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enter image description hereWell is about 130 feet down hill through woods from basement with 200A panel, pressure tank, and 120v pump switch.

When they put in the well 17 years ago, I asked that they put in a cord so we could pull more wire through conduit in the future. At some point I put a shipping-container-as-shed down by the well and have been using a small solar setup for 12v lighting.

Would love to get some AC down there now. Had a smart young electrician by and he said the 1" conduit couldn't fit any more wires to a second panel. I mentioned the low voltage relay idea and he dismissed it.

Other opinions?

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  • These days there's always the approach of running a smart home solution, possibly with directional wifi antennas if you are out of normal range...
    – keshlam
    Commented Jun 5 at 2:19
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    Without knowing what's in the conduit now, no way to know if the electrician is being truthful about conduit fill or just doesn't want the job. Details would help. We don't know all the things that you haven't told us, here.
    – Ecnerwal
    Commented Jun 5 at 2:22

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1" conduit is minimal information, as there are multiple conduit types. Using the Southwire Conduit Fill Calculator it looks like the worst fill, and therefore the least capacity, of likely common conduit types is PVC Schedule 80. Assuming you have 1" PVC 80, you can fit a lot of stuff in there. For example:

  • 6 AWG Aluminum x 3 (hot, hot, neutral) - that's enough for a 50A subpanel feed
  • 12 AWG Copper x 2 (hot, neutral) - that might be what you currently have for the pump based on "120V" because if it were much larger than 20A (12 AWG) then you would likely have a 240V pump instead.
  • 8 AWG Aluminum as ground - you may currently have a 12 AWG copper ground to go with 12 AWG copper wires for the pump, but that is not large enough for the subpanel. 8 AWG aluminum will work for up to 60A.

That is not the only way to do this. And you might need a separate ground for the subpanel vs. the pump, but even with that you have enough fill space in 1" PVC.

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  • Thanks for your answer! Was that before I posted the photo that may have clarified things? If you did see the photo, just confirming, 3 x 6AWG aluminum could power a 50A panel 130' away. So if this is true, how about the low voltage relay idea for switching the pump, doable? Thanks
    – Claude B
    Commented Jun 5 at 16:27
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    You added the picture while I was writing my answer. As far as the low-voltage idea, the concern is that all low voltage (< 50V typically) wire run through the same conduit as 120V/240V needs to be rated for use with 240V. Not a big deal for the wires. But it is a big deal for the controls which need to be rated for use in 240V boxes, etc.
    – manassehkatz-Moving 2 Codidact
    Commented Jun 5 at 16:42

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