Virgil,

Let me tell you that I have never personally met an electrician or electrical contractor who ever made any money in West Virginia wiring a sawmill for a lump sum. Keep that in mind when you put a price on this.

The capacity of the transformer bank is the sum of the 3 pole pigs, so 180 amps is the answer.

Service size is = humongous & it is shown on page 335 of Allegheneys "Rules for Customer Service." [Linked Image]

Actually, this is a small sawmill. I did some power factor correction up in Bartow at Interstate Hardwoods & they had a connected load in excess of 1000 hp if I remember right.

Let's take a crack at this, assuming everything is 480

largest motor 150 hp 180 amps
25% of largest motor 45
40 hp blower 52
10 hp blower 14
5 hp tablesaaw 7.6
5 hp bandsaw 7.6
moulder (about 60 hp) 77
5 hp router 7.6
two 15 hp planers 42
50 hp conveyor 65
two 15 hp loads 42
3 hp unknown 4.8
2 hp unknown 3.4

comes to about 548 amps & doesn't consider those minor loads or any lighting or any future growth.

I'd go with an 800 amp service. For economy's sake, it would might be cheaper to go with two 400 amp mains rather than an 800.

Good luck.

Tom

[This message has been edited by Tom (edited 09-28-2004).]

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