Need electrical advice

[LD1]

According to code, yes you should probably have the plastic cap ion them threads.

Now the next issue, and I am afraid the salesman may have given you bad advise..

but for a 100a service, the requirement is 4ga copper, not the 6 that you said he sold you.

I dont know why he wouldnt recommend the 2ga aluminum. WAY cheaper.

 

[yelbike]

For stripping as an electrician I use most a dull banana style knife laid flat on its side. We don't really have that style cable here but it does resemble festoon crane cable. Anyway with dull banana knife you can feel the different layers of insulation so you can glide against the inner jacket. I can pulling the knife towards myself.

By cec code you do need a grommet but by practice most inspection will let it go without because its PVC pipe.

The ground rod may or may not be required but running a # 6 awg bare cable does not need mechanical protection according to Cec. Keep in mind cec is Canadian but typically very close to your code.

For the size of cable your good to 60amps unless you distance is long, say over 100' from the main panel.

 

[LD1]

For the size of cable your good to 60amps unless you distance is long, say over 100' from the main panel.

I mentioned this because it looks like the box in his pictures says 100a??

Which is fine, as long as you are only feeding it from a 60a breaker in the house, and drop a 60a main in that panel

 

[smalltown]

LD1 you have a keen eye! Yes I am going to run a 60 AMP breaker in the main panel to feed this one. As I recall this panel was chosen because it was the only panel around this size that came with a main breaker already installed. I thought having a breaker out in the garage a good idea. I am going to affix a label in the main panel to only use a 60 amp breaker.

 

[Guesseral]

Ok yes you would need a bushing on the threads for 1-1/4 and larger conduits. The ampacity of the #6 UF cable you installed would be per the 60deg C rating of the wire which is 55A since this is not a standard size breaker or fuse rating you can go to the next larger standard size breaker or fuse so 60A would be max, although you could probably get buy with less. You do have to have a grounding electrode system for a remote building or structure so drive the ground rod and connect to it with a #6 wire. At the remote panel do not connect the grounded conductor (white neural) to the same bar as the bare grounding conductor, you need to install a separate ground bar to connect all of your ground wires to including the #6 from the rod. If you have water at this building you must bond the metal piping also. But I didn't tell you any of this!

 

[hr3]

I practiced a few times so I made my decision. Rather then cutting the insulation on the flat side I slowly and carefully sliced away insulation on the edge of the black conductor then pulled the conductor away from the the insulation. Going to the opposite side I freed the red, then the ground lead, and finally the white. Whew it came out unscathed.

Before I cut my wires and snug them down could I ask a little more?
In the photo of the sub panel where I have entered the panel using plastic conduit should I be using a plastic grommet screwed onto the exposed threads as you would with metal conduit?
Lastly (I hope) should I install a ground rod outside of the garage with Number 6 wire?

The second photo is just to show what I have been working with for cable.

Won't be able to finish today as Grampa has got to get ready to go camping with the grandson and the Boy Scout troop, for the weekend, but I am a happy camper getting this far! :jump:

View attachment 323779View attachment 323780

Yes to the ground rod "required" and no to the plastic end bushing,, The NEC says #4 or larger only and you have#6...

PS.. good job stripping...

 

[yelbike]

Yes to the ground rod "required" and no to the plastic end bushing,, The NEC says #4 or larger only and you have#6...

PS.. good job stripping...

CeC is #8 awg or large needs bushing regardless of the conduit diameter. So I guess there is differences.

 

[tnmike]

UF cable is rated for direct burial but in my opinion conduit is cheap insurance. I have seen countless failures of direct buried utility service conductors with much thicker insulation than UF. It is about impossible to backfill with out rock impinging on the conductor jacket in this area. This can eventually cause failure.

They make a special tool to strip UF. I run a sharp knife down the sheath along the ground wire and then pull it apart. You can carefully do the same thing to the other conductors.

No matter what UF is a PITA to work with. Its is hard to bend and hard to pull in conduit. It tends fo kink when pushed or pulled. Universally hated.

 

[grsthegreat]

As long as the breaker in the house is 60 amps, you can leave the shop panel with the 100 amp main breaker and there will be no problem. The 100 amp panel is protected by a 60 amp breaker at the house. so all is well.

You DO have to drive 1 ground rod at the subpanel (shop) even though you have a hard wired ground wire run with feeders (NEC REGS).

As far as stripping UF cables. i do it all the time. As an electrician i cant seem to get away from the crap.

I have found a real easy way to do it. I use a sharp utility knife and insert it between the bare ground wire and the white wire. Then I PUSH it away from me while angling the blade into the bare copper side. i NEVER nick the hots or neutrals doing this. Then i do the same thing on the other side of the ground and the RED wire. After i have separated the ground wires, i make a slit at the end of the White wire side in the area left available after the ground wire was removed. Then i simply peal the White wire out of its sheath.

I do the same on the hot side. After the Red wire is removed, a small slit into the red leader will allow its removal from the outer sheath.The black follows the same way.

These slits are done towards the cut ends of the wires, and always on the inside layers (the inside are the layers that were next to the ground wires. The insulation is thinner there.


For me, ill always use XHHW alum conductors in conduit before i EVER use UF cable. I can always repull the feeders if ever necessary in conduit. UF requires a backhoe if repairs are ever necessary. Also, cost of xhhw AND conduit is cheaper than smaller sized UF . I can run a 100 amp alum feeder in conduit for less $$ than a 40 amp copper without conduit.

I have gotten so i can strip these in very little time, with no resulting damage to other wires.