Leisure Lake Power Supply Upgrades

https://leisurelakemi.org/

The DisplayMax Electric Team Can Handle Many Different Types of Projects

The DisplayMax Retail Electrical division is a made up of a versatile team of dedicated electricians. Not only do we service retailers such as grocery, big box, and convenience stores, but we also handle projects that have a unique scope of work and require creative solutions. One such project was for a local campground that was experiencing electrical blackouts to its campers at the worst possible time during the busy summer months.

Leisure Lake Condominium Association is a modern and quiet campground located in Mid-Michigan just northeast of the state capital of Lansing. With over 425 camping sites, the park was experiencing electrical overload issues with a transformer supplying the sole electrical distribution service. These failures commonly occurred during the hottest months of the year, when electrical demand was at its peak.

When the DisplayMax electrical team was brought into the project, our Master Electrician Ransom Gwinn reviewed copies of the park’s existing infrastructure records. It became clear that the transformer was undersized for the service demand is supplied. The existing 167 KVA 120/240 volt single phase transformer would provide approximately 695 amps at 240 volts. The connected service is protected at 1,000 amps by the main breaker. This allowed the service to draw more current than the transformer was capable of producing.

When this was presented to the local utility company, we were told that was the largest transformer that was offered in a single-phase, pad-mounted configuration. With this information, along with the park’s desire to begin upgrading the individual site pedestals to 50 amp 120/240 service, it was made clear that some load shedding and additional service locations would be required to remedy the issue before the summer camping season electrical loads would be at their highest.

With these details in mind, Ransom presented an option to solve the issue: install a new 400 amp service remote from the existing service and refeed the existing circuits. This solution not only shed almost half of the load from the original service but provided another original point of power when site upgrades began.

The first phase of the project began with a call to MISS-DIG to have all buried utility cables marked for safety. Then the full-service structure was assembled at the DisplayMax warehouse and transported via trailer to the park. Our electricians carefully installed the service, installed the required earth grounding, and ran a 4” PVC conduit between the new utility meter cabinet and the existing utility power pole.

Next, we dug roughly a 550’ trench between the new service location and the original service. Due to the location of the buried high voltage wire supplying the original transformer, it was necessary to dig down the center of the road, rather than along the edge and along the lots as previously planned. This trench was excavated and backfilled using a small excavator and required plenty of hand digging to avoid damaging existing underground telephone, CATV, and fiber optic cabling.

The location of the excavation also required traffic control in this particular part of the park to avoid personal injury and property damage. The team then installed the four feeder cable groups, backfilled with 12” of excavated soil, and installed marking tape to avoid future damage of the feeders. Once this was completed the finalized backfill and compaction of the trench were finished.

Finally, the concrete footing around the existing electrical service was saw cut, and the team hand-dug the remaining distance to tie the new feeders into the existing service. An 18”x18 junction box was installed with PVC conduit sleeves to make the final connections. We are now awaiting final inspection which has been delayed because of the Coronavirus executive orders from the State of Michigan. Once these inspections have taken place and are approved, the utility company will energize the new service. Once the campground is open for the summer season, their campers will be happy to enjoy the warm days without worrying about losing power again.

This type of critical thinking and problem solving is a superb example of what we call the “DMax Factor.” Our team of retail electricians accepted a unique challenge and provided a solution keeps allows the owners to provide the best experience for their customers. Whether the project is installing LED lights in a big-box facility or dropping the power from the ceiling for a new grocery display, the DisplayMax Electric team is there to go above and beyond expectations.

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