On 2 Jun 2005 12:27:38 -0700, "brianlanning"
wrote:
A few years ago, I put a subpanel in my garage/shop. I had a black and
decker book with detailed photos. I'm certain I followed code, and
everything worked perfectly. I had a 220v breaker in the house panel,
and a 60amp subpanel in the garage with i think 6 breaker positions. I
feel very confident that I could do this again safely.
I recently moved. And I'm getting ready to do the same thing again for
the new house. The only thing I want to do differently is to have more
circuits. I want three 220v breakers for the dc, compressor, and
whatever tool is running. I also want at least two 110v lines, but
more like three or four: 1 for tools, and 1 for lights, also future
expansion just in case. In addition, I can't rule out the possability
of adding a huge tool. I can see getting a killer deal on a 3-phase
machine and putting in a rotary convertor for example. Or maybe
something with a 7.5hp or 10hp motor. So I want to be able to handle
higher currents just in case.
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?
How should I handle this? Ignore it and put, for example, a 60amp
breaker in the main panel and the right gauge wire for 60 amps? Or go
with a 100 amp breaker so that it matches the one in the subpanel
(assuming fat wire for 100 amps)? Or a different subpanel that has no
breaker?
I don't really need 100 amps. It also has a lot more positions than I
need (like double!). But at the borg, they have the little rinky dink
subpanel I have in the old house. Then the next size up is this 100
amp monster. Should I put in two of the smaller panels, sort of
daisy-chaining them? or run both subpanels back to the main? seems
silly.
any suggestions?
brian
Brian
I did something similar to what you are asking about. This was
approved and inspected by my local inspector - but yours might have
other ideas - so bounce it off your inspector.
I have a small acreage, power flows from the pole to the house,
200A main panel. I have 4 outbuildings (former farmsted), the out
buildings are daisychained off the house w/ #6 wire (3 strands) & a
60A breaker in the house panel.
Each outbuilding has its own panel, wired as a subpanel. Because they
are seperate buildings, each building has its own ground rod. In the
new building (pole frame), where I intend to relocate my shop, I
wanted lots of capacity for breakers and circuts. There I installed
a 100A panel w/ a main breaker. The main breaker in effect is a
quick disconnect in the new building, the protection is on the
individual circuts, and the 60A breaker in the house.
IF I find out later on that I need more capacity (amps), I can bring a
100A feed in to the pole shed (most likely from the pole). and the
other buildings will still have the 60A feed from the house (thru
the use of a terminal block on each building).
Looks something like this:
House 200A main
60A feed to Shed 1
Shed 1
subpanel, feed to Shed 2
Shed 2 (pole frame)
100A panel, feed to Shed 3
Shed 3
subpanel, feed to Shed 4
Shed 4
subpanel, end of run.
Jim
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