Sub Panel Wiring?

I want to set up a hobby woodworking shop in my garage. I was going to run from the panel maybe four or five 12/2's to accommodate lighting, power tools, dust collection, etc. or should I put a subpanel 60 to 100 amp? The main panel is on an outside wall on one side of the house and the garage is on the opposite side of the house. The distance from the panel to the entry into the garage is about 50 ft. I would be pulling wire- a straight run- through a ceiling chase that runs the length of the house. No basement.
      

Older house with the metal enclosed wiring has stumped me.  I am attempting to add a second switch for a fan off existing light switch in bathroom.  Existing wiring:  W,B,R from panel, W,B to light.  2 white wire are tied together, two black wires to one contact and red to other contact on switch.  Disconnected all wires and confirmed the black is live from panel.  It seems to me the light is seeing power the entire time since the blacks are connected? I'm confused, please help. how do I add another switch onto this circuit?  Thanks!
      

I am installing a square D 100 amp panel in a mobel home and had a question. The panel came with no seperate grounding bar only 2 connected neutrel bars and the typical hot bars. I was curious as to why some panels have seperate grounding bars (for bare copper) attached to them an some do not. Thier was a green bonding screw that said if bonding the box was necessary to screw it in the nuetrel bar and attach a wire from it to the panel box. Would it be better to attach a grounding bar directly to the panel and run a wire from it to a rod in the ground?
      

I had posted a week or so ago about random afci's tripping aroung my house that is a year old. I am fairly convinced that it's a interference problem or something in my ground system. Outside my house there is a meter and next to it is a small breaker panel with a 200a breaker that feeds the panel downstairs. Outside there are 2 big black wires going to the ground bus. They go inside and one goes to the water pipe that comes in from outside. O can see where the other one goes. Is it important for me to put in a ground rod and run a big wire to the outside box? My las two new houses had them. I'll try to upload a pic of the outside box. Thanks
      

Hi all,



Had some issues with my sub panel tonight.  The sub has tandem 20A breakers to feed my Home Theater in the basement.  We were watching tv on the projector when my whole AV rack went dead.  I was able to track it back to the sub panel.  Forgive me if my terminology is not correct on the description....Turns out the top bus bar? has no power. (The one that the red wire feeds)  But when I trace that red wire back to the main panel it sees 124V.  The bus bar that the white wire is connected to sees 124V.



As in the picture below, the breaker on the left has no power but if I swap it with the one on the right it works.



Why would that top bar not have any juice to it?




      

First off im in So Cal. and a few months back my pool equipment stoped working after a rain storm. I have an underground conection that is accseible through a plastic box in the concrete. There is a water proof box there that housed the wiring as it runs from 220 breaker underground to the pool equip., I opened it to find it full of water. The short burned the wiring some where under some 60 feet of cement. I forgot to mention the wiring in existing conduit will not pull through have tried several times even as despreate as a come-along.



Ive had an electrician and Genral contractor both look at it and both said wiring is fried, but im looking for advice on my two options.



1st is cutting a trench in the cement about 60 to 70 feet from circuit breaker to pool equipment. Then using conduit the whole lenght like it was previously but no under ground box. Just two connections breacker & pool Equip.



2nd option the breaker is near my atic. run power from breaker through the house atic to where pops out on the other side of the house. would be about 50 feet through atic and about another 50 feet of conduit 25 above ground attached to eves and 25 below ground to pool equipment. This is a similar route as the gas line to pool equipment they will come out of atic about 20 feet apart then eventually follow similar path is this a problem?? I was told to use 12-3 Romex?? Suggestions on which route to take would be great. Atic is clearly easyer but concerend with closeness to gas line. Thanks before hand for the help
      

First off, I have read a majority of the posts concerning this subject and they have been very helpful and answered many questions, but I still have a few.



I am wanting to run power to a detached shed that is around 100 feet from the house. However, due to the location of my main panel and the easiest route to run the power, I am looking at running cable about 270 feet. I measured it out to exactly 263 feet, but figured it would be best to go longer. I am wanting to run at least 60 amps to the shed, as I won't be using it for nothing more then power outlets (basic power tools) and lights. Here are my questions:



1) What cable would be best for such a long distance run?



2) Would a 60 amp subpanel be sufficient for this job. I am looking at only 4 circuits: 1 for internal outlets, 1 for lighting, 1 for motion sensor light outside and 1 for external outlet. I am looking at the following panel:

http://www.homedepot.com/Electrical-...&storeId=10051



I have seen some marked 70 amp and wondering if they make a difference:

http://www.homedepot.com/Electrical-...&storeId=10051



3) Also, I will be installing a 30 amp RV connector circuit from my main panel  to the where I park my Camper Trailer, which is a run of about 75 feet. What would be the best cable for this sort of run under ground? Can I run both cable together in the same conduit until I junction if off to where I will be installing the plug for the camper?



4) Would the following be the circuit breakers to use:



60 amp - http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...&storeId=10051



30 amp - http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...&storeId=10051



I think that is it for now. Thanks in advance for all your help!!
      

I am installing a new semi flush 200a meter/breaker panel. the neutral meter lug is bonded to the panel, and comes into the breaker side to a common bus. There is no ground bus bar

Q- do i need to install a separate ground bus for my circuit ground(s) and ground rod, and if so, do they need to be bonded together? or can i just use the common bus for all grounds and commons if there is adequate space?
      

Had a Home Inspection (don't have the report yet.)  The house was built in 1983.  One thing the inspector said was a grounding wire should be put in from the panel in the garage to the outside box.



He also said I should have a new panel put in ($ 1,500-1,700).  That's a lot of money especially when you're just buying a house.  It sort of concerns me, but he didn't sound like it was urgent.



I can't believe I'd have to replace circuit breakers.  I'll get 3 estimates when I do this.



Is this a normal problem for houses this age?



I always think of my dad's 60 yr old house and he never once had a repairman.  I think his electrical was ancient.
      

Getting ready to replace my well jet pump with a 240 volt model (currently I use a 120 volt pump. Currently I have a 20 amp, 120 volt circuit that runs from the house to the pump house about 60 feet. I use that circuit for the pump, a light and a receptacle. I want to replace that circuit with a 20 amp MWBC using 12/3 UF cable from the sub panel in my detached barn to the pump house (about 20 feet).



Question: Can I use 1/2" seal-tite to run from the sub panel to a a junction box prior to going underground with the 12/3 UF? The seal-tight run would be about 30". (I have a bunch of seal-tite, connectors and #12 THWN that I bought cheap at a storage unit auction.) The seal-tite would be run in the stud bay and along side the ceiling joist to get from one side of the barn to the other.



Question: Can I use an unfused air conditioning disconnect at the pump house to disconnect the 2 ungrounded conductors of the MWBC.



I can find nothing in the NEC that would bar either of these items, but I am a code novice.