Temporary Power Panel at construction site

[greg Forster]

I already have a temp power panel with 240v 3-prong receptacle.
What I would like to do is run from the temp power pole with 80' of SO cord (8/3), to the building and then make a construction board with 120v receptacles to run tools.
The temp power panel has a bonding jumper.

Is this possible or do I need a different set-up with 4 prong temp power panel and 8/4 SO cord?

thanks

[Jim Andrew]

I used to use a 10-3 cord to my job trailer, then a panel removed from a remodel to run my tools. Just ran an air compressor in the trailer, then saws mostly on the job. And a charger for battery tools. Worked well.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Check and see if the rating on SO is different from regular wiring. You may be able to down size one gauge. I ran an entire house on #10 SJO for a year once, but furnace, dyer and stove were gas. The apt building we were living in was sold, so we had to move earlier than planned, plus I had surgery which set my plans back. I run my "job site" stick welder on a hundred foot cord of #10, connected thru a 40 amp breaker.

[greg Forster]

I'm not asking my main question very well;
Can I use 3 wire SO cord plugged into 240
Receptacle on temp power panel and then
on the other end wire the three wire SO cord
to a panel and come off that panel with 120
Gfci receptacles to run the tools. Saws, drills
etc

Or do I have to get a four wire SO, i.e. 10/4,
which would require changing at the temp
power panel to a 4 prong recpt

[Charles Lent]

You will need the 10/4 cable (Hot, Hot, Neutral, Ground) if you want both 120 and 240 volts available at the remote panel. From there you can have GFCI outlets and 240 volt outlets or up to 60 total amps of 120 volt circuits available. If you won't need both voltages you can run 10/3 cable (Hot, Neutral, Ground) to the remote panel and then just have GFCI 120 volt circuits, but you will only have 30 amps of 120 volts available.

Charley

[greg Forster]

The 240v breaker at the temp panel is 20amp, so that would give me only 10amp of 120v at
the remote job panel?

[Dick Strauss]

No, you still have 20A at the remote panel with two separate 120V legs.

[Rollie Meyers]

The panel has to be fed w/ a 4-wire cord, or if 3-wire 120 volts only, which is not a good idea, the neutral & grounding conductors are only bonded at the service equipment, once the leave it, they must be separate, also a temp panel is required to have 120V receptacles GFCI protected.

[greg Forster]

Ok , I think it's best to scrap this temp panel
and get something where I can use 4 wireSO

Let's start over:
I renovating my house, tearing back to the
framing-all new MEPs .
First thing I need is temp power pole/panel
The panel will be 100amp:
(2) 120v gfci receptacles at panel;
I need to run SO from temp panel 80' to
construction board at my house (only need
120v gfci receptacles here.

If possible, I would like the option of running
SO from temp panel about 160' to a small
workshop building and power
the panel for lights and tools-tablesaw


What do I need for temp power panel build?
What do I need for construction board build?
Is the idea of powering up the small workshop
doable?

All this will be inspected; it is difficult to reach
my inspector, so I want my questions to him
to be concise and focused in on details- not
a general overview.
I'm hoping the knowledge here can help
me get there.

[Julie Moriarty]

If you're just running a temp, I wouldn't waste my money on SO cord. On every construction site I have ever been on, temp electric is tri-plex for the service feed and romex from the panel out to lights and remote receptacles. The panel is usually installed on a piece of plywood attached to a wall or on 2x4 braced legs when there is no wall up yet. Power to the panel would be aluminum tri-plex for a 100A or 200A panel. If the panel is exposed to the elements, make a plywood enclosure over the top and on both sides and plastic sheeting in front or install a NEMA 3R raintite panel like below.

Here's an idea of how you could set up your temp panel with a meter. This was secured to a utility pole and PCV conduit was run up to the top.

You need a ground rod where the temp meter is.

If you are running the temp panel from an existing service, you need (4) conductors - (2) hots, (1) neutral and (1) ground to any panel. For your sub panel that's 160' from the house, you could run 6/4 romex to the panel. Use 2x4s or tree branches to hang the wire. For the (2) GFCIs that run from the temp panel to the house, you can run 12/4 romex and wire one (1) hot to each receptacle and share the neutrals and grounds.

[Tom M King]

Your power company will probably have a handout about how they want a temporary pole. For instance, here they want specific size braces, to specific sized stakes, and bolted with specific sized bolts, but the way your post reads you already have a hot pole. If the workshop building is going to be permanent, plan ahead and bury the proper wire in a trench now, running it near where it needs to come from in the house panel, and then to the temp pole. It's fairly easy with good planning, and probably cheaper in the end than buying heavy SO. Easy enough to put a larger, or different breaker in the temp panel than think you need to be stuck with only what's there now.