Running power to workshop - not the usual..

[tomsmith]

Hey all,

Here's the situation. My 12x24 workshop/shed is in dire need of power. I've been running an extension cord from an external socket to the shed but it's becoming a real pain to keep switching from my mitre saw, to table saw, to air compressor etc.

At some point, I want to run permanent power to the workshop so during the winter, I start wiring it up with my receptacles etc. It's fully wired up with a large panel but of course - no power

I just had my lawn resodded at pretty significant cost and the last thing I want to do is tear it up with machinery. What I'd like to is run my extension cable into the panel and that way, it can power on each piece of equipment at a time. I won't be running more than one.

Now, here's what it gets interesting. This is how I wired up the panel...

1) The white wire goes into the neutral bar. This is the bar that all the white wires from the receptacles go into.

2) The black wire is going into the main 100A breaker.

3) The copper wire goes into the green nut grounded to the panel.

Seems pretty straight forward but as soon as I plug in the extension cord, it trips the breaker in the house.

Clearly I'm doing something wrong, help me out!

 

[dreamingmuscle]

Ground goes to the bus bar on the other side

 

[dreamingmuscle]

Pics would help

 

[tomsmith]

Here's a pic. The two bars are neutral bars right? Because the ground appears to have it's own dedicated bar at the bottom. The wire coming from the top is the one from my extension cord

The white wire from the extension cord was inserted into the vertical bar on the right. I disconnected it later.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Looks like youre using NM-B aka Romex as an extension cord? If so its not UV resistant nor is to be used in wet locations.

Is the outlet that youre plugged into at the house GFCI protected? If so, the neutral bar in the panel pictured is bomded to the panel enclosure and so some neutral return current is most likely returning on the ground wire, so the GFCI is seeing an imbalance in current between hot and neutral and trips to protect the user.

Remove the bonding jumper on the neutral bar(upper left of right hand bar) and I bet your problem will be fixed.

 

[pattenp]

Did you install 2 ground rods at the shed for the new panel? This has nothing to do with the circuit tripping.

 

[tomsmith]

Is the outlet that youre plugged into at the house GFCI protected? If so, the neutral bar in the panel pictured is bomded to the panel enclosure and so some neutral return current is most likely returning on the ground wire, so the GFCI is seeing an imbalance in current between hot and neutral and trips to protect the user.

Remove the bonding jumper on the neutral bar(upper left of right hand bar) and I bet your problem will be fixed.

It IS plugged into a GFCI outlet!I'm gonna remove the bar just as you suggested and report back

 

[wyliesdiesels]

It IS plugged into a GFCI outlet!I'm gonna remove the bar just as you suggested and report back

All u need to do is remove the green screw and the tab that connects the bar to the enclosure which sits under the screw

 

[Aceman]

Work like that shows you shouldn't be doing your own wiring and is also the reason there is a permit process.

 

[ard]

H
At some point, I want to run permanent power to the workshop



so during the winter, I start wiring it up with my receptacles etc.




I just had my lawn resodded at pretty significant cost


and the last thing I want to do is tear it up with machinery.)

Im all for helping a bro out...but...

You knew you needed a conduit/cable to the shed...but you didnt do it.

You wired the shop
then sodded the lawn ....

and NOW you've sodded yourself into a corner

What will change to result in "now I can lay the cable"??

Id bit the bullet. There are lots of ways to get a conduit down with a minimum of destruction.

 

[sands35]

Work like that shows you shouldn't be doing your own wiring and is also the reason there is a permit process.

I agree. Workmanship can be improved. Better wire routing and planning inside the box. It also looks like the ground and neutral are bonded inside the sub - which is a no no.

The bar with the green screw should be the neutral feed and the green screw removed. It needs to be electrically isolated from the panel case.

Power coming is is back-feeding through a breaker? Not really a problem, but the breaker needs to be rated for that. Breakers used for generators will work.

There are electrical books that describe exactly what the OP needs to do. $10-15 at a big box.

Or this:
http://graph.darren-criss.org/2016/02/06/wire-for-100-amp-sub-panel-diagram-l-208630faa5e7d863.JPG

Or

http://www.selfhelpforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=2552&stc=1&d=1248840700

He also need to bury conduit or a some sort of code legal electrical feed to the shed. The grass will re-grow this fall.

 

[FJ 432]

Are you really worried about killing some grass???

That picture is grossing me out. Hire an electrician, please.

 

[teamo]

Rent a trencher and run the conduit out to the shed the correct way. With the extension cord you are only getting 120 volts anyway. If you run the conduit with the proper wiring you'll have a 240 volt sub panel. The trench isn't going to ruin the whole lawn. Just lay the pipe and reseed the damaged area and it will be all filled in with new grass in a few weeks.

 

[dave*99]

You only fed one of the legs in the panel. Therefore any breaker stabbed into the other leg will not be powered.

Look at the photos on this site for neatly wired panels. You will learn a lot.

 

[tomsmith]

All u need to do is remove the green screw and the tab that connects the bar to the enclosure which sits under the screw

Cheers! That was it! Disconnecting the green screw and tab worked.

I have a guy coming around with a trencher on the weekend. He says we might be able to roll back the sod, trench, lay the cable and simply roll back the sod so it has minimum damage. I pulled up a few corners of sod and the roots haven't gone all the way into the soil yet. They have definitely made it through the sod roll. Electrician is coming the following weekend to connect to the house panel and the subpanel in the workshop.

For everyone else, thanks for the input.

 

[justsam]

Don't just lay that Romex in the ground unless it is UF, which is required for direct bury. Regular NM-b can not be used.

 

[CGT80]

Put in an extra pvc conduit and pull rope in case you ever want to run low voltage out there or even air hose or water. It is better to have it and not need it than to have to dig that all up again.

 

[ddawg16]

Poster child for how 'not to do it'.

Not trying to rag on you.....but this is a perfect example of why we have electrical codes and inspections.

If that was to be inspected....and I'm willing to bet you didn't pull a permit (and need one), it would NOT pass.

 

[tomsmith]

@CGT80 - Good idea. I was going to lay two conduits down. 1 for the main power and another for ethernet cable but it doesn't hurt to add another one.

The electrician gave me a call and asked how deep the trench was going to be. I said around 20" because 18" is minimum code around here. HE's advised I dig a 26" trench instead. The power conduit will be 26" deep then filled in with 8" of dirt and then he'll lay the ethernet conduit at 18" and then filled in to level.

Unfortunately, the trench guy only has a trencher capable of 20" so he's going to try and find a bigger one which means it won't happening this week..