RE: Power

["Hansens" <gldhansen-at-xxxxxxx> (by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-xxxxxxxxxx>)]

Original poster: "Jason Johnson" <hvjjohnson13-at-hotmail-dot-com>

>I'm running a 240 volt, 40 amp dedicated line out to my "High voltage
>Laboratory" (garage really). Will 6 gauge copper handle this amount of
>power? I
>imagine it would but I don't know for sure. Would I be better off running
>two
>lengths of 10/2 and parrelleling the conductors in each (one line for each
>hot,
>and a dedicated ground/nuetral system at the garage)? Also I noticed that
>all
>the power comes into our house through a 5KVA pole pig, and two 16/3 cables
>with the conductors parrelleled. I will be using twice that amount of power
>in
>the garage alone! How can that be up to code!? Should the question be "Will
>the
>point where I tie into the grid handle that power?" instead of "Will MY
>wiring
>handle it?"

Hi Jason,
	6 gauge copper wire will handle up to 109 amps, so you've got plenty of
safety margin (for longer sparks :)).  The resistance per 1,000 feet is less
than 0.4 ohms, so there will be almost no heat dissipation.

Good luck!
David Hansen