How to Install Electrical Fencing
Electrical fencing provides an easy, affordable fencing option for you to effectively contain your livestock or pets. This method of fencing allows you to create either a permanent fence or a temporary fence quickly and efficiently. Use pressure-treated wood posts and steel T-posts for a permanent fence. You can move a temporary fence more easily if you use plastic step-on posts, available at farm and home supply stores, which have built-in insulators. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Mower
- Posts
- Post hole digger
- Post driver
- Level
- Tamping rod
- Wire (polywire or 12.5 gauge wire)
- Insulators
- Insulated cable (insulated to 20,000 volts minimally)
- Fence energizer
Instructions
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1
Clear your fence line. Remove all underbrush and debris from your proposed fence line. If there is a fence already in place, remove all old, rotting sections of the fence and make sure any existing fence posts are anchored solidly into the ground. Further reduce chances of the fence grounding out by mowing a strip of grass on both sides of the fence line.
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2
Install the posts. Use a post hole digger to make holes that are 30 to 36 inches deep for your permanent fence corner posts. Insert the posts into the holes, use a level to ensure they are straight, then tamp the dirt into the hole around the posts using a tamping rod. Pound in steel T-posts at 25-foot intervals along the fence line using a post driver. For a temporary fence, space plastic step-in posts at 12- to 20-foot intervals and push them into the ground firmly with your foot.
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3
Install the wire. Mark the locations on your posts where you wish to have your wires. The bottom wire should be at least 6 inches from the ground. A permanent fence typically has five to seven wires, whereas a temporary fence can have as few as two, depending upon the type of animal that your fence will contain. Install plastic insulators on your wood posts and T-posts, then thread the wire through them, starting with the bottom wire and working your way to the top. If you're using plastic step-in posts, just thread the wire through the plastic insulator hooks that are already on the posts.
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Connect the energized wires together. Locate your jumper wire, the special wire that connects your energized fence wires together, at the corner post closest to your fence energizer. If your fence has more than three wires, energize every other wire, starting with the bottom one. If your fence has fewer than three wires, energize all of them. Cut a strip of insulated cable that is long enough to reach between two energized wires. Strip the insulation back on both ends and wrap one end of the exposed cable around your bottom wire; wrap the other end of the exposed cable around the next closest energized wire. Repeat this process to connect all the energized wires together.
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Connect the fence energizer to the wires. Cut a section of insulated cable that reaches from your jumper wire to the fence energizer. This is your lead-out wire, which connects the fence energizer to the jumper wire. Peel back the insulation on both ends. Twist one end of the insulated cable around the jumper wire that is attached to the bottom wire. Attach the other end of the insulated cable to the positive fence terminal on your fence energizer. Check your fence to ensure all parts are connected correctly, then plug in your energizer.
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Tips & Warnings
Make it a habit to regularly walk your fence line checking for wires that may be shorting out on overgrown vegetation.
As with any device utilizing electricity, exercise care when working on your electric fence to avoid shocking yourself.
