unshaken
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- Location
- Indianapolis, IN, USA
Hello All,
I am replacing my detached garage and upgrading my electrical service. The electrical service enters near the detached garage at the rear of the property, and the house is another 70 feet away. The existing overhead service will be converted to underground. The house service will be upgraded from 100 to 200 amps, and I need less than 100 amps to the garage. The meter will be mounted on the side of the new garage nearest the PoCo lines.
It seems there are at least 4 options, and I was hoping for some feedback on a couple of them.
Option 1 seems the most logical. The plan would have 2 sets of service conductors by connecting to dual lugs on the load side of the meter. One set for the house, and one set for the garage. I believe this is allowable since the property is a single-family dwelling with 2 separate structures. This plan would include a new 200 amp MB Panel in the house near where the new underground service enters, and this plan would also include a new 100 amp MB panel (by the meter but inside the garage). Is this approach widely accepted, or am I likely to get some pushback from the Inspector or the PoCo? Can the service conductors to the house and garage be sized for the loads rather than based on the meter size?
Option 2 seems a little backward but was suggested by my garage designer. This plan calls for a 400 amp MB panel in the garage. The garage panel would be equipped with a 200 amp subfeed breaker feeding the house. This approach feels dirty to me for a couple reasons. First, having the 400 Amp panel in a garage that needs less than 100 Amps seems odd. Also, the house circuit will have passed through 2 breakers (unnecessarily) before it ever reaches the house. Does this approach strike you as odd, or does this seem perfectly reasonable? I’m thinking maybe there are some benefits to this approach that I just don’t understand.
For both options 1 and 2, I was hoping to avoid unnecessary rewiring in the house by repurposing the existing 100 amp MB panel in the house as a subpanel. Let me first mention that the new 200 amp MB panel will be located on the opposite side of the basement relative the existing panel. This is where the new underground feed enters the house. To reuse the existing panel, a 100 amp subfeed breaker would be installed in the new 200 MB house panel, and that subfeed would be routed to the existing panel. Since the old panel is now a subpanel, the neutral and ground will be separated. But otherwise, the existing house wiring could remain intact. Is it reasonable to repurpose the existing 100 amp main panel as a subpanel, or am I missing something here?
Thanks a million for any insight you can provide. I am trying to learn, and sometimes it feels like I’m drinking from a firehose.
I am replacing my detached garage and upgrading my electrical service. The electrical service enters near the detached garage at the rear of the property, and the house is another 70 feet away. The existing overhead service will be converted to underground. The house service will be upgraded from 100 to 200 amps, and I need less than 100 amps to the garage. The meter will be mounted on the side of the new garage nearest the PoCo lines.
It seems there are at least 4 options, and I was hoping for some feedback on a couple of them.
Option 1 seems the most logical. The plan would have 2 sets of service conductors by connecting to dual lugs on the load side of the meter. One set for the house, and one set for the garage. I believe this is allowable since the property is a single-family dwelling with 2 separate structures. This plan would include a new 200 amp MB Panel in the house near where the new underground service enters, and this plan would also include a new 100 amp MB panel (by the meter but inside the garage). Is this approach widely accepted, or am I likely to get some pushback from the Inspector or the PoCo? Can the service conductors to the house and garage be sized for the loads rather than based on the meter size?
Option 2 seems a little backward but was suggested by my garage designer. This plan calls for a 400 amp MB panel in the garage. The garage panel would be equipped with a 200 amp subfeed breaker feeding the house. This approach feels dirty to me for a couple reasons. First, having the 400 Amp panel in a garage that needs less than 100 Amps seems odd. Also, the house circuit will have passed through 2 breakers (unnecessarily) before it ever reaches the house. Does this approach strike you as odd, or does this seem perfectly reasonable? I’m thinking maybe there are some benefits to this approach that I just don’t understand.
For both options 1 and 2, I was hoping to avoid unnecessary rewiring in the house by repurposing the existing 100 amp MB panel in the house as a subpanel. Let me first mention that the new 200 amp MB panel will be located on the opposite side of the basement relative the existing panel. This is where the new underground feed enters the house. To reuse the existing panel, a 100 amp subfeed breaker would be installed in the new 200 MB house panel, and that subfeed would be routed to the existing panel. Since the old panel is now a subpanel, the neutral and ground will be separated. But otherwise, the existing house wiring could remain intact. Is it reasonable to repurpose the existing 100 amp main panel as a subpanel, or am I missing something here?
Thanks a million for any insight you can provide. I am trying to learn, and sometimes it feels like I’m drinking from a firehose.