On Mar 15, 9:30*am, dpb wrote:
Bill wrote:

...

Is there a rule that says a subpanel has to be a very short distance from
the main panel? *I would position it about 10 feet away if I could.

That's cool...

Is anything (code) likely to prevent me from doing what I want with 15A and
20A 120v and 240v circuits from a subpanel (like having 10 of them)? *As you
mentioned earlier, I'm likely to stay far below the 50A threshold
in terms of actual usage.

No, that's what subpanels are for -- just size it for the number of
circuits of the type you want/need and make it's service breaker the
same or smaller than the feed. *If it's close enough, you can (I think)
get by w/o the local breaker/disconnect but it's certainly more
convenient and I'd likely not scrimp...

If they're in different locations I believe you're required to have a
local disconnect. This can easily be accomplished by inserting a
breaker, rated for the wire between the sub and main panels, into the
panel and feeding it "backwards" (the electrons don't know the
difference). This breaker should be marked clearly as the disconnect.

Good luck, it ain't rocket science; most of the Code is simply
formalizing what is common sense; it just takes somebody to point out
what that commonsense is for the first time and NEC is the standard.
The self-help books are pretty good in general at separating the code
legalese and turning that into what actually needs doing...

Yup.