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Electrical?????

BlueTic
Ok fellers - obviously, I'm not an electrician - but I have wired my shop for 220 and it did not burn down.
I'm wiring my little shop and just going 110. I have some left-overs from other projects including a main breaker box that can handle 220 but I'm only going to use one leg of power. The breaker is square D 100 amp piggyback (switch one one side). Can this be used without power on the other pole???? This will just be a shut-off so I don't have to shut off the house to wire the rest.
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Comments

8 comments

Date Votes
  • Horse Plains Drifter
    Not being an electrician, I would say yes, you can just power up one leg. However you will be adding all the extra load to one leg of your house wiring. If this is just going to be a couple of lights and an intermittent use outlet or two it should be fine. If you are going to use any serious amount of power I would run 220 to the panel, and split the load between the two lines.

    Just my two cents.
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  • slipgate
    I did that exact thing with my shed. No problems to date! I ran 1 15 AMP circuit from the house and just wired one leg. So I use every other position in the box.
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  • oldgunner
    It will be fine that way. But what about future needs? Why not run both legs and just use one for now if that's all you need? The other will be there when/if you ever need it.
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  • BlueTic
    I thought about running both - but already bought #6 - 3 wire. I guess I could go back and get some 4 wire and 3/4 conduit. I could run my heat out there 220 and be a little more efficient.
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  • slipgate
    quote:Originally posted by BlueTic
    I thought about running both - but already bought #6 - 3 wire. I guess I could go back and get some 4 wire and 3/4 conduit. I could run my heat out there 220 and be a little more efficient.


    Could you just use your #6 wire, use the black and white for leg a and leg b, use the ground for neutral and then ground it locally at the far end (copper pipe in the ground)? 100% not code but would it work? Is the ground wire insulated?
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  • victorlvlb
    Code says the neutral has to be the same size as your hot wires.You still have to run a ground wire from your panel to the sub panel.Then you have to run a ground wire from your sub panel.Check your local code for size of wire needed for the ground wire.If you use pvc to exit the shed,( for the ground wire), you'll use fewer fittings .Here the ground wire has to be layed in a ditch two foot deep and twentyfive foot long.
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  • linthicum
    The cheapest wire to use would be aluminum direct burial. Just come out of your house with pvc (in my state its 18" in the ground) then just lay the wire in the trench, then come out of the ground with pvc to the shed panel. Sub panels that are not attached to the main dwelling need to have a main breaker in them (to be code). If you have any questions you can email me and I can try to help you. Good luck linthicum
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  • oldgunner
    Actually linthicum is right. You don't have to use all that pipe if you buy outdoor wire. Just bury it deep enough so you don't dig it up with your lawn mower or something.
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