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Big feeder cable, little wall space

noahhl

New member
Joined
Mar 15, 2009
Messages
1
Hi-

Long time lurker, first time poster.

I'm trying to run a feeder for a 100 amp subpanel from main panel in my basement to my attached garage (house built in a hill, so on the same level).

I've had two electricians out to take a look, and 3 potential approaches to doing this have come up:
1) Run a cable down a wall ~30 feet, enter the garage, and then run on the surface to subpanel in the garage ~15 feet (I'll be using conduit to run branches within the garage, so don't mind this cable on the surface; garage is cinderblock on 3 of 4 walls).
2) Run a cable down another wall (main panel in a corner) about 15 feet, then enter an I-beam soffit and run ~25 feet down that soffit, enter the garage, and then run ~20-25 feet to the subpanel.
3) Run through the ceiling ~35-40 feet to the subpanel.

Of these options, I favor 1 or 2. I'm going to repaint the basement walls anyway so I don't mind cutting a section out to run cable, but really don't want to mess with the textured ceiling.

Regardless of which one of those options I end up doing, or whether I do the work or hire an electrician (I'm getting estimates that look like 400-500 in labor, which I find a little more than I want to pay), the challenge is the wall. From what I can tell, the structure of the basement is cinder block with a 2x4 wall put on top to hold the drywall, except the 2x4's are turned sideways, so the actual amount of open space is ~1.5". Feeder cable for ~100 amp subpanel looks to be about 3/4" or bigger.

Any idea on the best way to approach this? About the best solution I have is to drill a 1" hole as centered as I can in each of the studs, and put metal protective plates on the front. I think this works from an NEC perspective (using metal covers where wire runs <1.5" from front of stud), and should be fine from a building code perspective since these walls aren't load bearing.

Any suggestions or thoughts would be helpful.

Thanks!
 
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mrb

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 31, 2008
Messages
3,734
the cable for 100 amps is going to be a heck of alot bigger than 3/4.. (where did you get that from?)
cant run cable on the surface of the wall in the garage...has to be protected from physical damage.
 
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trbomax

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 21, 2010
Messages
2,556
Location
starvation lake,mi.
I wouldn't even try to drill the hole.Just set your skill saw at 1 7/16" deep and remove 3/4" of the stud,then plate over it.That might not fly with mr inspector though. By the time you try to drill a 1" hole in the 2 by, theres not going to be any structure left anyway,and if the drill runs out,you have a mess that you have to chisel or end up sawing out anyway.
 

noslo04

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 20, 2009
Messages
68
Location
Northern Virginia
Would it be possible to go straight up from the basement through a finished wall on the first floor and enter the attic to run it over and then back down to the garage? That's what I did to run a #1 aluminum feeder for a subpanel in my attached garage.

A contractor friend suggested that I run it outside in conduit over to the garage, but I liked the way that I did it better.
 
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