Trimmed for brevity....

I just so happen to have a 100 amp panel. It looks a little different
from the other subpanel I had though. It looks like it's meant to be
the only panel in the house. My old one didn't have a 60amp breaker in
it. It relied on the breaker in the main panel, with the feed wires
going into screw terminals on the bus bar. This one has a 100 amp
breaker in it. It looks like I can't remove it. Am I missing
something?

What you're missing is the notion that this is *exactly* the kind of panel
you
want for a subpanel in your shop - in an emergency, if you want to kill
all
the power in the shop RIGHT NOW, you have the disconnect right there at
the
subpanel. You don't have to go back to the main.


Sounds good, except if the lights are fed from the subpanel.....

Even with a main lug subpanel w/o the breaker on the incoming feed you can
quickly kill all (or some) of the power by hitting the breakers.

I have a 60 amp main lug subpanel with 8 slots, 4 filled. I could kill all
the power only marginally faster if I had a main breaker. Regardless of the
setup, you have to recognize a problem, realize you need to kill the power,
run over to the panel, open the cover and reach up and switch the
breaker(s). I also have the option of just switching the circuits feeding
the receptacles and leaving the lights up or vice-versa (though I do have a
light on a separate circuit run directly from the main panel that I always
turn on).

My 2 cents....

Tim