planning the electrical work for the basement, I realized that I did not have enough space for all the circuits I was planning on. I have a 200 amp service so I decided to install a sub-panel for for the basement.
I never attempted this before but I never attempted putting a drain either.
I bought a 100 amp sub-panel at home depot plus a 60 amp double pole breaker.
The panel is rated up to 100 amps but for a basement reno 100 amps is not needed. I went with 60 amps - should get be plenty for my needs. \The installation of the panel was straight forward. Three screws mounted next to the main panel.
It holds a total of 8 extra full curcuits. The difference between the main panel and the sub panel are that the sub panel does not have a"main breaker", the double pole 60 amp breaker at the main panel it what is required. The neutral bus and the ground bus are not connected as in the main panel and cannot be! If the subpanel had the neutral and ground connected, it must be disconnected and isolated (using platic isolation pegs)
I had to remove the 20 amp surge protector I had installed in the main panel in order to install my double pole 60 amp. I had to go back to Home Depot and purchase a 6-3 cable (2 hot, 1 neutral and ground) which can be used as a feeder cable for 60 amps but no more. So if I wanted to run 80 or 100 amps in the future (probably not) I would have to purchase a larger gauge cable.
The hook up was fairly straight forward.
The top 1" tab was removed and the 6 gauge cable was fed through with a metal connector in place (Home Depot did not cell the plastic 1" connectors)
The cable was fed through and the white plastic sheath was removed and the wires exposed.
The two "hot" wires (the red and black) were stripped about 3/4 of an inch and attached to the two legs of the panel as seen above. The white neutral wire was attached to the isolated neutral bus seen to the right of the two legs. The neutral attached to both neutral buses (one on the left and one on the right). The neutral bus is bonded to the panel. The other end of the 6 gauge wire was fed through a the 1" tab located on the right of the panel about half way down and again the sheathing removed and the wire but to length and stripped.
The only hard part here was that the panel is almost full and navigating the 6 gauge wire (very thick) through the mess of existing wires and onto the breaker, neutral and grounding buses was a pain.
I then installed my 20 amp double pole surge protector breaker in my new sub panel.
I flipped the breaker on and just like that I had more space for my basement circuits. So when working on my electrical, I can turn my sub panel off without turning off the power to the whole house.
I will complete installing my 1" foam insulation to the rest of the basement before starting on finishing the framing. Until next time....
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