Actually a panel is a panel. All of the panels should have a bonding jumper. To use one as a subpanel you just remove the jumper.
Don Hart
You live and learn. At any rate you live.
A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.
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Don, thanks for that info. I think I looked at small main panels instead of sub panels. Great post.
TipLeave a comment:
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No problem. I take anything an employee with lowes or BORG with a grain of salt. They used to try and hire people with some knowledge and experience in the feild but now it seems they are hiring just any joe off the street.
Don Hart
You live and learn. At any rate you live.
A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.Leave a comment:
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Don thanks for clearing that up. The guy at Lowe's had not heard of a isolated neutral bar. Great post!
TipLeave a comment:
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You are right the code states that when you have a circuit connected to 2 or more recepticals or outlets you shouldn't have a cord connected load greater than 12 amps for a 15 amp circuit and 16 amps on a 20 amp circuit. Now this is for a single cord connected load. If you have a single load connected to the circuit you should not exceed the circuit rating. So I suggest that if you run the load for just the saw you use a 15 amp breaker for the reasons stated above. If you are running additional loads you should put in a 20 amp breaker.
Don Hart
You live and learn. At any rate you live.
A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.Leave a comment:
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Don,
I was always taught that you should derate a breaker rating by 20% so you should only plan on loading a 15 amp breaker to 12 amps and a 20 amp breaker to 16 amps etc. Your thoughts would be appreciated.Leave a comment:
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Isolated neutral referrs to not bonding the neutral to the ground in a subpanel. The reason you have to isolate the neutral from the ground on a subpanel is that the neutral/ground bond in the subpanel can cause neutral loads (return voltage from equipment) to be carried on the ground bus. Obvoiusly this can great a dangerous situation by comprimising you ground protection on circuits in the subpanel. This can also cause equipment damage to electronic equipment.
When you buy a panel you can buy one that specifically has an isolated neutral or you can buy a standard panel and remove the bonding jumper.
There are also isolated ground circuits. These circuits have a separate gound connection either to a metal water main or to a separate grounding rod. The reason you do this is to limit EMI/RFI (electromatic interference/radio frquency inetrference) noise on the service. They are commonly used on circuits that run sensitive electronic equipment. You can also use this idea to isolate your noise generating equipment by placing the equipment on the isolated ground circuit thus keeping the EMI/RFI off the rest of the service.Leave a comment:
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I LOVE THIS PLACE!!!!!!
Welcome Don, I hope you don't tire of being hammered with questions, I can see already that you're going to be one popular visitor!!!!
Thank You for what you've already contributed, I've learned a lot and I look forward to your posting again!
and thanks to all the other great people on this forum that allow me to learn so much <I think I'll post a 'thank you' post, you people are ALL very much appreciated>
If it ain't broke.. don't fix it!!!... but you can always 'hop it up'Leave a comment:
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What is a isolated nuetral and why should a sub panel have one? I looked at the boxes at Lowes but couldn't tell if the neutral was isolated.
TipLeave a comment:
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Dang Don, the hits keep on coming. Do you mind if I condense all this down into a single post and move it to the soon to be debuted Frequently Asked Questions section?
Sam Conder
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Well i always recommend having some canned smoke on hand to add smoke back to the motor as needed.
Well one of the common things that could happen is that your motor stalls and overloads itself and the breaker does not open. This can happen if the breaker is oversized for the load. A lot of people run a dedicated 20 amp circuit just for the saw. This is a good idea. The increased wire gauge will provide you with better current flow and will compensate for the starting surge of the motor and for running it under full load. But if the only thing you are running off the circuit is the saw then I would run wire for a 20 amp circuit but install a 15 amp breaker.
The reason i suggest this is that the rating of a breaker is what [u]sustained</u> current it can handle. now the key word here is sustained. If you have a 15 amp circuit breaker it will carry 15 amps all day with no problem and will carry surges of up to twice that for very short periods without tripping. They are built this way so that the starting surges of motor will not trip them offline.
So you can easily run you 15 amp rated saw on a 15 amp breaker if you wire a size larger. This will give you better overcurrent protection and the breaker will trip earlier hopefully preventing damage to the motor.
Now of course if you are running the circuit to handle more than just the saw you would install a 20 amp breaker.
The other thing is to make sure that all of your extension cords and bench wiring are in good condition and will make good clean conection. Poor connections create higher resistances in the line and cause voltage drops. this will cause you saw to draw more current.
The same things apply to sizing of extension cords. The standard cord is not designed to handle the load of the saw. I make my own extension cords for the higher power equipment I run.Leave a comment:
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Hey Don,
Welcome to the forum. One question: can you give us any tips on keeping the smoke in our motors? Everyone knows that once the smoke gets let out that they quit working... [}
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Sam Conder
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Yeah I worked in the feild for a lot years both residential and industrial before I left and went into computers. The guys who scared me where the ones with no fear. If someone made the statement "Its only 110 volts" I knew they were the ones to be careful around. You would see it alot in industrial electricians. They spend alot of time working with higher voltages and start to lose there respect for 110 volt residential power. I guess that is why 110 kills more people each year than the higher voltages.
Well I have some other plans for shop electricity that I will get around to posting here soon so keep your eyes open.Leave a comment:
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Very well done Don.
Monte
Reporting Live from somewhere near Kalamazoo
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