I'm a phone guy, working telecom, networking, and all manner of low voltage wiring. I'm not afraid of working with 120/240, I'm afraidof not doing it well, and what I have gleaned from this site has improved my confidence and skill.
THANKS!
I am a new owner of a 1948 single story on a slab bungalow home. 2 Wire circuits with fabric Romex. Best part, it's a cement block home, interior walls too.
My 100amp panel is outdoors. A utility provided update 12-15 years ago. Sloppy
RoMex runs to the furnace (2) and water heater (1) in the front attic. 2in conduit up to the entrance LB then strung through the attic. The extended 2 Wire circuits also use this path.
I have placed a 2in pvc conduit to an area near the water heater and attic pull down stairs with the intention of placing a subpanel in the attic. I already had a long-enough length of SE 2h/1n/1bare ground and pulled this through the 2 inch. A 60a 2 pole breaker connects in the outdoor panel to place power on this link.
Now is where I learned my lesson from Mike Holt.com. I cannot place a subpanel in my attic based on access requirements. Home has to be sellable at some future date and keeping it/making it compliant could affect the value.
I found a location my transfer switch/subpanel can mount (after I bust out some cement block) that provides the required access.
There will be 5 15a circuits out of the txfr sw/subpanel. All will be on a single pole circuit. Doing so allows me to power these essential circuits with a Honda 2200i during an extended outage.
The bonded ground issue is skirted by utilizing the 2nd pole of the transfer switch to also change the neutral source connected to the isolated from ground bar when the paired 240v interlocking breakers are swapped.
I'm going to be sure white Wire is run for all neutral links inside the box.
2 pole 50a from the outdoor panel. One side only gets the single-pole hot the panel requires for the 5 circuits. The other pole of the breaker will receive the neutral from outdoors, allowing me to break the grd/neutral bond from the utility. Coming from the 2nd pole, I connect to the already isolated from ground neutral buss bar.
The 30a 2 pole interlocked breaker would have the same connection setup with the single-pole hot link and the generator- supplied "bonded in the generator" neutral.
So.....did I mention I have a question.
The SE cable is large, and I would like to take advantage of the 4 conductors somehow, and here's what I think I can do.
Place a 4 breaker service entrance box near the water heater. Terminate the 4ga SE cable inside this box, using it as a cut-off switch for the water heater, and somehow come off with 1 hot 1 neutral and 1 ground to feed the subpanel. I understand it will need to keep the ground and neutral isolated inside the box.
Can I just tap inside to one of the two 2pole breakers? Do I need to make the tap in a splice box before routing to the cut-office breaker box switch?
I will be placing conduit for all routes. Cutout a panel size rectangle in the interior cement block wall and hammer drill down from the attic. I can get a 1.25in conduit from the attic to the panel location. MC cable out of the subpanel for the 5 circuits.
And again, thank you for the education in 120240v, it is greatly appreciated.
THANKS!
I am a new owner of a 1948 single story on a slab bungalow home. 2 Wire circuits with fabric Romex. Best part, it's a cement block home, interior walls too.
My 100amp panel is outdoors. A utility provided update 12-15 years ago. Sloppy
RoMex runs to the furnace (2) and water heater (1) in the front attic. 2in conduit up to the entrance LB then strung through the attic. The extended 2 Wire circuits also use this path.
I have placed a 2in pvc conduit to an area near the water heater and attic pull down stairs with the intention of placing a subpanel in the attic. I already had a long-enough length of SE 2h/1n/1bare ground and pulled this through the 2 inch. A 60a 2 pole breaker connects in the outdoor panel to place power on this link.
Now is where I learned my lesson from Mike Holt.com. I cannot place a subpanel in my attic based on access requirements. Home has to be sellable at some future date and keeping it/making it compliant could affect the value.
I found a location my transfer switch/subpanel can mount (after I bust out some cement block) that provides the required access.
There will be 5 15a circuits out of the txfr sw/subpanel. All will be on a single pole circuit. Doing so allows me to power these essential circuits with a Honda 2200i during an extended outage.
The bonded ground issue is skirted by utilizing the 2nd pole of the transfer switch to also change the neutral source connected to the isolated from ground bar when the paired 240v interlocking breakers are swapped.
I'm going to be sure white Wire is run for all neutral links inside the box.
2 pole 50a from the outdoor panel. One side only gets the single-pole hot the panel requires for the 5 circuits. The other pole of the breaker will receive the neutral from outdoors, allowing me to break the grd/neutral bond from the utility. Coming from the 2nd pole, I connect to the already isolated from ground neutral buss bar.
The 30a 2 pole interlocked breaker would have the same connection setup with the single-pole hot link and the generator- supplied "bonded in the generator" neutral.
So.....did I mention I have a question.
The SE cable is large, and I would like to take advantage of the 4 conductors somehow, and here's what I think I can do.
Place a 4 breaker service entrance box near the water heater. Terminate the 4ga SE cable inside this box, using it as a cut-off switch for the water heater, and somehow come off with 1 hot 1 neutral and 1 ground to feed the subpanel. I understand it will need to keep the ground and neutral isolated inside the box.
Can I just tap inside to one of the two 2pole breakers? Do I need to make the tap in a splice box before routing to the cut-office breaker box switch?
I will be placing conduit for all routes. Cutout a panel size rectangle in the interior cement block wall and hammer drill down from the attic. I can get a 1.25in conduit from the attic to the panel location. MC cable out of the subpanel for the 5 circuits.
And again, thank you for the education in 120240v, it is greatly appreciated.
