Any electricians here?

[freelancenoob]

I'm getting ready to wire a shed feeding power from my second garage. My garage is on its own service and is 200 amp. My plan is to put a 100amp breaker in and run a feed line to my shed panel. Total distance is 62ft. That is giving 2 extra feet on each end just in case. My father was telling me I should run #4 copper or #2 aluminum. Thats what he told me when we estimated the distance to be 100'. I measured it all out and I only need 62' at max. What is your take on this?

[stj]

Re: Any electricians here?

use copper "concentric" if you have it in the u.s.

[eccerr0r]

Re: Any electricians here?

I'm seeing #4 copper as kind of optimistic for 100A at 50ft based on a bunch of random web site tables...

I kind of wonder if at this kind of power level whether it's worth to go to a higher voltage and drop back down. 50-100ft is kind of annoying for doing this however...

[stj]

Re: Any electricians here?

it's not just that, for safety you should use armored or concentric rather than 2 single-core cables.
concentric is interesting, you have the insulated live, with the neutral strands spiraling around it like a shield.
that way if anything penetrates the insulation they only hit neutral.

[R_J]

Re: Any electricians here?

It also depends if the cable is under ground, they will recommend a heavier guage cable if its under ground due to lack of heat dissapition vs cable strung in the open air

[eccerr0r]

Re: Any electricians here?

Yeah, exactly, I'm not even worried about electrocution safety yet, it's just I*R losses that's a bit concerning. 120V@100A is quite a bit of power, and from what I've seen you'd need at least AWG2 or AWG1 copper, or two sizes larger for aluminum (meaning AWG 0 or 0/1).

Do you really need 12KW of power over at the shed? If you do, I'd say the wire cost shouldn't be a concern... Also perhaps duty cycle is something else, if your duty cycle is low, then cheaping out in wire is possible in an engineering sense, but this is not to code.

[freelancenoob]

Re: Any electricians here?

It will be 4 wires. It only goes underground for maybe a foot between the garage and shed. the section of wire that will be under ground will be in conduit. 90% of this wire is going to be in the garage since the panel is across to the other side.

[freelancenoob]

Re: Any electricians here?

Shed will have this. 1-220 outlet for window ac/heater, 8 sockets (4 sockets per breaker), 3 over head fluorescent light fixtures.

This is going to be my electronic workshop. Fixing tv's, computers, etc. Gaming room when nothing else is going on. So I need to be able to run several components at the same time but ill next get close to 100a. 100a for this shed is a little overkill but id rather it be that way.

[stj]

Re: Any electricians here?

gaming room??
you just moved up a notch on my respect-guage !!

[freelancenoob]

Re: Any electricians here?

Someone has to thoroughly test these tv's I fix.

[sam_sam_sam]

Re: Any electricians here?

I'm getting ready to wire a shed feeding power from my second garage. My garage is on its own service and is 200 amp. My plan is to put a 100amp breaker in and run a feed line to my shed panel. Total distance is 62ft. That is giving 2 extra feet on each end just in case. My father was telling me I should run #4 copper or #2 aluminum. Thats what he told me when we estimated the distance to be 100'. I measured it all out and I only need 62' at max. What is your take on this?

I will tell you a story about a person I use to know he ran wire to his washer and dryer and did not use under ground rated wire did not put in conduit did not have a breaker at washer and dryer it only lasted 3 years keep tripping the breaker in the mai panel

I ended up redoing it the right way for him

I would run # 2 wire rated for under ground this is a must either 1 “ or 1.25 plastic electrical conduit
It will last a lot longer conduit

I ran this to my shed 13 years ago and mine run was about as long as yours
I run some time run a welder or a battery welder or a air compressor

Battery chargers soldering equipment and the like never had a problem with this setup

[petehall347]

Re: Any electricians here?

are you allowed to run 220v then split to 2x 110v ? like same as from entry point .
i dont fully understand your wiring over there . all i know is the wire can be thinner for 220v .
i would think for your usage 40 amps would be over the top .never mind 100 amps

[eccerr0r]

Re: Any electricians here?

Well 100A is 100A no matter what the voltage. If you're talking about watts, at 220V and the same number of watts, you can have lower current and thus thinner wire.

However, it seems to be the case that freelancenoob is running two 50A 120V lines, then the #4 may work (marginally) as two 50A lines and two 50A neutrals.
Would require double the amount of wire of course, but this should be on the borderline of "okay".

[petehall347]

Re: Any electricians here?

its easier here .240v .. 6mm will just about work . 8mm is ok . 10mm is much better .armoured of course as it can take more current because it cools itself with the armouring .

[freelancenoob]

Re: Any electricians here?

I will tell you a story about a person I use to know he ran wire to his washer and dryer and did not use under ground rated wire did not put in conduit did not have a breaker at washer and dryer it only lasted 3 years keep tripping the breaker in the mai panel

I ended up redoing it the right way for him

I would run # 2 wire rated for under ground this is a must either 1 “ or 1.25 plastic electrical conduit
It will last a lot longer conduit

I ran this to my shed 13 years ago and mine run was about as long as yours
I run some time run a welder or a battery welder or a air compressor

Battery chargers soldering equipment and the like never had a problem with this setup

I fully plan to run conduit where the line comes out the side of the garage and then goes into the ground. Only talking about a 3 or 4' span. Just not sure if its 18" or 24" it needs to be buried.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: Any electricians here?

that way if anything penetrates the insulation they only hit neutral.

Hitting the neutral alone is even worse, because 115-127 V devices can get surged! Can cause the regular appliances to be hit with 230-254 V!

[stj]

Re: Any electricians here?

you wont sever it,it's too thick.
it's just so the person responsible doesnt die in a ball of white plasma!!

[brokentvguy]

Re: Any electricians here?

If you live in the UK you will need a registered sparky to sign the work off to comply with building regs or you may void your home insurance, if you decide to sell in the future it is one of the questions asked have you had any electrical work done since part p was introduced.

[eccerr0r]

Re: Any electricians here?

I think this is true in any locale actually...

[goontron]

Re: Any electricians here?

^ freelancenoob is in southwest georgia USA according to his profile. Homeowners can do their own plumbing and electrical there...