providing power to a detached garage

[zacbkennedy]

I have just finished building a detached garage and i am in need of power. id like to pull power from the house's main breaker but not sure if this is possible. trying to keep this as affordable as i can. the main breaker on the outside where the service meter is shows a 150 amp breaker. in the house, the breaker panel has 3 30 amp breakers as well as 9 15 amp breakers and 7 20 amp breakers. this already seems like too much even though we have no problem with power in the house. i want to install a 100 amp sub panel in the garage. i can wire up the garage no problem but bringing power to the sub panel is where my knowledge falls short. Can someone help?

 

[Matt Matt]

What state or country are you in?

You really need to start backwards.
How big is your shop?
How much lighting do you require?
What is the power load that you require in your shop?
How far away from panel to the detached garage panel wiring required (in feet)?

Then start working forward

What size wire is feeding your main panel?
What is the breaker size in the main panel (if main breaker is there)?
How many empty slots do you have?
Do you have an electric stove?
Do you have an electric dryer?
Do you have an electric hot water tank?
Do you have an electric furnace?
Do you have air conditioning? And what size?


Can you provide some pictures?

 

[sberry]

3 30A breakers says dryer, water heater and possibly cooking or air cond. This will likely be fine to add a garage.

 

[HOTFR8]

Answers will depend on your location as pointed out by Matt Matt.

 

[Jazz1]

I had eliminated any big power electrical appliances in my house so I ran off a 60 amp breaker from panel in house to supply 24x30 garage I had built. Plenty of power for my needs. Never tripped a breaker to my compressor or welder.

 

[mike93lx]

You sound like you need an electrician. What you are looking to do is not insignificant but you don't have a reasonable working knowledge of the equipment and materials.

 

[pattenp]

Just adding up the breakers in your panel doesn't tell you what the typical max loads are in use at one time. You need to do a load calculation to determine current power use and also do an anticipated load calculation for the garage to see if the existing service is large enough. Usually you'll find you can add a 50A-60A feeder to the garage with no issue if just having a couple of tools running, nothing real power hungry, but the load cals based on possible tools/heat/AC/EV charger and such running in the garage will tell you what you need.