Providing electricity to a caravan site

stablegirl

Member

Location

North

• Dec 20, 2020

• #1

We are in the very early stages of considering a small caravan site on the farm.

Our preferred site is 500m from the main farm, what size armoured cable would be required to provide 5 16amp electrical hook up points at this distance?

 

kill

Member

Livestock Farmer

Location

South West

• Dec 20, 2020

• #2

Go bigger than you need as will allow room for expansion/ shower block etc. Cheaper to over power now than to redo in a year or two

 

Andy26

Moderator

Arable Farmer

Location

Northants

• Dec 20, 2020

• #3

25mm SWA at a minimum even that won't provide much current capacity at such a distance. It will be very expensive circa £5k for 500m.

 

stablegirl

Member

Location

North

• Dec 20, 2020

• #4

Would a generator be another option?

 

Jerry

Member

Mixed Farmer

Location

Devon

• Dec 20, 2020

• #5

And think about 32 amp EHU points, ideally with individual meters.

Big caravans can suck a lot of juice, so I now charge for electric.

Air central heating
Air conditioning
Fridge
Freezer
Micro wave
Tele
Sat tv
Multiple items charging

it soon adds up.

 

Sid

Member

Livestock Farmer

Location

South Molton

• Dec 20, 2020

• #6

stablegirl said:

We are in the very early stages of considering a small caravan site on the farm.

Our preferred site is 500m from the main farm, what size armoured cable would be required to provide 5 16amp electrical hook up points at this distance?

Click to expand...

I think you will struggle as the size of cable required will become too costly over that distance.
Our barn conversion is 500m away from our incoming supply. I asked our electrician about an underground cable and he wouldn't even entertain it.
The resistance over that distance sucks the power.

Ask an electrician as its a complicated calculation.

 

J

JWL

Member

Location

Hereford

• Dec 20, 2020

• #7

Don't forget you're soon going to get requests for car charging points!

 

Barleycorn

Member

BASE UK Member

Location

Hampshire

• Dec 20, 2020

• #8

We are planning a campsite. No electricity currently, but had a quote of £30,000 + vat for 125 Kw. Going solar / gas for next year and see how it pans out.

 

bobk

Member

Location

stafford

• Dec 20, 2020

• #9

We put 35mm swa in for 80 m for the barn

 

Sid

Member

Livestock Farmer

Location

South Molton

• Dec 20, 2020

• #10

JWL said:

Don't forget you're soon going to get requests for car charging points!

Click to expand...

Grants available for that?

 

R

robs1

Member

• Dec 20, 2020

• #11

Might be cheaper to use two transformers one to boost voltage up and one to reduce it down again

 

TheTallGuy

Member

Location

Cambridgeshire

• Dec 21, 2020

• #12

stablegirl said:

We are in the very early stages of considering a small caravan site on the farm.

Our preferred site is 500m from the main farm, what size armoured cable would be required to provide 5 16amp electrical hook up points at this distance?

Click to expand...

Assuming that your supply is single phase and all 5 points run at 16A gives a load of 80A, at 500m & with 5% voltage drop I come out with 240mm2 cable...

Spreading the load on three phase gets you down to of 32A/phase & comes down to 35mm2 cable, which is considerably cheaper & easier to deal with!

Useful calculator here http://www.doncastercables.com/technical-help/

As ever, you will need to speak to a proper electrician if you go ahead - preferably one who knows about the requirements for hook up points.

 

U

upnortheast

Member

Livestock Farmer

Location

Northumberland

• Dec 21, 2020

• #13

Whatever option it will be £££££££££££££££.
35mm swa will be about £10 / metre

 

bobk

Member

Location

stafford

• Dec 21, 2020

• #14

upnortheast said:

Whatever option it will be £££££££££££££££.
35mm swa will be about £10 / metre

Click to expand...

£9.15

 

Still Farming

Member

Mixed Farmer

Location

South Wales UK

• Dec 21, 2020

• #15

Depends what farm supply capacity is now?

 

nick...

Member

Arable Farmer

Location

south norfolk

• Dec 21, 2020

• #16

I had a supply put in for my pig shed devolopment 5 years ago now.I done all the groundwork,uk powernetworks put the cable in the trench and I got a few quid change out of £10k.that was for 286 metres of cable
nick...

 

Campbell

Member

Location

Herefordshire

• Dec 21, 2020

• #17

Offer a 'unique off grid experience' site. Most campers will have batteries for lighting, and it keeps the big screen tele riff-raff away....

 

Netherfield

Member

Location

West Yorkshire

• Dec 21, 2020

• #18

stablegirl said:

Would a generator be another option?

Click to expand...

Can you imagine listening to a generator for hours on end, not many happy campers.

 

stablegirl

Member

Location

North

• Dec 21, 2020

• #19

Caravanners run generators themselves, big generators can be pretty quiet and possibly sound proofed a bit away from the the site.

The other option is as you say off grid possibly with Solar panels for some electric.

 

Barleycorn

Member

BASE UK Member

Location

Hampshire

• Dec 21, 2020

• #20

We may usd a 'srartomatic' generator to power the showers only, but running a generator day and night eould be nigh on 9,000 hours a year.