This is essentially the thickness of the wire but that term isn’t entirely accurate, which is why we say gauge. If you’ve visited the electrical section of any hardware shop, you’ll see that the gauge comes in different options. What is a Gauge?įor the gauge, it’s the diameter of the product that also tells you how much current it can carry and handle. The other is to add a control point for all circuits close to the area they serve. There are two reasons for installing a sub panel, one is you need more room for additional circuits. Simultaneously, the rest of your home can stay powered like usual. To avoid this, you can set up a separate sub-panel for your garage.Īlso, you can isolate the problem area and switch off its sub panel in any fault/short. For example, garage workshops have heavy loads on the main panel because of heavy types of machinery. However, it can be avoided by distributing sub-panels in different parts of your home.Īdditionally, sub-panels can isolate specific spots that have varying power usages. If you think about it, overloading is a serious hazard. You can also add a sub panel to prevent the main panel from becoming too crowded. Their primary goal is to make it easier for you to manage and organize the electrical circuits in your house. But what makes the sub panels different?īecause the main panel powers them, sub-panels are unique elements. From there, it instantly stops currents to prevent instances of fires. It helps protect your appliances from faulting/shorting.Īlso, it has fuses and circuit breakers to find electricity surcharges. If you’re wondering what its purpose is, it’s similar to the main panels. Instead, it gets power from the primary panel’s current. First up is the electrical sub panel: it’s like a little main panel without a direct connection to the power utility. If you’re just starting and aren’t familiar with the whole process, we’re here to help. But aside from knowing the correct wire size, let’s look at other essential elements to this question. But since we’re being specific here, you’ll need a 1-gauge copper wire for your 100 amp sub panel. Have you ever wondered what wire size for a 100 amp sub panel that’s 200 feet away? It’s an important question as just using any random wire size could lead to some serious issues.Ĭhoosing the correct size of wires for sub-panels is all about safety.

Wire gauge size for 100 amp service