Installing 100 AMP SUB PANEL - THE COMPLETE PROCESS - SAVED THOUSANDS $$$

after five days of working on my panel we have power in the garage i just saved myself a couple grand so in this video i'm going to show you the entire process of getting a sub panel put in your garage i know i always like watching videos where someone actually shows a lot of the process you catch things and you learn from them hopefully i help somebody out you like this video be sure to give me a big thumbs up and subscribe and share with your friends and your family our install i'm using 100 amp box we got it 20 slots for 20 spaces 40 circuits and we got a value pack so to start with this we have a 30 220s i bought an extra 220s and an extra two 15s to get me started we're gonna be using number two aluminum wire this is 105 feet we bought a little extra because you do not want to be short if you're doing these type of projects we have to have that box sticking out three quarters of an inch past this post because if we ever finish this walls we're gonna put that metal on these walls right now when we come in and we ever put a wall in here it'll butt up to about right there give us three quarters of an inch and when we put that metal right here on it you can see that little bump it'll fit right against the panel door right there so i have a flush fit for that so i'm just kind of planning for the future on that but right now the plan is to run that pipe down right here and then out somewhere right in there so it's in the gray or in the black sorry outside so we'll run it up to right there and that's where our main feed will come in and go up to the 100 amp breaker i think that gives us a good position of putting a an outlet here maybe even an outlet there you know a plug-in so probably our first two plugins will one be here and then one will be right over there so i'll probably get two to be able to set some light up in here because we really need some light i'm barely being able to record this video because we i've only got this little bit of daylight but it's it's it's just not very much i gotta dig a 60 foot trench about 24 to 30 inches deep but first to get the tractor out of here we got to take this door well five of these panels off this door now that i have those panels off we'll get the tractor out here get it warmed up and start laying out exactly where we're going to dig that i know the line they're going to be digging so what i'm going to do is take some flags and put it on the sides of each one of those give me kind of the bucket width it's about 12 inches on this one and we'll start digging want to start you see a black line right there on the building well the idea is to have this knockout right there coming right out this wall so we're going to come straight up the wall and in with our line which is sitting over here so this is the wire that we're using to feed that box to that house over there but it should be right in the center of this let's get her fired up so we're going to start digging on the service side my electrician told me that there may be a ground wire come out this way and if it is we may hit it and i don't want to hit that but if we do it's not the end of the world now what would be the enemy is if i hit this line that's going that way so i'm gonna stay clear of that about a foot out two foot maybe hopefully i don't hit the ground wire but let's get to digging well i see a line moving something so let's pull this up and get it out of the way i gotta find out what that line is i'm hitting it's nothing but a 2x6 so they buried a 2x6 down here all right i'll go ahead and continue everything's looking good i don't think i don't think i hit that ground wire i thought i was hitting it then but it's just a 2x6 i think we're safe i'll pull that out and we'll just dig the rest trench [Music] [Music] digging anywhere from 24 to 30 inches i'm down like that right there so there's our measurement for 20 around 25 27. if you go to the top topsoil so we're going about 27 there as well let's go down come up to the that's 30 about 31 which right here is where the top of the soil is it's about 31. ravaging around 27 to 31 inches depth we only have to be 18. i just want to go down enough to be safe we'll take some pictures then i'm going to lay the conduit in there today and then try to get it covered back up just because it's supposed to rain later this afternoon so i'm kind of in a rush to finish this up as fast as possible because then i gotta lay the conduit for the building and for the solar array [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] we have our 100 amp wire range or number two aluminum we got 100 feet of it but we only got 60 about 62 feet of actual conduit down to here then we got a couple feet going up the wall which got to put schedule 80 in buried about 27 to 30 inches deep you see there is where it's going to be coming out kind of where you see the line is where it's going to round up and penetrate the wall there now i have to install this one inch pvc that's going to be for the solar array that's going on the roof of the building up there so i'm gonna go ahead and put this in we'll have to run the wires later in that that might be a little bit of a challenge but it's better than having to re-dig this trench again we'll exit on the other side of this conduit and that's where the solar ray will be i'll have videos on that so if you guys are interested in that type of content be sure to subscribe to the channel and leave me a comment tell me what you want to see on that solar array i'll try to document whatever i can i want to be able to share that experience with people this building i shared you know building it i didn't build it personally but i did build that solar array designed it personally and there's a lot of permits and things that you got to get to do that like this i'm doing this type of work because it saves a lot of money that pipe down there will be cut off somewhere in that black in the middle of the black just don't know how much to get off right now so i'm just going to leave it like that and the same with this one we want to make sure that we have enough pipe and not too little pipe when we go to run the solar today's project was actually to get in the 100 amp it's in it's well below 18 inches it's mostly 21 to 28 inches down through there on the top of the pipe so we imagine from the top of the pipe to the grass line um basically right there down that's uh that probably in that section is 28 inches everything else is averaging anywhere from 20 to 24. so now it's time to start pushing the dirt back over the conduit [Music] [Music] we did get the rain but i did get the wire installed yesterday and what i'm working on today is getting the box wired up this is 100 amp so we got our wires that go to our breaker at the house the main panel we got a ground wire which can't be used there was a ground connection