Long Nasty Winter – Temporary Power

Ok, so I started this blog with the best intentions and instead of blogging about how frustrated I was with the weather, I figured I would just put it on hold. Now that the spring has arrived and the rain and freezing temps went away, I’ve been busy out there getting my temporary power set up, getting my footers dug out, and pouring concrete.

Temporary Power – Owner Builder

You need power at your home site and luckily there was an old mobile home on my property, so the power was already ran out to where I need to hook up. Otherwise, I would have had to have the electric company out to install poles and power 350′ out to where I am building my house on my property.

I had a meter there without an actual meter in the meter casing. There was a plastic cover over where the meter would go, so I called the electric company and asked if they would come out to remove the plastic cover and make sure it wasn’t hot (power coming down the pole into the meter box). They came out the next day and said everything was alright to start working in the meter box.

I tested the leads to make sure they really weren’t hot and started working. I stopped by Home Depot and picked up a small breaker box with 4 slots, 2 twenty amp breakers, some romex, and an outdoor outlet.

I ran the power cables down from the meter box into the breaker panel. Once I had that connected, ran the romex down from the breakers into my outdoor electrical box. I called the county to come inspect it. They gave it the okay and I called the electric company to come out and install a meter. Took two days to get the power hooked up, about 20 minutes to install everything, but now I have power on the property.

Some states and counties may require a licensed electrician to do this type of work, so check before you start a project like this.