Hopefully only a brief explanation is needed, so here's the background in brief (a lot more detail can be found in other recent posts I've made)
I am running 100 amp service to my garage, I am using 1/0 aluminum conductors for the feeder. This is running underground in 2" rigid metal conduit. Also in this conduit is 14 ga. THWN for a 3-way switch. Thus, at each end, there is an 8x8 junction box. I also have a #8 solid copper ground wire inside the conduit. It may be overkill, but I have EMT from the junction box to the panel and thus I have both a ground wire AND a continuous metal conduit that can act as the ground conductor.
Because my inspector had issues for which the resolution involved moving the panel in the house, and the garage feeders were connected at the time, my wires ended up too short. I made splices in the house-side junction box. I chose split-bolt connectors because I needed to economize and $4 connectors x3 works out to less than $15 polaris connectors x3.
(As a side note, if polaris connectors avoid the taping process, the cost difference might not have been so big as it seemed. I used about 2/3 of a roll of rubber mastic tape per split bolt, so $18 of rubber mastic tape was needed for all 3 connections. Plus the cost of the vinyl tape, but I don't count that since I already had that on hand.)
I followed 3M's procedure for taping split-bolt connections which is illustrated in the following video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tsx6im7qng
The end result can be seen in the attached photo, please if you see anything that is in need of correction I would appreciate it being pointed out.
For the first time I powered up the garage subpanel and turned on a breaker for the only outlet I've connected so I can test everything - a dedicated circuit for an outlet to run the GDO. Everything worked and an outlet checker lighted up good.
And for those following my ongoing saga, I moved back my inspecton to Friday. This was the last thing I needed (and I probably would've had this done last night if I was not so tired, not to mention all the job phone calls I've gotten this morning) Tommorrow afternoon I've got 2 job interviews... I suppose it's good to be busy this way, but it makes it challenging to get projects done.
I am running 100 amp service to my garage, I am using 1/0 aluminum conductors for the feeder. This is running underground in 2" rigid metal conduit. Also in this conduit is 14 ga. THWN for a 3-way switch. Thus, at each end, there is an 8x8 junction box. I also have a #8 solid copper ground wire inside the conduit. It may be overkill, but I have EMT from the junction box to the panel and thus I have both a ground wire AND a continuous metal conduit that can act as the ground conductor.
Because my inspector had issues for which the resolution involved moving the panel in the house, and the garage feeders were connected at the time, my wires ended up too short. I made splices in the house-side junction box. I chose split-bolt connectors because I needed to economize and $4 connectors x3 works out to less than $15 polaris connectors x3.
(As a side note, if polaris connectors avoid the taping process, the cost difference might not have been so big as it seemed. I used about 2/3 of a roll of rubber mastic tape per split bolt, so $18 of rubber mastic tape was needed for all 3 connections. Plus the cost of the vinyl tape, but I don't count that since I already had that on hand.)
I followed 3M's procedure for taping split-bolt connections which is illustrated in the following video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tsx6im7qng
The end result can be seen in the attached photo, please if you see anything that is in need of correction I would appreciate it being pointed out.
For the first time I powered up the garage subpanel and turned on a breaker for the only outlet I've connected so I can test everything - a dedicated circuit for an outlet to run the GDO. Everything worked and an outlet checker lighted up good.
And for those following my ongoing saga, I moved back my inspecton to Friday. This was the last thing I needed (and I probably would've had this done last night if I was not so tired, not to mention all the job phone calls I've gotten this morning) Tommorrow afternoon I've got 2 job interviews... I suppose it's good to be busy this way, but it makes it challenging to get projects done.
