Originally I was simply going to take the entire meter box and weather head off the trailer and bolt it to a shed. However, after talking to the utility and the shed builder we were convinced that getting a stand alone pole and getting it set up with an RV hookup was the cheapest and simplest method.
Basically I was told that if we installed the meter box on the shed the inspector would require the shed meet residential code. While that is no problem the $3000 fee was completely out of the budget.
This means we had to set a power pole.
As you can see in the video I had nothing to do with actually setting the pole. I watched the power company come in with their power pole setting equipment.
They came, drilled the hole, set the pole, and left in about 30 minutes.
Since a 30 foot utility pole needs to be set in the ground 5 feet. If I had to hand dig to the proper power pole setting depth in the rocky limestone soil I would have been at it for much longer than that.
The utility used a truck with a hydraulic auger. After asking which of us would be climbing the pole (he kept looking at me) the equipment operator dug in a couple extra feet setting the pole at 8 feet deep. He said it would give extra stability when we had to climb the pole.
They also used a hydraulic tamper. It acted like a pogo stick. The tamper compacted the dirt as they filled the hole. It stabilized the power pole and made me feel really good realizing how much work the power company saved us.
Since now the pole was only 22 ft high we could get away with not setting a guy wire – which greatly improves the land use around the pole.
Beware of Code
Code says the power line has to be at least 12 feet above ground and 18 ft over a road – so setting our weather head 20+ feet in the air gives us a good measure of safety.
In later articles, we will discuss the RV box in more detail, but the idea is to have an outlet we can use to power things like a cement mixer without using a generator, and not having the issues with setting up a temporary pole.
Plus, once the trailer is demolished we can plug a tiny house or an RV right into the pole.
In case you are keeping score it cost us $280 for the 30 ft pole and install. Which I feel is a bargain. Plus another $300 in various inspection fees, deposit and hook up fees to the electric company.
As of this point beside the land purchase of $7500. The almost $600 we paid to the electric company is our only large expense.
If you have never seen a utility pole being installed, you can watch the video. I found it very exciting. It is one large step toward my future Independence.
The electric service to the property was attached to the trailer. Unfortunately, the mobile home is in that awkward stage of too burnt to fix, but not burnt enough to be easy to demolished. So we need electricity to run power tools so that we are not trying to tear the building down for the next decade.
I have been interested in sustainable building for decades. I remember sitting in the birthing area of the USS Saipan in the mid 1990’s reading about Earthships and missile silo homes.
Apple products have an almost cult-like following – and in most cases the quality control is deserving of admiration.