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Good morning,
I'm hoping that a crusty retired construction super is welcome here.
I'm remodeling a cabin that has the old 2-wire electrical system panel, so all the neutrals and grounds are attached at the same ground strip and the cabin service drop is 2-wire URD. I already updated all the cabin wiring as to include ground wiring in anticipation of upgrading the cabin to a modern 200 amp panel because other buildings and loads have been added to the cabin and the original panel is also inside the kitchen cabinets and out of code. The power company plans to naturally increase the drop as well that will ultimately be placed at a new meter and disconnect of a newly constructed separate garage, ultimately connected to the new panel by buried schedule 80.
The least expensive approach I determined to add the new main panel to the cabin and avoid a junction box was to add a mudroom to the cabin where the original panel is and merely convert the exterior wall of the original panel to an interior wall and install the 200 amp panel in place of the original so that it faces inward to the mud room, which should prevent having to j-box any of the wiring.
The problem has been how to build the mudroom around a live service drop because we are also living in the cabin and the meter is directly opposite the old meter panel. Complicating the issues is that the county where the cabin is located actually has no building department nor building inspection of any kind so you can imagine the sort of things you see around here. An engineer for the power company suggested that I simply work carefully around the service drop but I have to place a metal roof there and aside from the risk, when I add the metal roof to the mudroom it will cause the meter to lose its signal. It's just a really bad idea in my opinion to perform construction next to a live drop.
I instead opted for a metered 100-amp disconnect temporary power pole and placed it in front of the cabin that allows the service feeders to reach the original meter in schedule 80. The problem is that the temp pole meter arrangement now requires the cabin main panel to be wired as a subpanel. Since it's an old panel system, is is possible to separate the neutral and ground bars and wire it as a subpanel until I'm ready to install the new service panel? There is also a 60-amp subpanel that I had added for a workshop connected to the original panel and I'm uncertain if I have to change anything in order for what would essentially be 2 subpanels to be wired correctly.
Anyway, my temp pole is in and I know I now need 4-wire to create a subpanel. What 4-wire Al wire ga. is best or sufficient to reach 30' from the temp pole to the cabin panel as part of converting it to a 100-amp subpanel. I also bonded the temp pole main breaker disconnect panel as well, which I believe is correct but wanted to verify. Thanks in advance for any recommendations or suggestions.
I'm hoping that a crusty retired construction super is welcome here.
I'm remodeling a cabin that has the old 2-wire electrical system panel, so all the neutrals and grounds are attached at the same ground strip and the cabin service drop is 2-wire URD. I already updated all the cabin wiring as to include ground wiring in anticipation of upgrading the cabin to a modern 200 amp panel because other buildings and loads have been added to the cabin and the original panel is also inside the kitchen cabinets and out of code. The power company plans to naturally increase the drop as well that will ultimately be placed at a new meter and disconnect of a newly constructed separate garage, ultimately connected to the new panel by buried schedule 80.
The least expensive approach I determined to add the new main panel to the cabin and avoid a junction box was to add a mudroom to the cabin where the original panel is and merely convert the exterior wall of the original panel to an interior wall and install the 200 amp panel in place of the original so that it faces inward to the mud room, which should prevent having to j-box any of the wiring.
The problem has been how to build the mudroom around a live service drop because we are also living in the cabin and the meter is directly opposite the old meter panel. Complicating the issues is that the county where the cabin is located actually has no building department nor building inspection of any kind so you can imagine the sort of things you see around here. An engineer for the power company suggested that I simply work carefully around the service drop but I have to place a metal roof there and aside from the risk, when I add the metal roof to the mudroom it will cause the meter to lose its signal. It's just a really bad idea in my opinion to perform construction next to a live drop.
I instead opted for a metered 100-amp disconnect temporary power pole and placed it in front of the cabin that allows the service feeders to reach the original meter in schedule 80. The problem is that the temp pole meter arrangement now requires the cabin main panel to be wired as a subpanel. Since it's an old panel system, is is possible to separate the neutral and ground bars and wire it as a subpanel until I'm ready to install the new service panel? There is also a 60-amp subpanel that I had added for a workshop connected to the original panel and I'm uncertain if I have to change anything in order for what would essentially be 2 subpanels to be wired correctly.
Anyway, my temp pole is in and I know I now need 4-wire to create a subpanel. What 4-wire Al wire ga. is best or sufficient to reach 30' from the temp pole to the cabin panel as part of converting it to a 100-amp subpanel. I also bonded the temp pole main breaker disconnect panel as well, which I believe is correct but wanted to verify. Thanks in advance for any recommendations or suggestions.
