60 amp sub panel for a detached garage

canyonbc

Trying to think long term here.

I am still planning out the 16 x 20 detached garage about 125 feet from the main service panel on the house

The garage at first will be used as a quilt room. Building it is as a garage to widen its appeal when it comes times to sell the place.

Along those lines, the building will be built with a few 120 volt outlets, one ceiling fan, and some recessed lights.

I am pretty confident for these basic needs a 60 amp sub panel should be plenty but what I do wonder is can someone ever run 220 to the garage off a 60 amp panel???

Example say i wanted to run Lincoln 175 or 180 Mig welder - a 220 welder.

Can you do that on a 60 amp sub panel or would this be too much???

Thanks,
Mike

Scuba_Dave

It all depends upon the rating of the welder & required power

A 60a panel will be a 240v panel
Not that many people ever run a 120v panel

jlhaslip

Upgrade to a 100 Amp Panel now if you can. Use a 60 Amp for the Feed Breaker and upgrade it when you need to.
The price difference in the panel won't be much (I don't think).

vsheetz

I had only a couple 120v circuits in my detached 24x30 workshop/garage - and I recently upgraded to a subpanel fed by a 60a breaker in my main panel. I found it to be a good balance of cost and effort while providing ample power for tools, lights, etc. I have large table saw, welder, heater, compressor, chop saw, lights, etc.

I used a $55 100a GE brand workshop subpanel from Lowes, #6 THWN wire in conduit from the main panel 60a breaker, etc. Then in the shop are three 240v circuits, several 120v circuits for outlets, interior and exterior lights, and a RV recepticle.

Details of how to make it happen are readily available via search as this is a common topic.

canyonbc

Thanks for the knowledge

Sounds like there is not much of a cost difference between the 60 and the 100. I will do some more research.

Only concern, and need to call some companies and get some bids is can my 200 amp (assuming the main board is a 200 amp on the house) handle a 100 amp sub panel.

Thanks,
Mike

Scuba_Dave

My 200 panel has (2) 100a subs & a 60a sub

canyonbc

Wow, thats impressive.

Good news to know.

Thank you.

vsheetz

The dollar and percentage difference is quite a bit, about double or more for materials when I worked it up - the cost delta is in the larger wire and the 100a breaker for the main panel, not the subpanel. Since I could not see a need for the additional power, I went with 60a.

I have learned the "why nots" really run up the cost of projects, so I really try to eliminate them...

canyonbc

Yes, yes they can.

Trying to keep the cost down but also want to weigh out what is going to be the best long term budget.

Well have a budget want to stick in, will get the prices for both and make this decision at another time.

JohnJ0906

At 125 feet, you will have to upsize the wire to compensate for voltage drop. I came up with #4 copper or #3 aluminum, for a 60 amp sub.

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canyonbc

John

Thank you for the advice an information.

A couple questions if you dont mind?
Would you recommend copper over aluminum for any specfic reason or visa versa?
If you do not mind sharing how did you equate a #4 copper for the 125 feet with a 60 amp sub panel? Am i safe to assume there is no website to equate (something like they have for equating cubic volume of concrete) or a calculator ( like they have for figuring how many studs in while)?

Thanks again
mike

Scuba_Dave

Voltage drop is calculated by the distance & the load
So for a 60a panel the Max drop is around 7v
Upgrading to #4 wire makes it only 4.5v drop =3.8%
Usually try to keep it under 5% is my understanding

If your load is going to be 40a or less on the 60a panel then you are OK with #6


http://www.csgnetwork.com/voltagedropcalc.html

canyonbc

Thank you for the information and website, I am going to learn some more.

canyonbc

This question is for all.

Ok, I have been playing around with the site you suggested, great calculator thank you.

To help my self understand

In the required data entry of the calculator this is a box that states

Select Voltage and Phase - Would this be, what the power of the main panel (so I am pretty sure the main panel is a 200 amp so I would click "240 volts 1 phase" or is this something completely different???

But then it says enter load, (feeling quite dumb at this point) enter load would that be the new sub panel or my starting panel?

Thanks everyone again for all the info.

I am going to do what I should have done and cruise around reading the suggested sight.

Scuba_Dave

240v 1 phase, 6 AWG is size of wire, 60a is the load - size of the sub-panel
OR anticipated Load
I always prefer my Load to be LESS then the breaker size & wire can handle
Distance - 1 way