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Any electricians around?

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anferneybra

Member
Hey guys, thought I would ask this here since I have had a hard time getting ahold of my power supplier this week...

We are firing up a commercial site that has 400 AMPs from the pole across the street coming to the building. Well we need another 1000-2000 AMPs and I was wondering if anyone had an estimation of costs?

How much for the whole shabang? Transformer, labor to bury the line, all that good stuff. Also any advice what to do or is there any work we can do ourselves to save money? We are in Arizona.

Thanks for anything you guys can come up with!

T
 
H

hvac guy

Active member
That's something you should PMing someone about, that is a major job, I can definitely tell you exactly how to set up everything from hvac and irrigation, to power control and distribution and automation.

Can't you find a contractor in CO to help you, make sure the sign a non-disclosure agreement.
 
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crinkles

New member
Not an electrician but 10 years in wholesale. In Canada (I assume the process is similar...) a project like that would need to be engineered first, then submitted to utility planners and approved or rejected. The main service alone would probably start around $15-20K and could top $75k depending on what is required for MCCs, subservices, transformers etc. I can only guess what the utility would charge (where I live they charge $10K/pole to extend a service closer to a site), could reach a quarter million by the time you're done.

Is that 120/240 or 3ph 480? 2000A is a shit ton of power....
 
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anferneybra

Member
We will bring in another 1000-2000 Amps at 3phase to power the ballasts on 277 @ 3.7 amps per 1k watt ballast. Im lookin at anywhere from 150-250 lights. Thats 555 - 1000 Amps flat for lighting. Also need AC on each room, and AC for the building, calculations are heading towards 25 ton AC for building, and 2 ton per room x 12 rooms. So about 50 tons of AC for the job. Down the road the commercial kitchen will be at the site, so why not pull the power we need now. I was basically looking for info regarding the common place costs of having a utility company pull the line and install the transformer, then have my crew put the switch gear on and move from there. We would use the existing 400 amps to power incidentals around the place, over head lighting, fans, pumps, that whole scope.

I am no longer in CO, I am in Arizona and have hit a wall of people that don't want us here. Sorry folks, its coming to every state, sooner or later. The HVAC group I go a hold of didn't want my money, which I wasn't surprised at. Can't pay people to get involved with MMJ down here for some odd reason. One day it will pop in their brains, they are missing out because someone will help me eventually.

My other question is, why wouldn't the power company be more than helpful to put this in, or even pay for all or part of it? They will be making a TON of money off us for years to come, I mean hell prob 6 months of bills will pay for their costs.

The nearest ground transformer is about 500 ft away from us, so I am guessing that is where they have to tap from. Ill be looking into it this week. Any other advice would be great! Thanks guys!

T
 
H

hvac guy

Active member
Crinkles is correct, I could easilly cost estimate everything you weed for power and hvac requirements, but I don't live in Arizona. If you are the property owner and the have primary line(s) (high voltage) running along the property or through the property, you should have no probs getting the power upgrade. An engineer will be able to determine if there is enough power available from the primary line to handle your increase.
 
Cartel530

Cartel530

Member
Veteran
lol where in az is this close to legit? if not hope your not close to maricopa county that place is a fuckin shit hole then they ship you off to the good old tent city. There isn't much of any medical scene out there
 
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anferneybra

Member
The first dispensaries are open and I am working with one of them. They are indeed this legit, problem is each dispensary only gets ONE grow site, so the need to go big is large. The rules and regs are total shit to jump through but once you find the right place to grow, you have to pump it. I think this year the same type of boom that hit CO will come around to AZ. Patients surged from 30,000s to the 80,000s in 6 months in CO. There are currently about 35,000 in AZ and I see that growing soon.

I am hoping that the main line runs down our side of the street so that it is easy to access, we are in the industrial zone of Phoenix so I would think power would abound. So I finally got a hold of APS and I need to do load calcs for them. Anyone have a idea who I should call to get that done? Electrical engineer I'm guessing?
 
ThaMagnificent

ThaMagnificent

Member
anferneybra said:
I am no longer in CO, I am in Arizona and have hit a wall of people that don't want us here. Sorry folks, its coming to every state, sooner or later. The HVAC group I go a hold of didn't want my money, which I wasn't surprised at. Can't pay people to get involved with MMJ down here for some odd reason. One day it will pop in their brains, they are missing out because someone will help me eventually.


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Click to expand...

Idiots. Money is green just like weed! That's the #1 goal of any real business....make a profit...
 
C

crinkles

New member
That sounds epic, wish I could be a part of it! Looked back through some projects I've done; sold a 1200A 600/347V service for an apartment block (including suite panels, meter stacks etc) for $45k.

Look at 480V ballasts? Could save a bundle on breakers and cabling....
 
H

hvac guy

Active member
If you could send me a PM, I could detail everything for you. Forget using 480V ballasts, just stepdown all the power to 120/208/240 and then you will have no problem using ots equipment like digital ballasts which can't be run at 480V. Most important thing you need is to make sure there is enough power from the primary line to supply the total KVA you'll need.
 
Hammerhead

Hammerhead

Disabled Farmer
ICMag Donor
Veteran
ya he is a Electrician we all know here. I do nt need the info my post was for the op of this thread..
 
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Bwepsala

New member
You'll have to find a building in an industrial park where three phase power is available. You would end up needing at least a 800amp 480v service to accomplish what your talking about.
This would give you the ability to legally max out your system and have 500kva available. Once you calculate your demand you can use this website to find the needed service. http://www.csgnetwork.com/xformercalc.html Try and find an old machinist shop to grow in. They typically have large 3phase services. Oh yeah your gonna need about $250k and really good team to get this going. Good luck. I'd love to see the build out.
 
Treetroit City

Treetroit City

Moderately Super
Veteran
So once you open, how many peoples grow rights will be lost? Seems like a shitty path to follow but I'm sure you could care less...All about the money right?
 
H

hvac guy

Active member
I was directing my posting to you hh. I'm a licesned electrician too, with 2 years of EE. Now I'm trying my hand at an hvac apprenticeship. If that padmount transformer is only allocated for your building, that is a big plus. If I was you Anferneybra, I wouldn't be advertising such a large undertaking on forums like this. Find a few electrical contractors experienced with high voltages and get their advice. They would love to make the money.
 
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