3 - Given that 2 20A furnace branch circuits (A/C operation and
_electric_ heat) were what was moved, and two additional 20A (patio and
landscape lighting & power) branch circuits added, what is a suitable
breaker to feed the sub-panel? He put in a 25A and wired the sub-panel
with #10 wire, which seems a bit light considering the 2 furnace
(heater) circuits.

Need to do a load calcualation on the service then on the additional loads.
Not what size the breaker is what the acutal load is. 25 amp breaker not
what I would have used (30).
Figuring the heaters are on each phase (balanced loading) and the patio
circuits are the same then it will work just fine.


Yes, that is the case; I specifically made sure of it when I went into
the box.


Odds are when the patio
is under a load the heaters will not be used.


Not really true -- we're in Texas, so we may be running the heaters in
the house and still be using the patio, fan, landscape lighting, and
fountain outside.


What did you pay for?

A learning experience it seems. Originally I did not want to mess
around with the main panel so I hired this guy who was recommended by
the contractor doing the rest of the landscaping work, but I was so
bothered by the final electrical work that I redid almost all of it.

I've not mentioned how he used white wires for hot leads (without
marking them in any way), how he installed the fan in the arbor without
a GFCI and without the wet location kit supplied in the box (both which
I've since added, and which it clearly calls for), how he fed the wire
to the fan through a whole drilled straight up through the mounting
board on the arbor (allowing rain to run right down the wire into the
fan), how he ran the hot from one circuit but the neutrals from two
different circuits through the load side of the one GFCI he did
install, how he ran exposed standard household cable across the arbor
for the fan rather than wet and sun rated cable, nor how he used a
mixture of 4 hole metal and 2 hole plastic weatherproof boxes which
looked horrible and which I've all replaced with the same plastic
weatherproof boxes. I've since fixed all of this.

In the end, I was not explicit enough with what I needed installed,
trusting him to know what he was doing and to care enough to do the
best job, neither of which it seems were really the case,
unfortunately.

Thanks for answering my questions and verifying my concerns.

-W