I am installing a subpanel in my woodshop. I need at the minimum a 30 A circuit. The run from subpanel to shop is less than 50 feet so voltage drop is well within tolerance.
I was thinking of pulling either 6 or 8 gauge cable and I have two questions:
1) Would you use 6 or 8 gauge or stick with 10 gauge? 2) Is 6 or 8 gauge a pain in the butt to work with at the main panel?Also, any war stories on your panel installs would be appreciated.
Keith
On 30 Jun 2004 21:22:16 -0700, Keith Bozek put forth the notion that...
What size is your conduit? If you have room for 6 or 8, I'd highly recommend it. 30 amps isn't very much for a garage, especially if you plan to run machinery out there. 6 and 8 gauge aren't hard to work with, assuming you have a decent conduit run without a lot of radical bends.
| I am installing a subpanel in my woodshop. I need at the minimum a 30 | A circuit. The run from subpanel to shop is less than 50 feet so | voltage drop is well within tolerance. | | I was thinking of pulling either 6 or 8 gauge cable and I have two | questions: | 1) Would you use 6 or 8 gauge or stick with 10 gauge?
#6
| 2) Is 6 or 8 gauge a pain in the butt to work with at the main panel?
only slightly more than the smaller gauge
| Also, any war stories on your panel installs would be appreciated.
Often I hear of additional capacity being needed once electricity is there. So I'd suggest #6 or even #4 and going with a 60 amp subpanel (a common size anyway). If the subpanel has a 60 amp (or less) main breaker of its own, then you can feed the #4 with 70 amp (or maybe more if the wire is rated for a higher temperature ... see NEC wire tables). If the subpanel is "main logs only" then feed it with a 60 amp breaker in the main box.
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