How can I surface mount a panel in a finished attached garage while protecting the romex going into it?

[dragonballz]

The wall that the panel will be mounted to is living area on the other side so I need 5/8" Type X drywall. The ceiling will also have 5/8" Type X drywalI. I will then put plywood on top of the drywall to give the panel something to secure to. How do I run the romex to the panel? How can I keep it so I can run future circuits? This will be permitted work and will be inspected.

Thank you

 

[pattenp]

Since it will be inspected the best answer will come from your inspector, so give them a call. With that said I suggest a box chase from top of panel to the ceiling.

 

[dragonballz]

Since it will be inspected the best answer will come from your inspector, so give them a call. With that said I suggest a box chase from top of panel to the ceiling.

Are you referring to a trough or something similar? I Googled "box chase" and didnt see anything electrical related. Can you link me to something to give me somewhere to start my search? Thank you!

 

[jbfsr]

Search for wiremold. Check out " G4000" wiremold.

 

[u2slow]

A "box chase" could be made from plywood. Another trick is to keep the romex above the height it needs to be protected.

There are also long skinny junction boxes aka gutters. Run the romex thru the wall into the back, and then a few short conduits into the panel.

NEC isn't my code. Check with your inspector.

 

[Stuart in MN]

A "box chase" could be made from plywood. Another trick is to keep the romex above the height it needs to be protected.

Some have also built a box chase out of sheet metal, painted to match the panelboard. If it's something that can be fastened in place with screws, it will be easy to remove in the future for making changes or additions to the wiring.

 

[pattenp]

Are you referring to a trough or something similar? I Googled "box chase" and didnt see anything electrical related. Can you link me to something to give me somewhere to start my search? Thank you!

It is a surface mounted wood cover/channel /trough/gutter, whatever you want to call it, you can make from 2X4's and plywood to go from the top of the panel to the ceiling to cover the romex.

 

[driftpin]

A raceway.

 

[nadogail]

I used a box chase to protect the NN cable feed that passes through a cabinet and feeds an overhead mounted space heater in my work shop. I built it from 1/4” plywood and 1” lumber.

 

[sparky 1971]

I would just run the plywood up the wall close to the ceiling. Staple the romex to the plywood. I've done that quite a few times in a garage when it's a remodel, and almost every time I have wired a new home, it's what I did, but in the basement. My first house didn't have a basement or a garage, so I did the box method there because the panel was in the mud room and the first thing someone would see when they came in the back door. I screwed the new panel to the wall and ran a 2X4 on each side of the panel, floor to ceiling. I drywalled that one in because I knew I was never going to add another circuit to that p.o.s., ever. You could use plywood, just remove the screws to access the chase in the future.

 

[Miss the Pontiacs]

Here is what I did. I took 4” conduit and routed out the sides for cabling. The holes on the front allowed me to screw through the back and with the addition of a washer securely mounted to 3/4” plywood. There are additional pics on my garage build if you want to check it out.

 

[STANG302]

Just wrapped up our home build. In the garage we have 100 amp feeding in the bottom of the panel and power running out the top in conduit. It then jumps over to a 2x10 raceway then across the rafters. Should make finishing down the road easy.

Garage doors were setup to feed off the panel outlet box before rest of garage was wired. Would like to run through the conduit into panel eventually to clean it up.

 

[e36jon]

I used this 'plenum' product that has removable covers. Made it easy to get things to the box and was easy to work with. No ceiling drywall yet but it's planned...

 

[Kezorm]

Just wrapped up our home build. In the garage we have 100 amp feeding in the bottom of the panel and power running out the top in conduit. It then jumps over to a 2x10 raceway then across the rafters. Should make finishing down the road easy.

Garage doors were setup to feed off the panel outlet box before rest of garage was wired. Would like to run through the conduit into panel eventually to clean it up.

How many current carrying conductors in the upper conduit? It looks long enough that I think you need to derate ampacity if more than 3 current carrying conductors.

 

[nadogail]

Building a "Box Chase" or protected wireway will ensure future flexibility for yet to be imagined modifications. The sub panel in my home Laundry Room was dry walled around. When we remolded the kitchen I replaced the drywall at the top of the panel with a removable cover that has since been frequently removed several times.

 

[alfredeneuman]

I used this 'plenum' product that has removable covers. Made it easy to get things to the box and was easy to work with. No ceiling drywall yet but it's planned...

That's called a "screw cover wireway". A good thing about them is that, if metal, you can run up to 30 current carrying wires without derating. (Conduit needs to be derated when running >3 wires)

 

[Juiced06GTO]

Trough is the cleanest way to do it.

 

[mike93lx]

Trough is the cleanest way to do it.

That trough does not look all that clean to me, but maybe it is the angle

 

[Juiced06GTO]

Haha there are a bunch of wires not pulled through yet, all the 240 stuff is just wrapped up down below, compressor, welder, mini split, etc. to get it up off the ground and tucked away til we finish it up. They are all just pulled up to junction boxes in the crawl space so that we can run pipe down to their final locations, once I figure that out, so we didn't pull them up into the panel yet.

 

[BreeStephany]

I would just install a surface mounted gutter above the panel with conduit chases into the panel and then run your NM cables through the plywood / drywall into the back of the gutter and then just run your conductors down the chases into the panel.

You are only required to have 1 grounding conductor per chase, sized per the largest conductor in the chase, so you can mount a ground bar in the gutter, land all of your grounds to the ground bar in the gutter and then run a single ground per chase from the ground bar in the gutter to the ground bar in the panel, which will also reduce clutter within the panel.