Rewiring a shed for more current handling?

mattintc

Final question. How do you go about wiring a neutral up ? since i dont think the buss bar for the neutral can handle that big of a wire or maybe it can?

Missouri Bound

You need to look at your main panel. Somewhere in the description it will tell you how large of a breaker it will take. The neutral bar will have holes large enough for whatever breaker it says.

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mattintc

Alright yeah looks like it can fit a big enough wire

BrandonD

Be thankful you're only running 5-10ft, because the wire is what's not cheap! I almost called my subpanel project off because of it. It caused me to sit down and have a thorough thinking of my needs before proceeding at least.

Good luck and be safe. It's rewarding to run your own subpanel and see the nice 240V reading across your two newly wired hots.

mattintc

Yeah if i ever have a use for 240V its going to be REALLY nice!!

Jim Port

Even without the need for 240 you have doubled the capacity of the panel vs a straight 120 panel.

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Answers based on the National Electrical Code. Local amendments may apply. Check with your local building officials.

mattintc

Yeah thats what i was hoping for and its easier to use Phase A and Phase B and a neutral because i can use 2 30A breakers instead of 1 double pole 60A breaker and also even out the load between the two instead of on one buss bar. This will be my first project where i go into the main breaker panel and wire it in too and will be REALLY cool!! AND the best part about this whole project is the fact that i can fix the last persons stuff of not using underground wire and just straight up romex and using the ground as a neutral and such.

Missouri Bound

No, you absolutely cannot!

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mattintc

And why can i not use a 30A breaker on phase A and 30A breaker on phase B ? oh yeah i forgot to add im just going to use 10AWG wire and have it hapily at 60A's (30A per phase)

BrandonD

I'm no electrician, but I could think of a few possible reasons...

- Two 30A breakers is still 30A -- you don't combine them into a single 60A breaker
- Two disconnects (breakers) feeding a single building
- One feeder breaker trips leaving the other bus hot
- 240V circuit on the subpanel in use when one of the hots trips reducing it to 120V, potentially causing damage to anything hooked up to it in use

mattintc

Hmmm you could be right sir. But 240V is wired up with phase A and phase B as i observed unless im wrong which is extremely possible. But someone else can chime in.

Missouri Bound

mattintc....I'm beginning to think you do not comprehend this well enough to do it yourself. It's more than just installing the proper wires, there are codes and safety issues that must be adhered to. You electrical logic is askew. Do more research, view the NEC and pick up a few books (at least one) on wiring.

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mattintc

Yeah iv been google-ing like hell and reading a few books online and im just trying to clear up the muddy water of what to do and not to do and the best way to go about that is asking one of you guys. It tis what i have observed on the main panel in the house is that Phase A and phase B give you 240 volts and then Phase A and neutral gives you 120V's. As it stands right now there is 240 volts out to the shed with ground being neutral as the last person wired up. So im really confused as what to do and not to do. Any help is more than appreciated. There is also a 15A breaker on phase A and 15A breaker on phase B for the wiring out to the shed. So do explain how this works if you would.

mattintc

And if 2 30A breakers on 2 different phases dont give me 60A then how does that work??

Jim Port

The breaker needs to turn off both legs of the feeder at the same time. A two pole breaer will do this.

A 2 pole breaker labeled 30 amp will trip whenever more than 30 amps is flowing through either leg. The time to trip will be based on the amount of overcurrent.

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Answers based on the National Electrical Code. Local amendments may apply. Check with your local building officials.