with that meets those conditions and that they will approve, oh and that meets code. Are you doing this work yourself or hiring an electrician?
 
My first thoughts are talk to your local AHJ (inspector) and your local PoCo (power company) because no matter what solutions (code compliant or not) you come up with it won't matter if they won't approve it. PoCo might say it's fine as long as ____________, and AHJ might say it's fine as long as ____________ then you can see what solution you can come up with that meets those conditions and that they will approve, oh and that meets code. Are you doing this work yourself or hiring an electrician?

Thanks. Probably do it myself. Been doing fine with getting project permitted / inspected / approved as far as structural/elec/plumbing/etc. This concept just seems like an edge case as there aren't a lot of specific examples. And, I didnt want to spend a lot of times drawing up detailed plans have the city supervisor shut me down.
 
Yeah it's always a dance, builders or owners ask us all the time "what can we approve" or "what do you want" and it's hard to answer those types of questions without some kind of plans, on the flip side you don't want to spend a bunch of time and energy (and money) on plans just to find out "we can't approve this." So you will have to provide them enough information for them to make a judgement call, but don't get crazy with plans until you get a thumbs up. Also check to make sure they'll issue an owner-builder permit for electrical. Some states specifically exclude electrical work from owner-builder permits.
 
Yeah it's always a dance, builders or owners ask us all the time "what can we approve" or "what do you want" and it's hard to answer those types of questions without some kind of plans, on the flip side you don't want to spend a bunch of time and energy (and money) on plans just to find out "we can't approve this." So you will have to provide them enough information for them to make a judgement call, but don't get crazy with plans until you get a thumbs up. Also check to make sure they'll issue an owner-builder permit for electrical. Some states specifically exclude electrical work from owner-builder permits.

LOL, yeah I am a self-inflicted victim of over-planning. The current buried house->garage conduit + electrical I installed myself and went into a lot of detail on the location of the conduit, pull-hub installation on the house and garage, location of grounds, box wiring details, etc. The inspector told me: "You don't even need most of this," and just said to pull a basic electrical permit. In a later project, I built a covered porch on the side of my house, which I provided a ton of detail on the construction, electrical, etc, and the supervisor required a ton of detail that I didn't think was necessary. So, it seems all over the place to me. Also, so far my area will allow me to do most work on the house with an owner affidavit signed.
 
I had a similar problem when I built a new taller garage. I had a utility pole I stalled just behind garage, and raised (new actually) mast on house. PoCo did all wiring, no charge. You still have wire overhead but much higher.

I considered mast on garage and switch underground but nowhere near as simple and inexpensive.

Just another method.
 
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As an inspector my personal take on things is I'd rather answer a few question on the the phone or at the site than to show up and tell you its all wrong. I feel it saves us both time and headache in the long run. I know I'm not alone with this attitude but many inspectors do not feel the same way about it. Still better to try and ask the requirements first. Horse before the cart not the other way lol.
 
As an inspector my personal take on things is I'd rather answer a few question on the the phone or at the site than to show up and tell you its all wrong. I feel it saves us both time and headache in the long run. I know I'm not alone with this attitude but many inspectors do not feel the same way about it. Still better to try and ask the requirements first. Horse before the cart not the other way lol.
Definitely agree here, and if this OP came to us with these questions I would try to provide some good guidance, often I'll sketch something out as they describe it to make sure I'm understanding it. Problem here is if one of us gives our advice we have no way of knowing what their AHJ or PoCo will say. I don't want to give him advice that gets shot down locally, even if it's code compliant.
 
As an inspector my personal take on things is I'd rather answer a few question on the the phone or at the site than to show up and tell you its all wrong. I feel it saves us both time and headache in the long run. I know I'm not alone with this attitude but many inspectors do not feel the same way about it. Still better to try and ask the requirements first. Horse before the cart not the other way lol.
Definitely agree here, and if this OP came to us with these questions I would try to provide some good guidance, often I'll sketch something out as they describe it to make sure I'm understanding it. Problem here is if one of us gives our advice we have no way of knowing what their AHJ or PoCo will say. I don't want to give him advice that gets shot down locally, even if it's code compliant.

All -

Def appreciate the feedback and the experience that you're all speaking from. Ultimately, if I decide to go this route, I would review some fairly detailed plans with my city's building/inspection service. They have been great to work with in the past.

After reading these comments, I'm actually starting to think that attaching the meter+wh to the back of the garage, and simply routing conduit around the garage to the house might be the most acceptable option.
 
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