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Subject - feeder breaker wire size
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atpbean32
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 Currently I'm in the planning stages of rewiring my garage. Replacing an antiquated supply! Plans are for a 125 amp 6/12 subpanel fed by 6ga. 3 wire w/ground run in schedule 49 pvc. Distance run will be 100ft. In the garage there will be 3 20 amp circuits,1 for workbench outlets,1 for saw bench outlets,1 for garage door opener/ car bay outlets. At the begining of each outlet run a gfci outlet will be tnstalled to protect the other outlets, 2 15 amp circuits for the lights.Total requirements for the garage will be 23 amps. This includes the lights, radio, battery charger and one saw since I can only run one at a time! There is a 100 amp sevice panel in the basement I will draw from. The load requirement is 64 amps. Installing 1/2" breakers will give the space I need to add a 2" 2-pole feeder breaker. Will a GE 30 amp 2-pole breaker accept 6ga. wire? If not can I go to a larger breaker? Should I go to smaller wire? I need help to get over this last hurdle.
Thanks for any help atpbean32
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Electricman
| The circuit breaker should be marked as to what size conductors will fit in safetly. Is this the only sub panel off the existing service? Is this UF cable you are running or NMB? individual conductors ? 100 foot runs are when you start to consider volt drop. How did you calculate amp draw ? Also your door opener recpts dont have to be GFCI protected as they are not readily accesable if they are in the ceiling, nuicense tripping can occure but with todays GFCIs its very rare except with old appliances.
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atpbean32
| In reply to electricman: There is one other subpanel it feeds the washer & dryer. It runs off a 50 amp feeder breaker and only powers the washer & dryer & three outlets in the basement that are not being used. The subpanel is at the opposite end of the basement from where I need to acess the exterior of the building! I will not be using UF cable. I planned to use 4 seperate wires black,white,red & green 6ga. I took Into consideration the long run and voltage drop because of the run length. The wires will be inside schedule 40 pvc for easy upgrades in the future. Amp draw was calculated by obtaining Info from ID plates on all power tools & adding up total wattage of lighting then dividing by 110 volts. I came up with 23 amp drawn at any one time. I planned to have a 20 amp commercial grade outlet fot the door opener & have gfci outlet at the end of the run for car maintenance. Will there be a problem with having a second subpanel? Please advise.
Thank you atpbean32
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Electricman
| It probably wont be a problem but you might want to look into upgrading to a 200 amp main panel cause chances are your not gonna stop where yer at.
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