Garage sub-panel. 100a? 200a? How about 125a?

[ultrarunner]

Ive said it before, our farm is feed at 60A total, house, barns, and we use a tombstone welder..

It is amazing what can be accomplished with a little advanced thinking... when I lived in my 3 bedroom 1 bath home with detached 12 x 18 shop the entire property was served by a single 30 amp glass Edison fuse... no 220 volt... in the years I lived there not once did I have to replace the 30 amp main fuse.

My shop was simple... hand power tools, drop cord, Craftsman Table Saw and Drill Press...

In the house I had a full size washer and gas dryer...

 

[Ortimber]

They always say, go big or go home.

I tend to agree with this when it comes to power. You just don’t know what your future requirements will be.

 

[marchanna]

My old shop had 6 CNC machines running on 60amp service. It was 3-phase 575vac though. We did have to upgrade though, because we were running at 100% of the load.

 

[medic0648]

I believe any panel delivers only 80% of rated value, so a 100a panel would deliver 80a and would be maxed out?

You should only load a breaker to 80% of its marked rating if the circuit will see near the rated ampacity for 3+ hours per day per code. Below 3 hours and you can run 100% of the rating. In commercial construction we regularly load the breakers to 100% of the rating with lighting causing us to have to reset the breaker every couple of days during the summer. So you can do it, but at the expense of replacing breakers on a somewhat regular basis(in our case every couple of years.)

 

[truckdiagnostics]

I think the idea to pull 200a wire, and set a 200a panel is a good route. Connect it to a 125a breaker in the main panel, which will deliver 80% of 125a to the garage. That method won't interfere with the amps I need for the residence. But if I ever needed to go above that (HVAC?) it is all in place. Overkill? Maybe.

Someone suggested adding propane heat after final inspection. But that is flouting the rules so I of course would never do that. :laughing:

This makes sense! and after reading your situation over, what I would do. FYI, last year put ac in the shop. Glad I had the 200 amps.