Topic: Running out of options... (Read 750 times)

I still think all these prices are ripoffs. Go to Lowes or Home Depot - you can buy 200amp breaker panels for a couple hundred loaded with breakers. They sell all the wire to run everything from the meter to the outlets feeding the miners. The size wire you need to run from the panel to the outlets is not crazy expensive. Depending on how you want to set up the outlets and how many - I can't see this costing more than $400-$500 in parts. Even if it hit $750 - that's still a whole lot better than $5K. If you could get it for $1K by an electrician - then I'd do that, then you know (hopefully) it is done right the first time. But if you do it yourself (and many times the guys in the electrical dept of the Lowes and Home Depots can answer questions about what and how to meet code) and then get it inspected - then you'd know you're good. If something is wrong, they'll tell you. Fix it and get it re-inspected. Probably $100 per inspection. With no meter, the whole setup is dead so it's not like you're going to electrocute yourself while setting it all up. Once it passes inspection, then the meter goes in and it goes live. Put in a master shutoff between the meter and the breaker panel so that if you need to do something with it later and you don't want to mess around in a live breaker panel, just shut off the master shutoff, do your work, and kick it all back on.

But for an electrician - for a day or two of work and make a profit of $4k to $16k is so ridiculous!

We just put in a central heating/cooling system last year. The breaker panel was old and breakers difficult to find. I had already bought the replacement breaker panel so I could change it out myself but I hadn't gotten to it before installation time. The HVAC guy had an electrician there to run the lines to the unit - he charged me $250 to remove all the wiring from the breakers, removed my old breaker panel, put in the new one, re-connected all the wires to the new breakers - sealed up and done in about 2 hours. So you would need new wiring ran to all the miners - assuming all to one area, with outlets in the same proximity. I just can't see more than 2 full days work - if that.

I am a bit of a perfectionist. I have had toooo many experiences with certified/licensed plumbers/electricians/HVAC people doing a piss-pore job where I ended up going back over their work and correcting it to meet code, fix crap workarounds, make stuff work that they didn't, etc... I have very little respect for their titles to have the work done truly professionally. Just my experience - but enough so that I will do anything of this nature I can myself before being price jacked by the "professionals" to do a job that I have to then fix. You should research the code requirements - even if you have a "professional" do the work - to be able to keep an informed eye on what they are doing - or not doing. I also don't trust inspectors. I've seen stuff pass that shouldn't have; stuff never even looked at - yet passed; stuff that was good, but failed so they could re-inspect and collect an additional inspection fee (or simply power tripping). So again, knowing how it should be done is important. It is your stuff - make sure it is right - don't relegate that duty to someone else.

Just my opinion on the matter.

My electrician charged only 600 bucks to run my hottub circuit to my basement.   220v (bonded and licensed etc....)

Sounds like you have a guy who has a good idea of what you want and why.  

If I had a youtube clip of "vacation" with chevy chase I would post the "how much money you got" scene.

Yeah i can't believe you can't find anyone. Have you tried looking for electricians in manpower agencies?
Heck if you really are running out of options, heres one: go to schools and universities. There are students there who would be more than willing to do some work for you for that amount of money. Just make sure you get a real electrician to double check their work.

Good luck. In my country electricians would do this for $100 and some snacks.

I think it's more complicated than this. What maybe what is happening is that this service upgrade maybe triggering a required upgrade to current code (NEC). I had been daydreaming about something similar and IIRC that upgrading a service may require installing some sort of GFC upgrade to all inside the house wall plugs and some kind of GFC gizmo in the main panel.

Google "GFCI's required for Service Panel Upgrades?"

IIRC this reflects a change in the NEC in 2014.

I suppose that could be true, but how could anyone ever know if you got the house that way?  One of the points is that you do use an electrician, many are willing to do a job off the clock for tax free money. 

Solar power Tesla battery off-grid maybe?

I don't think that is true everywhere.  Some areas will want permit and inspection.  And if you do it wrong or against code and the place burns down, you might have a hard time collecting on insurance (if you made it out alive).

Yeah i had an electricain upgrade my house from 125 amp to 200 amp for like $1k  as a weekend side job

dint have to pull a permit he said if anyone asks say you did it yorueslf home owners dont have to pull a permit in that case.

I found him on craiglist if thats any help.

17k for 400 amp service its nuts, rule of thumb is it is about 5k or so per 2000 amp, so a fairer cost would have been $5k

I'd keep checking around.  I can't believe you can't find an electrician that wants a side job and will do it for 1k.  It's not a lot of work and now a lot in parts.  Just pull the panel and put a new one in.

Thank you very much for your comments.

Another electrician came out today and gave me a quote to run a second 200 amp breaker in parallel to the one I have currently and install a surge protector for less than five thousand usd.

I am looking at some rental warehouses in my area with decent security at approximately $900 a month. My concern is getting locked into a year long lease and then the difficulty skyrockets, but might have to bite the bullet.

I've spoken to some data centers in the area and the only one that got back to me wanted $2,000 a month!

You have a ton of options.
First thing I  would look into is talking to your utility company about the second 200 amp service coming Into your residence as they will tell you exactly what needs to be done per your local code. Using that info you can get a way better estimate from an electrician. I would personally try and run the panel to a garage or something and wire all the miners within 20 feet of this panel. Doing this you could easily learn to surface mount wire the entire space/mining farm. Or at the very least cut your costs by having it all wired in a compact  space.

Second you could find a local building that is empty and decently secure or even some empty office spaces. Offer to rent a part of the space or all depending on price and availabiltiy, and run your equipment there. This can be risky depending on the location.

Third option would be to send it to a hosting facility, keep as much as you can at your spot, and send the rest to whatever hosting facility has the best prices and space.

Check with your city/county permitting departments to see if they can help point you to someone qualified.
Also, they may give you the specs to setup the inside breaker panel and the wiring out to your miners. You could probably even run the wiring from the breaker panel to the meter box - possibly. Getting the specs they want is not that hard. Doing the work when the whole system is dead (no power connected to it) isn't immediately dangerous to you. Then you may simply need to have it all inspected.
We don't have building inspections or inspectors in our county, but I call another county with a bigger city and their building department has always been very wiling to help me meet building standards - I know it's right even though I can't get it inspected. There are plenty of DIY books on the subject and many times very helpful people at the supply houses too. Maybe paying for a couple of inspections and doing it yourself would save you a lot of money and time - and with the inspections, you'll know it's good. Plus, usually,  the power company won't put in the meter to energize the system without the passed inspection.

I have 15 L3+ and a house with 200 amp service.
I've had five different electricians come out for estimates on upgrading to 400 amp service and installing a second 200 amp panel.
Only one of the five bothered to quote the work and it came out to $17,500, and I'm not going to pay that.
Being that I have little to no electrical experience, what are my options? Selling the machine is a last resort.
Thanks in advance.