Installing an electric fence is an excellent way to contain your animals. This may seem to be a simple job but, installing electric fences needs careful planning and proper execution. In the planning phase of your fence installation, knowing the vital measurements needed is crucial to the job. The basic measurements you need to know are the length of the fence, the height of the fence, the height of the grounding posts, the number of grounding posts, and the total length of the wire.
1. The length of the fence is easiest to obtain. You just need to measure the perimeter of the area that needs enclosure less the length of the parts that needs no fencing (e.g. walls that form part of the enclosure).
2. The height of your fence has a directly proportional relationship to the height of the animals you wish to keep inside the fence and your assessment on their fence jumping and fence bumping capacities. Taller animals with higher fence jumping tendencies and stronger fence bumping strengths need to be enclosed using a higher fence.
3. The height of your posts is dependent on the height of your fence and can be computed using the simple formula below:
HoP = HoF + Sink + PA
Where “HoP” is the height of your posts, “HoF” is the height of your fence, “Sink” is the measurement of the part of your post you wish to sink to the ground, “PA” is the post allowance ranging from 2” to 4”.
4. The number of posts depends on the length of the fence and the desired distance between each grounding post. An advisable distance between two posts is 6’ to 10’. Now, compute the number of grounding posts needed as follows:
GP = /(LoF / DP)/ + 1
Where “GP” is the number of grounding posts, “LoF” is the length of the fence, and “DP” is the distance between posts. Only consider the absolute values in the division process and don’t forget that you need to add 1 for the end post.
- 5. The length of the electric wire depends on the length of the fence and the number of wire levels you need. You will get the total wire length (TWL) by multiplying the length of the fence (LoF) by the number of wire levels (WLv) and adding an allowance (WA) of 6’ or more depending on your estimate (this allowance will be used in connecting your electric wire to its charger).
A sample computation for the total length of electric wire you need – assuming that your fence length is 90’ and you need 4 wire levels and decided on a 12’ allowance – is as follows:
TWL = (LoF * WLv) + WA
TWL = (90’ * 4) + 12’
TWL = 360’ + 12’
TWL = 372’
Obtaining these measurements, no matter how basic they may seem, is crucial to the success of your electric fence installation. And you need to be prudent in doing these simple computations. Remember even the genius may have the ability to compute the complex but they usually flunk the basics.
