My New House & Workshop

[franklin2]

I ordered my wire because nobody had it in stock.

I ordered:

• 300-feet of 1 AWG Black Stranded AL USE-2 Cable. (This will be for (3) 100' sections. I couldn't order it as (3) separate cables unless I made (3) separate orders, so I'll have to cut it.)
• 100-feet of 8 AWG Green Stranded CU SIMpull THHN Wire (the copper was only $0.10 more a foot than the aluminum)

The wire came to $361 with tax which is about 1/4th of what it was going to cost if I went with all copper.

I also went and bought a 100 AMP 20-space breaker panel. I could have got by with a 12-space panel, but they don't have a main shutoff. The breaker panel with tax was around $114.

Not only did the old subpanel have some sketchy wiring, but it was also hooked to the meter with no main shutoff. So, you couldn't get in there and work on it without it being live. That must have been fun.

Don't forget to buy small rolls of white and red tape. The white will be important to not get the neutral mixed up with the other wires when you cut them. The red not so much, you can get the two hot wires mixed up and it won't matter. But since we are following code, they state they must be marked, so your hot wires will be black and red. You have the green already covered.

 

[Curious Hound]

Don't forget to buy small rolls of white and red tape. The white will be important to not get the neutral mixed up with the other wires when you cut them. The red not so much, you can get the two hot wires mixed up and it won't matter. But since we are following code, they state they must be marked, so your hot wires will be black and red. You have the green already covered.

You didn't mention anything about black phase marking tape.

 

[Jim Oaks]

I got a small pack of different color electrical tape that included white, green, and red. I ended up ordering green wire so I don't need that. Obviously white for neutral. They say it doesn't matter which hit goes where, but I wanted to mark one with red so I at least know which wire is which.

I still need a ground rod to drive into the ground and some copper wire to go to it.

 

[franklin2]

Unless someone corrects me, I do not think you need to drive a ground rod, since you will be using the grounding system from the house with the ground wire you bought. But I guess it wouldn't hurt if you wanted to add it in.

Here's what the grounding bar looks like that you will have to buy and add to your new panel.

 

[Curious Hound]

Unless someone corrects me, I do not think you need to drive a ground rod, since you will be using the grounding system from the house with the ground wire you bought. But I guess it wouldn't hurt if you wanted to add it in.

Here's what the grounding bar looks like that you will have to buy and add to your new panel.

View attachment 135126

Since it is a separate building, he needs to have a ground rod at that building.

 

[Jim Oaks]

I think I'm going to go ahead and bury a shielded ethernet cable in another conduit and hook it to the Wi-Fi in the house to have Wi-Fi in that building. I just need be careful to space them apart to avoid interference.