Wiring subfeed to garage

[pennsylvaniaboy]

So here is a question. I plan to wire a subfeed in my garage. 90-100amp. THe plan is to wire it myself, trench a feed etc. It is currently November and the ground will start freezing soon. I do not know if I will get it trenched before then.

The garage currently has some 12-2 romex feeding the garage and lights etc. Over the winter when I have a lot of extra free time, I want to rewire the garage. I see 2 ways to do this-

1. Wire everything in the garage with new panel etc, but leave it all dead, forcing me to leave existing outlets and lights intact as well....( this will happen to some degree anyways,

Or could I use the 12-2 romex feed, to temp wire in my panel and allow my to have it ready , minus the sub feed?



Another question- If I run a single run of conduit down the center of my trusses, can I just use armored 12-2 to branch left and right off to my fluorescent lights?

 

[simpler=better]

Personally I'd worry about trenching first. You can take your time inside later, but it IS getting cold out

 

[ford33]

If possible dig the trench now and install the feed. It will make you feel better that it is done and you can finish the job by spring.

 

[FordTruckWench]

Or could I use the 12-2 romex feed, to temp wire in my panel and allow my to have it ready , minus the sub feed?

Yes.

But check the minimum wire size for your panel's input. Very likely 12ga is too small. One solution to this is to use a 20A breaker to backfeed from your 12-2 into the panel. If this was a permanent / inspected setup, you'd need extra hardware on the breaker used that way: a holddown kit and maybe more.

With 12-2 you only have one leg. It'll work to backfeed this into both legs of the panel. But note, 240V loads won't work; and you only have 20A @ 120V of power.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

I would do the feeder first.

U can do the inside wiring during the winter with a heater plugged in.

Once the ground freezes, u have to wait til it thaws to do the feeder as youve already pointed out.