Siemens SC816D200C Combo Panel Question

[thinair]

This is the current panel I have hanging on the outside of my house, which serves power to the main lug panel in my basement (no main breaker on lug panel in house). It is rated at 200a, has a breaker of 200a supplied with the panel with (service disconnect) marked next to it. Actually 4 breakers all tied together at the toggles. There area 8 more knock outs, 2 below and 6 above this breaker. There are also 2 more knock outs alone and above with another service disconnect sticker on it, but those are not part of the main branch of lugs that the existing 200a breaker is on.
OK, now the big question;
I'd like to remove this panel from the house and hang it on the new garage I'm building that is detached, 40 ft. from the house and closer to the utility pole. I'd like to drop the overhead in on the garage and run to this panel, from the panel I'd like to service another panel (sub I suppose) in the garage and give the garage 100a. Then I'd like to run underground from the combo panel to the house and give the house 100a.
Can I simply change out the current 200a breaker for a 100a, run (SER) into the garage to a new 100a main breaker subpanel, and add a net new 100a breaker to the combo service entry and run underground UFR to the existing main lug panel in the house?
There is a sticker on the inside of the SE that states that "A maximum of a 100a breaker may be installed in the lowest position of the branch panel, all other positions may have a max of 70a.
Confused.

 

[Norcal]

Those panels are cheap enough that is not worth the trouble to reuse them. Plus it will make things easier to swap if you start w/ a new panel.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

So the house has 200a currently, and you want to drop it to 100a?

Charles

 

[thinair]

Well, I'd have no problem buying another inexpensive panel as long as I knew exactly what to buy. The upgrade to 320/400 is so expensive that I carefully thought over my amperage needs. I'd like to share 200 between the house and garage. The house is two bedroom, no dishwasher, radiant boiler, no electric hot water heater, no hot tub/jetted tub. I think if I could share the 200 I'd be covered. I just thought 100a at each building would do it. I'm all ears for ways to use the 200a most effectively. Thanks so much for the help.

 

[thinair]

Those panels are cheap enough that is not worth the trouble to reuse them. Plus it will make things easier to swap if you start w/ a new panel.

But what new panel? I'd need to know what panel to purchase to accomplish the sharing of 200a between garage and house. The supply houses around here either won't share that info outside of the profession, or they are not so well informed. Looking for a source to find good beta on what specifically to use so I don't throw cash away purchasing the wrong service entry for my desires.

 

[Jester1]

First piece of advice is to hire an electrician in your area, he will be able to better to guide you through the pitfalls of permits, national codes and local codes with the building dept, power supplier or authorities having jurisdiction.

Power panels are not cumulative to what the main breaker, you can in fact run a 100a panel to your new garage and keep the 200 at the house. As an electrical contractor I would advise you to feed the new garage from your existing meter/main on your home and ensure that you have proper grounding.

If you where installing outlets, lights, yada yes DIY. This is main power, I say hire a pro so you don't need to see you new garage/hard work/costly investment go up in flames. With that said, look into wiring the interior of your new garage yourself to save some $$.

Besides as I don't know where you are (state) some insurance companies will not cover power wired in by the homeowner and with the state the country is in don't give the damn insurance companies any more "power" over our lives

 

[Mustang51js]

You need to leave the 200 amp breaker in since that's the main for the whole service, what you would need to do is add 100 amp breaker for house panel and 100 amp breaker for the garage panel. So you would have a 200 amp main with two 100 amp breakers under it. You need to separate grounds and nuetrals in both panels and run the main grounds to the main panel in garage

 

[thinair]

Ahh, gotcha. I'll have to look for a panel that will allow for this, the current panel allows for just one 100a breaker below the 200a disconnect. States right in the panel this fact, but all of the others above the disconnect can be 75a. So in this case, I'd feed 100a to the house and 75a to the garage. Since I'll be purchasing another panel anyway I'll search for one that offers up 2 100a slots in addition to the 200a on board disconnect.
Thanks Mustang!

 

[Stuff]

First - that number is for a Square D (Schneider Electric).
Second - That panel is designed for feed-through lugs going to your inside panel. The 200 main would protect both your inside panel and a 100 amp breaker feeding your garage. So the easiest DIY would be to just run a four wire cable over to the garage with a 100a main breaker panel and two grounding rods.