Central electrical metering for your custom home

Central metering

If you are planning to build a custom home in a rural setting and your plan includes placing your home a fair distance away from the road then you should think about central metering.

Central metering is when you install your hydro meter next to a hydro vault instead of placing the meter on the side of your new home.

There are a couple of things that this allows you to do;

• You do not have to worry about finding a place for the hydro meter on the side of your new home. They are not the prettiest piece of equipment.

• If your home is to be built a long way from the main power lines that are at the road then it can help save you money. The primary cable that comes from the hydro pole to feed your property is very expensive to buy and have installed. If you install a “vault” (basically a large steel junction box placed on a concrete base near your driveway) that’s where the primary electrical cable ends. You install smaller secondary electrical cable to the house that is cheaper to buy and easier to install.

• You can run multiple secondary electrical lines out of the vault, depending on the amount of out buildings you require to have electricity. You can run secondary cable to the house, garage, barn, drive-shed, shop, stables, wood shop, pool house or a secondary residence. All that is required at the other end is an electrical panel with breakers.

• It allows the electricity company to easily read the meter without having to drive all the way to your house, this is can be a problem if the home is a seasonal property and the road isn’t always maintained in the winter months.

• If there is ever a problem with either the primary line or the secondary then you only have to replace it up to the vault instead of all the way to the road.

• Allows you to add more out buildings that require electricity later on, all you do is dig to the vault instead of to the finished house with all its landscaping.

If nobody has brought up central metering in your preconstruction meetings then maybe you should, it’s easier and cheaper to do before the house is backfilled and the electrical lines are ordered or installed.

Rob Abbott
Operations Manager
Village Builders Inc.

What is a "rough-in" when talking about construction?

Q:

What is a "rough-in"?

A:

“Rough-in” is a term that refers to plumbing, electrical, structured wiring, vacuum or gas piping installation when it is at its basic and simplest installation. The installation to be considered a rough-in must be without finishing’s on it.

A rough-in is installed when the home is at its bare-bones stage, meaning that it is without wall finishing’s and usually before any insulation has been installed.

A rough-in is installed without finishing’s so that it can survive the construction process that has to happen around it, a rough-in can be installed and then have to survive for months until it can have the finishing’s installed.

A rough-in usually consists of the bare material with an end cap on it to prevent anything from entering the piping or hose such as dirt, dust or debris.

Once the drywall has been installed and the walls have been primed with paint then the tradesmen will come back and add the finishing’s to the rough-in.

When you see a rough-in do not worry if it looks ugly or unfinished, at the end you will never see the rough-in once the finishing’s are installed.

Rob Abbott
Operations Manager
Village Builders Inc.

What is a primary electrical line?

Q:

My contractor says that we have to install a new primary electrical line to the house, what is that?

A:

The primary electrical line is the electrical line that comes from the nearest hydro pole or hydro vault to the electrical panel in your home. This is the main feed of electricity for your home, without it you wouldn’t have electricity at all.

There are two types of primary electrical lines;

1. The overhead primary electrical line; this is the line that comes from the nearest hydro pole through the air to your house. It is usually connected to a metal pole called a mast that is mounted high up on your house usually on the roof or the top of a gable. The wire runs down the mast into the meter on the side of your house, from there it runs into your home through the wall and into the back of the electrical panel. Because the line is strung from your house to the pole it is easily visible and can be damaged from extreme weather or tree branches.

2. The underground primary electrical line; this is the electrical line that comes from a hydro pole, or hydro vault underground across your property until it comes to your hydro meter. From the hydro meter it then enters your home through the wall and runs into the back of your hydro panel. Because the line is underground it isn’t affected by weather or tree branches. It is in danger of being dug up when work is being done on the property that evolves having to excavate the ground. It can also be damaged depending on the soil type around it, rocks or hard clay can pinch or break the line if there is movement in the soil from frost or vehicle traffic over top of it.

Usually if your contractor is telling you that they have to change your primary electrical line it is because your house is not receiving the correct amount of electricity to properly run everything in it. That shows up when you are using a lot of electricity, for example in the middle of the summer the air conditioner along with several appliances sometimes will be running all at the same time putting a high demand on the line for electricity. Another way that you exceed the electrical capacity is if you are adding to your home in a renovation or addition then you could exceed the current power supply and need to upgrade that line.

Thanks for the question

Rob Abbott
Operations Manager
Village Builders Inc.