How to put a pole for electricity in the country with your own hands?
Where can I install a pole for electricity in the country? What distances from surrounding objects should be kept? What should be the wires and insulators?
How much will it cost to connect the cottage to the electricity supply? Let's try to find the answers.
Our task is to find out how difficult it is to electrify a country house
Regulatory requirements
Let's start with regulatory requirements. They are spelled out in the PUE - the rules for the installation of electrical installations. We have to study the latest at the moment, the seventh edition of the document, adopted by the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation in 2003.
Please note: the adopted document canceled the effect of older PUEs. The changes affect, among other things, the chapter “Sewerage of electricity”, which is relevant to us.
Let's pay attention to the most important points of the document in our case.
General requirements for lines with voltage up to 1 kV
- When hanging any unprotected wires on supports, the distance from them to windows or balconies with a maximum deviation should not be less than 1.5 meters.
- Above the carriageway, the wires are hung at a height of at least 6 meters, above the impassable part - at least 3.5 m.
The height of the wires above the carriageway and footpaths
- The distance between the wires when flying up to six meters should be at least 10 cm, when flying over 6 meters - at least 15 cm.
- Entry into the building is carried out at a height of at least 2.75 m; at the same time, an insulating pipe is used for the input, the shape of which prevents water from entering the house.
- The structures on which the conductors are installed are made of non-combustible materials and must have a fire resistance limit of at least a quarter of an hour.
Commentary: it would seem that this item puts an end to wooden poles. But ... no, a loophole remains: wood impregnated with a protective compound does not support combustion.
- The minimum distance from bare wires to a pipeline for any purpose is 1 meter. If the wire is insulated, the distance is not standardized.
- Insulators must be fireproof. Traditionally, porcelain and glass are used in this capacity.
In the photo - porcelain insulators
Requirements for overhead lines with voltage up to 1 kV
The supports should not impede the passage and passage, block the entrances to the yards.
Where there is a possibility of a collision with a car, the support is protected from collision with it by a bumper bollard or in any other way.
The post must be marked at a height of 2.5 - 3 meters. It indicates the serial number of the support, the width of the security zone and the telephone number of the owner of the line.
All metal structures are protected from corrosion. The method of protecting the PUE is not specified; Traditionally, painting is used for this.
The minimum wire cross section for an overhead line is limited by its mechanical strength and is determined by the material.
It is curious: for a steel single-wire wire, not the cross-sectional area is limited, but the diameter. It should not be less than 4 mm.
Branching from the nearest support is carried out only and exclusively with insulated wire. The maximum branch length is 25 meters.
To connect the wires, connecting clamps or welding are used. Single-wire wires can be connected by twisting followed by soldering; but you can't butt weld them. In this case, a wire that differs in the material or cross section of the current-carrying core is connected only by clamps.
The minimum section for entering the house is also limited by the document; and in this case the cross section is determined by the type of wire:
What should be the actual pillar?
For low-voltage lines, reinforced concrete, metal, solid wood and wooden poles with a concrete base can be used. All types of wood, except for larch, must be impregnated with an antiseptic; larch wood itself is exceptionally resistant to decay.
Wood is the most affordable material for a pole.When using a wooden support, its minimum diameter (at the upper end) should be:
- For the main power supply line - 14 cm;
- For a branch to the house (in particular, for a pole installed on the site) - 12 cm.
Regarding the deepening of the supports, the document speaks somewhat vaguely - "depending on local conditions."
What should be the minimum distance from the pole to surrounding objects and communications?
How to put up a pole for electricity?
Is it difficult to put an electricity pole on the site with your own hands?
Here is the simplest instruction for its manufacture from a bar with a section of 150 mm.
- We process the timber with an antiseptic in two or three layers.
- We assemble a crosspiece about 2x2 meters in size at one of the ends of the future pillar. The crosspiece itself is connected in half a tree; galvanized corners are used for fastening to the pole.
- Four braces are attached between the pillar and the cross, after which the entire underground part (about one and a half meters) is painted over with bituminous mastic.
- A cruciform pit opens under the support, into which it is easy to install the pillar together with the help of a rope tied to its top. It remains only to align it with a plumb line, bury the base and compact the soil.