
However, if you’re just going to use the sub-panel for lighting the garage or for low-draw appliances like ovens, then a 60 amp one should suffice. Most people who intend to use high-draw tools choose a 100 amp panel. What kind of amps does a detached garage subpanel need? Lessen the burden on your main service panel.You’ll be able to address voltage drop problems when running circuits that are a bit far from your home.
You get more circuits, which is especially helpful if you’re expanding and your main breaker panel can’t accommodate them. You’ll only need to strip the cables and then connect them to their intended terminals. It’s always black and red wires to the hot bar, white to the neutral bar, and green to the ground bar. Logically, there are bars or terminals intended for hot, neutral, and ground wires. Step 8: Wire the sub panel then check for voltage Pull just enough wires to reach the sub panel and terminate them properly there. If you choose to oversize your conduit a bit, you may not encounter strong resistance while pulling. You can use a wire pulling lubricant if there’s significant resistance and prevent your wires from kinking up. Once that’s done, just slide the front end into the conduit entrance, and let another person do the pulling on the other end. Electric tape provides that much-needed tension that other tapes can’t, so don’t settle for anything less. To make pulling the wires through the pipes as easy as possible, I recommend bundling the front end as tightly as possible using electric tape. Usually, you’ll have four wires to work with: 2 hots, 1 neutral, and 1 ground. Step 7: Pull the wires through the conduit Once that’s done, position the sub panel correctly then screw it in place. Use the stand-off holes to mark the spots for drilling on the wall before creating the holes for mounting with your drilling tool. Take note that some panels come with stand-offs that create an air gap this gap will prevent corrosion. They should slide right in snugly every time.Īs for mounting the sub panel, you may not need to mount it with plywood backing on a masonry wall. You don’t need to use glue on some conduit parts and couplings, especially if they’re compatible. Continue doing this for every joint until you complete the whole run to the garage and the exact mounting spot for the sub panel. When gluing, glue both the socket and the hub for an easier fit, then give it a nice twist to smear it around for even distribution.
Use the right clips and straps when fastening to walls.Step 5: Dig the trench for the entire run of the underground wires Doing this also spares you from unneeded anxiety and frustration come inspection time.
#60 amp sub panel wire size code#
Worse still is you may end up putting your and your loved ones’ safety and lives on the line just because you installed a ground rod and grounded the sub panel incorrectly – when a trained electrician can do this task with relative ease.ĭon’t fall for the demonstrations you see on YouTube, since plenty of them tend to violate a Code rule or two. This way, you won’t have to worry about any local grounding guidelines you may overlook.
You can’t skip this step, especially if you’re installing in a detached garage and haven’t got the grounding rods for your sub panel in place yet.ĭue to the technicality involved, I highly recommend you leave this to the professionals. Obviously, I can’t recommend a specific tip since every panel’s its own thing, and you know your property’s layout best. They will ensure optimal connections based on your setup.
The same goes for having different types of conduit fittings you need. Having a handful of drilling tools on hand can come in handy, especially if you need to enlarge holes and deal with tricky entry points and angles and extra-thick walls.