Running power to detached building help

Needing to run electricity to my building about 60 feet away from main panel my plan was to run 2-2-2-4 ser and 2-2-2-4 mhf in conduit but my panel says this?? Can I still use these wires

corbin5754 said:

View attachment 3898415 Needing to run electricity to my building about 60 feet away from main panel my plan was to run 2-2-2-4 ser and 2-2-2-4 mhf in conduit but my panel says this?? Can I still use these wires

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This is what I used to run 70A out to my detached garage http://www.homedepot.com/p/Southwire-By-the-Foot-6-4-600-Volt-Black-Stranded-CU-SOOW-Cord-55809199/204725137

A friend that is an electrician just rented a trench digger and put that cable inside a pvc pipe and buried it

Dont put cable in a conduit. Use thhn.

Maybe 4/3 romex panel to attic-Juction- #6thhn to subpanel. #8 Ground should do.

Good for 60 amps easy. Dont forget your ground rods.

Get yourself a 100 amp sub panel go from your main panel with a two pole 100 amp breaker to your sub panel. I would recommend a eight or six gauge four conductor wire in conduit. This will give you plenty of room for upgrades I. The future. You could even go with a 50 amp sub panel witch should give you six to eight circuits. And get yourself two ground rods and drive them as deep as they will go. Space them about six feet apart. And install them as close to your sub panel as possible.

Can you give us more information? How many amps are you needing? Where is the main panel located? Have you already purchased a sub panel?

Grenier5413 said:

Get yourself a 100 amp sub panel go from your main panel with a two pole 100 amp breaker to your sub panel. I would recommend a eight or six gauge four conductor wire in conduit. This will give you plenty of room for upgrades I. The future. You could even go with a 50 amp sub panel witch should give you six to eight circuits. And get yourself two ground rods and drive them as deep as they will go. Space them about six feet apart. And install them as close to your sub panel as possible.

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If he runs a 100 amp breaker he will need larger cable than 8 or 6 gauge wire. Wiring it that way is asking for trouble.

I doubt it would ever have an issue. There is millions of mobile home panels feed with the exact size aluminum cable.

# 6 wire is fine to run a few lights an ac and some odds and ends. Yeah if you plan on drawing more than fifty amps you'd want to invest in bigger cable. You really need to supply more info to get a better answer. The reason I said 100 amps is you'll have the space there and all you need to do is pull a new line. I didn't say use Romex and draw fifty amps through it. I'd listen to the other guy though hes probably a pro and can direct you better.

You are correct that 50 amps is plenty to run a lot of things. I was stating that if your going to install cable rated for a certain amperage then your breaker needs to match that amperage. Otherwise how would you know when your about to burn down the building and everything in it. It is a VERY bad practice to assume that you or the people after you are going to estimate there usuage based on the smallest link. On top of that what if something shorts out? That breaker is there to protect you and it can't do that if it's double the size it should.

Yeah I know I just wSnt going to go into a big explanation and an exact calculation of everything if they weren't interested. Yeah I probably shouldn't have given a broad vague answer. You are right the best way is to do it right to code. Even going larger is best less resistance more efficient. Sorry I didn't mean to get so defensive. This is a good example of why it's probably not a good idea to ask these questions online unless you really trust the person giving you the answer.

Wire ratings http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/wire-gauges-d_419.html
The more wires or cores it has the less amps it can push also solid core or stranded make a difference.