I am in the process of applying for an electrical permit from the township. I have an existing 200 amp service which has two breaker spots available. From here I am going to run a 100 amp subpanel to support new outlets in the shop. The current drawing I am working on can be see here:
Some questions I have:
- I am wondering if I should run 30 amp breakers with 10 gauge wire for everything or wether 20 amp breakers with 12 guage would suffice.
- The table saw that I am planning for the shop rates at 240v 13 amp. Will that pull more than 13 amp when it is first turned on? It seems like there is always a spike when a motor first turns on.
- At this point I don't have plans for another tool that requires 240, and I don't have a whole lot of space in the shop. I don't think I should bother running another 240, but does it make sense to run a second one just in case?
- The shop part of the basement is unfinished and has exposed studs which are the back of the finished part of the basement. Right now all existing recepticals are just connected to these studs with NM electrical cable running through the studs back to the existing panel. Is it OK to duplicate this practice with the new subpanel? (I wired an unfinished basement without studs some years ago and used aluminum conduit. I fealt really good about it. It doesn't sit well having all this cable exposed.)
- In the existing wiring there is a bunch of NM cable that runs over some ceiling beams. It isn't secured and kind of weaves in and out of each other. Is that up to code? It seems odd.
- What kind of wire is recommended to run between the panels? It needs to be rated to 100 amp and have 3 wires and a ground. I believe I read that the grounding is done differently on the subpanel vs the main panel because one wants the shortest path to ground. Could someone elaborate?
- The existing panel is Square D, but I have heard some complaints and was considering using GE for the new one. Should I use Square D for the new panel to remain consistent?
Thanks, Howard