General electrical question for garage

[TheJulian]

Hey all,

In my garage, I currently have 1 electrical outlet… Yeah, 1.. You can laugh now, it's ok.

Anyways, I am going to be tearing the drywall down, installing ceiling joists, insulating and re-drywalling. While I have the walls open, I am wanting to add 6 outlets on each side of the garage, and 5 in the ceiling once I build it.

Where my question really comes in is here: I have an old Zinsco panel on my house, which i'm going to have swapped out in the coming months for a 200a panel with more slots available for extra circuits. Since I will be having this done instead of doing myself, I was wondering what everyone's opinion was to having a sub panel added in the garage at the same time versus just doing long runs back to the main breaker panel. for each circuit.

The approximate distance of the run from the main panel to the garage is about 70 feet.

I like the idea of a sub panel, because I have a welder in the garage, and a few other tools that I don't want to have to run out to the main panel if for some reason I was to trip a breaker, and it would afford me the ability to add more plugs, lights, etc circuits as the need arises..

I never plan on having something plugged into all the plugs at the same time, I just want to have the plugs there so I don't have to search for a plug to get some power.

I am just torn, and I don't know if it's a better idea financially / logically / feasibly to do a sub panel, or to just do runs directly to the mains panel.

What say you?

 

[Stuart in MN]

Is the garage attached to the house? For an attached garage you can run separate circuits from the main panel if you want, for a detached garage a sub panel is mandatory. However, I think it makes more sense to use a sub panel even in an attached garage for the reasons you mention. Plus, chances are it won't be any more difficult or expensive to install than separate circuits. So, I would say go for it - now's the time to get the subpanel in the garage, while the electrician is on site doing the rest of the work.

 

[Steevo]

A sub-panel makes it easier to wire the garage now, and then just feed it off the new panel later. Less wire, less hassle.

 

[TheJulian]

@ Stuart: Yes, the garage is attached, it's a 18x24 attached to the house.

@ Steevo: So if I understand you correctly, you're saying that I can install the sub-panel and wire all the circuits up to it in the garage then have the electrician run the feed to the main panel when I have the main service panel replaced?

Thanks for the quick replies guys!

 

[mrb]

@ Stuart: Yes, the garage is attached, it's a 18x24 attached to the house.

@ Steevo: So if I understand you correctly, you're saying that I can install the sub-panel and wire all the circuits up to it in the garage then have the electrician run the feed to the main panel when I have the main service panel replaced?

Thanks for the quick replies guys!

i would not go about doing it in that fashion. The electrician may not want to finish work you started (and there are permit issues)

 

[TheJulian]

i would not go about doing it in that fashion. The electrician may not want to finish work you started (and there are permit issues)

Well, My father in law is a building inspector so whenever I have questions about code, I go to him and he provides me with the most up to date information (On an unrelated note: I just got the 2011 Span table for CA, which has changed in my favor fortunately for the ceiling joists) So I know that as long as I follow what he's provided to me I should be within code, however I do see your point about another person not wanting to finish up my work.

I was just hoping that I could do all the rough in wiring for each circuit, and pull them to the sub panel for the electrician to do all the breaker connections and connection to the main panel, but if I gotta let him to everything then I suppose that's just what I gotta do...