Electric and Water in an old barn ???

[sbcowcash]

hello all..... we are thinking about buying a property with an older cattle barn and converting it into a horse barn. the barn has no electric or water... does anyone have any input on putting electric and water in this barn... pricing etc...

[wind lake]

If the barn is old I would positively consider running all wire in a conduit kind of pipe.Either PVC or metal. No telling what kind of little critters have made their home there and they will tend to chew..instant fire hazard. What will be the source of water for the barn? a new well or a buried hydrant that will be out of the freezing temps. Be careful where you put the spigot Old boards can become "greasy" if they get wet. Our spigot comes out so excess water goes right into a bathtub that drains away. Saves having a mud hole even if buckets are rinsed there . If you go with Fl tubes make sure they are cold weather and the can come in plastic wrappers (in case they fall). Good luck..Old barns have such character and charming little hidey corners.

[horselady]

We put all electric in conduit pipe when we built the barn, and yes water up thru a water stantion, that drops down 6 feet,you need to contact electician in your area, most of the work can be done by you, but the hooking up must be done with licensed electrician.

[sbcowcash]

thanks for the input

[pippy]

Our electrician has started the wiring on our barn ** YEAH** You have NO idea how happy I am to have electric out there now w/ the days being shorter.
But anyway- it is going to cost us about 2500 to wire our 18 x 54, that does include trenching in the power from the meter outside to the barn, putting up the conduit stuff, feeding wires through it to outlest/sockets/switches and a circuit breaker on the building as well.
In Minnesota, it is state code that you have to use the conduit stuff in barns- it is not just any conduit- it's special made for barns to withstand the rigors of a barn w/ animals-it is metal w/ a type of plastic around it, so that mice can not chew into it, if they get past the plastic, they certainly won't get through the metal. I guess there have been to many fires due to mice chewing on wires/animal damage so they made the code this way.
Also, if it is not done by a professional licensed electrician, many property insurances will not insure it.

[Rafflesgirl]

Having electric and water in the barn is a Godsend! We have just a small run in type barn about 40 feet long by 24 feet wide and did the water and electric ourselves. We rented a ditch witch and buried the water and electric lines in the plastic tubing (telephone line also) Then had an electrician hook it up in the barn. Best thing we ever did. I don't remember what it cost us but doing most of the work ourselves saved a huge amount.