here that can't be used in our neutral we got these put in but we have to get a supplemental ground bus bar or ground bar it's called and for this box it's an eaton and it has to match this is a br up here so it has to match this box a ch or a br i do believe will work but i'm looking for just a br bus bar ground bar i'm going to run this over to that and because this is a separate structure this run back to the main panel i'll have to run a number at least the number eight gauge right here i have to run this eight gauge copper wire in a conduit out so i don't know if i'm gonna run it down and then out or if i'm gonna run it right out to the side of one of these here and then run that down to the ground i'm gonna put that all the way down to this level down here somewhere and then run it out and then connect it to a copper rod i've got a 5 8 copper rod now i have to go to the store and get that um grounding that supplemental grounding bar so i want to get that installed it's about 10 bucks right now not eight to ten dollars somewhere around there so not too bad i want to get this panel completed there is a question which sucks but in my area i was told i did not have to have one of those couplings that you see right over there right there i was told on this structure i didn't have to have that here now someone's telling me that i may have to have that if it does that means i'm going to have to tear this we'll not really tear it out i'm going to take the wires out but probably the equipment that i have here i can't use because i've already got it glued in so i'm hoping that's not the case we'll see if it is just have to move forward and fix it this is very important plug on neutral design well first let me address this problem right here i think i have meadow in my eye and i can't figure out how to get it out we've tried to flush it i have to get that out of there because i think that happened when i was drilling this hole right here on the outside i forgot to wear my safety goggles my wife always tells me to wear my safety goggles but i didn't wear my safety goggles now i'm paying for it an eaton br does not work it has to be a brpon because of this boat's here and this boat here the way they bolt into the back of the box this is two inch spacing every other one for the br and the ch eating boxes one and three quarters day three of putting in my box to the garage got this in the ground around the ground down and kind of see from the side here i ran it out and then out to the bottom and that's where it exits run it down here about six inches into the ground and i drove my 5 8 ground rod 8 foot in the ground this is what we have going on here this is where it enters into the building that pipe that you see going up will be going to the solar array and that right there is a ground wire so this is what we have on the outside i do not have an expansion coupling i hope that is not required i heard that because it was on a separate structure it was not required but if we look over here on the main house you'll see that it does have an expansion coupling on it which is a little worrisome so hopefully the inspector does not require that or it's not required by code here for this structure i know it is because it's primary this is where the primary box is over there i do not know if it's required one electrician told me it wasn't which is the electrician in town here another electrician that i was talking to online said is required so i'm gonna have to go with a local electrician on that one and hopefully we're right all right we're on day four of getting this sub panel put in what i just did was cut out the bottom we're gonna try to penetrate from right here so right here is our knockout we're gonna try to go out right here the problem is the meter is entering right there and we don't know how much room we have right here outside so let's go take a look at that it has to be either here or here that it's entering as it comes up it must go into here here or here just i think there's three knockouts like there is at the bottom we're not gonna open this panel cause i'm not gonna i'm not gonna mess with that tag but the problem is if it's coming here we're coming five inches and the pipe's gonna be right in the way but if it's entering right there it's fine but if it's entering over here we gotta move over we're gonna be trying to come out right beside that pipe and that's not gonna work for us i don't know how we're gonna get this completed so one challenge after another is what i've seen with uh installing your own subpanel it's always super easy guys when you're watching youtube i'm just here to tell you it's not impossible but it's not as always as simple as running from one box to another box there's all types of factors when you're talking about doing um repair work or addition work to something that's already been finished it's a lot different or if all the walls are bare it's a lot different when you have finished product and you're trying to work around those anyway this is the problem for today where do we enter this box so i had to go ahead and open up this section of the wall also here's what we've got going on this is day 4 of the install of the 100 amp service panel that's going to the garage but we got all kinds of problems going on here we got a conduit that's right behind this wall for the main service the main service line is coming in right here there's a communication ground here i can't cross over that pipe from the outside so i have to come in from this side now we're trying to get an entry point maybe through this stud through this way but then we have that conduit i mean that uh coupling and we have to put another coupling right there may not work we could come through the bottom but that requires us do a lot of bending then we have to make sure that we prepare for our solar array when it comes through so we have to have a 45 amp breaker so we got to figure out how to run that conduit and enter this box at two different penetration points one for the 100 amp box and then one for the solar disconnect now that i have the main service conduit that goes to our building filled in i put a expansion coupler on there just in case it's required only reason i did it because there's one right here for the main service coming into the house i just want to be safe for that one this is going to be our solar um for our combiner box and then from the combiner box it's got to go to main disconnect for the solar array so we'll work on that later [Music] and i've drilled this hole through here i'm going to drill another one right here to go out and then this will exit so we'll pull our wires through here bend them and push it through here and bring them into the box previously i wanted to put the solar breaker on this side but i just think it's going to be easier to run this number two aluminum wire over like that and up cause i have to run two