Like I say, 100A or even 90A will let you run a lot more stuff than you could ever imagine. The single most important characteristic of the garage subpanel is number of breaker spaces. Nothing wrong with a 200A garage panel, though. That would give you as much as 200A at the garage, but would be costlier to run. 4/0 costs more than #1 + the above panel. ![]() ![]() That is alright, but you'd need to use 4/0 aluminum wire to do that. If you didn't have this breaker there, you would be sending 200A down the wire to the garage. 70A for #4 Al or #6 Cu (that is not UF type).You install a breaker in the panel which is appropriate to the size of the feeder cable. The panel allows you to use a smaller breaker. But honestly you won't save enough money to be worth the bother. You could pinch pennies and use #4 aluminum wire (65A, breaker at 70A we round up here). (feel free to infer two other statements from my last two.) As with all connections, screw torque matters. Aluminum lugs are "the universal donor", working well with both copper and aluminum wire due to thermal expansion differences. (15-20A small branch circuits had serious issues in the 1970s, but they weren't exactly aluminum's fault.) And anyway they changed the alloy, and the lugs you attach to will be aluminum. There has never been any issue with the safety of heavy aluminum feeder. However you'll be more limited in choice. If you want full-on 100A, then #1 aluminum will suffice. Increases your chance of finding something suitable in these shortage times. It's very widely used so it's available in a variety of cable types and sizes. The upshot is that if 90A is acceptable, it brings us to a very nice "pricing and availability sweet-spot" at #2 aluminum. I'm in a complex of 8 cottages right now and we all share 100A service. And 100A is nice and round, that's the only reason most people pick it.Īnd 100A is stupendously more power than people realize. Reason I ask is most people are just spitting out a random number that pops into their head. The power company may require you "pull a permit" for the swap. (or to be more precise, to put the meter back in and have it re-sealed). ![]() You will need power company permission to pull the meter to change to this new panel. Power from the meter goes on the breaker's main lugs, and power onward to your house goes on the "thru lugs" at the bottom of the micro-panel. So, you wire this thing up exactly the same way as the main breaker enclosure that is there now. That same critter is also made with a meter pan built into it for around $400, that's the more proper meaning of "ranch panel". And "thru lugs" at the bottom which take all the power onward. That's a generic term, it's not the product name of any particular thing. Otherwise known as an "8 space outdoor main-breaker panel with thru lugs". What you needed was a "ranch panel" without meter You bought the wrong service equipment for that job.
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