wires over here there's a lug back there that i have to run a ground wire to now i gotta run feed another neutral all the way up to the top to that one right up there and there's the ground one right in here and then we're gonna put the breaker over on this side now something that i am running into and i thought i would is you see that bushing back here well i gotta have one for this one as well getting this tight and down it's gonna be it's gonna be tricky because when i put this in here it's tied in that 2x4 and i gotta get it right there before i can even get i would have to put this over this lock nut and then i gotta get the bushing on about at that location and start turning from this side here's the problem i have no way of getting a grip on this so i'm gonna try to get something on the inside of that and turn it like this maybe a short piece of pipe but turn it while i'm threading this side over here i'm going to cut off about this much just so i can get my hand here and hopefully it gives me enough grab to turn this while the the lock nuts going on there to lock it down and while the bushing is being screwed on there at the same time once the bushings on there enough that i can keep turning i'll let go of it and then take a screwdriver and put it inside and hopefully get this tightened down fairly tight let's see if this idea works okay i think it's gonna work i gotta be very careful here i don't wanna nick the wire those wires especially that's my most dangerous wires look at that so that's what i got i'm gonna have to move that big ass black wire though my bushings on there i'll tighten it a little bit this is what it looks like from this side i'll put a piece of conduit in here and then hook my other lb up our line will run in from here i'll bend it and then i'll take it back through that and put it into the box i only have the wire into the main panel i just got to put the cap on this and for something like this this is okay i talked to the electrical inspector that will actually be the one coming out inspecting this he told me this will be completely fine as long as i have these on here the penetration i was a little bit worried about how big that penetration was but he said that there's no concern to him so i'll have to put a cover on this and then i'll have to have a removable cover that will be on this wall at all times when i go to fix it i'm excited because up to this point i've done everything myself and saved a lot of money the wires are in all i have to do now is connect these four wires into there's a lug up top there's a ground lug which i'm thinking about installing a lug right over there in that ground bar and then i got to put the 100 amp breaker in that looks something like this two wires into the back this is a ch panel and eaten ch type little bit better panel than what's over in the garage but um the one in the garage is a great panel as well it's just a br this is a ch it's okay to go from a ch2 a br for a sub panel i would have preferred to keep it all ch but it was impossible to find a 100 amp ch that was in stock and i couldn't i couldn't wait a couple weeks to get it so there's our entry point i did put an expansion coupling on there i talked to the inspector he said they don't really enforce it so i should be okay over there i know earlier a couple days ago i was concerned about having that not or actually not having it and he eased my mind today and told me that it would be okay so but i did put one here because this ground will settle a lot more than that over there i didn't dig down and then put fresh dirt under it this might have like an inch to a fresh dirt it's not gonna move much more than that right now my main focus or getting this box hooked up so we can have power out in the garage now that i have the house wired and i just gotta add those four connections i do need to work on adding a plug and a light out here in the building because to get my inspection approved i have to have at least one plug-in under a gfci i'm thinking about just doing an arc and a ground fault breaker yeah they're expensive but i can have one and run that whole series out here in the garage i know i had to have a gfci by cold out here so i'm thinking about doing that but that's about 60 bucks for that breaker one breaker and that's a 20 amp but i'm thinking about doing that but if i don't then i'll just put one gfci plug out here and one light somewhere right in this area just to have the inspector come out and do an inspection if i pass then i'll add in some more more lights and receptacles starting to put the plugs in i've got my gfci i've got my romex wire running up and in but we have a problem pause the video leave me a comment below let me know if you found the problem do you know where it's at and if you're ready i'll reveal where the problem is right there why is that a problem that's not a romex connector this is a romex connector see how this clamps down on it that clamps down from that side it's closed off here this is not closed off here okay so i got this rewired let me just explain a little bit what's going on here so we got a 20 amp breaker on 12 gauge wire this is romex wire run down to a gfci have to have a gfci in your garage i ended up not going with arc fault breaker because they were just so expensive i got three of these for like i think 14 or 15 so these are five dollars a piece and the way this works is this gfci you put it on the line side and then everything that i attached to the load side of this would be protected under this gfci for the light switch we're going to use 14 2 wire well that's on a 15 amp breaker so that's acceptable size wire for that [Music] [Music] we should be good it's the only safety glasses i got right now we have electric there that's the house now i'm gonna flip the hundred amp on here that's what's feeding the building the breaker in the building is off as well let's see what happens i'm gonna turn the 100 amp on that's gonna charge the bus bar i got these two off and then i'll i'll flip these on as i want to test them so here goes the 100 amp good turn that one [Applause] so we after what five days of working on this i just saved myself a couple grand i do have to put covers on the both of those i don't have those but other than that i am complete

Channel: Justin's Project

Views: 25,975

Keywords: modern homesteading, modern homesteaders, self-sufficiency, kentucky homesteaders, building a modern homestead, small homestead, how to install a sub panel, 100 amp sub panel install, how to install a 100 amp sub panel, complete process of 100 amp sub panel, Sub Panel 100 Amp, install a sub panel from start to finish, 100 amp sub panel, installing a 100 amp sub panel, installing 100 amp breaker, wiring a sub panel, wiring a 100 amp sub panel, wiring 100 amp sub panel

Id: YO_JiDaHNqA

Length: 25min 21sec (1521 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 23 2022