Installing a Sub Panel and 220V in the Garage | DIY/Electrical

DISCLAIMER: I am not an electrician, I learned how to do this from a ton of internet research. If you are an electrician and saw me do something crazy, can you please let me know so I don't burn down my house haha. One thing to note that keeps coming up in the comments, I put romex wire in metal conduit, that’s a big no no. Romex is its own kind of conduit used inside houses and putting it inside conduit could cause overheating and a fire. So don’t do it!

Welcome back to the workshop! My table saw runs on 220V but like most homes in America, 220V isn't standard. So I installed a sub panel with a 220V breaker to cover everything in the garage. It's pretty simple to do, and was actually way easier than I thought it would be. I'm not recommending you do this, but if you do attempt it and ever feel uncomfortable, please call an electrictian.

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[POOKIE]

When using a Forstner bit or holesaw to make an existing hole bigger, bore your hole into a piece of plywood first. Then hold the plywood up to the wall like a template.

[Lakusus]

Pretty nice job. There are 3 major issues, that I can see, though. 1) By code, ALL garage outlets are to be GFCI protected and labeled as such (most GFCI outlets come with little sticker sheets just for this purpose); 2) Running Romex through conduit is, again, against code as the sheathed wires inside can build up enough heat to ignite. It's rare, but it has happened; and 3) The THHN wires need to be contained inside a protective conduit (choose one of several types allowed - metal conduit, PVC, flexible MC, etc.), even inside the wall. There should have been a 1.5" 90° elbow coming from the service panel to the LB on the outside of the sheetrock.
All of these really should be addressed, for safety reasons if nothing else. If, however, you ever try to sell your home, these issue may be discovered by a home inspector and you then will be required to have a licensed electrician come in to fix them before you can sell the house. This can (and probably will) cost you much moolah. Or, you can fix them yourself, now, and save all that moolah to throw yourself a congratulatory party with lots of alcohol for a job well done!😉
After note: Of course, I never read the OP's comments until after I've posted mine so, naturally, I missed the part where you already addressed the Romex inside a conduit part. Sorry 'bout that.🤪

[TheTruth-fsrm]

Only thing I would have done different, would have been to put offsets on your EMT so they would be parallel to the sub panel and your receptacles. Put EMT conduit straps between the panel and receptacles secured to the wall with some strut. This would keep your receptacle boxes more secure. The EMT angled like it is, you would have sharp metal edges cutting into your wires inside the coupling, especially since the way you cut the EMT and didn't deburr the ends after cutting.

[donaldbundy]

I'm happy for you and that it works but...you should have continued the plastic conduit all the way to the main panel. Could have cut a larger hole and connected the conduit directly to the main panel and then plastered or foam filled the opening around the drywall. Since you didn't, the 220 volt wires are exposed inside a wall which is against code. If rodents get into the wall they may chew on the electrical insulation. Or infestations could enter the main panel thru the conduit hole and build a nest or hive. This could lead to some serious issues.

[somethinroundthehouse]

In all seriousness, thank you! You have convinced me to hire an Electrician!

[DragonettiDean]

Overall....nice job. I work for an electrical engineer. Your use of conduit and then running Romex through it is...redundant. Conduit by definition protects the wires running through it. It is much easier just to run individual pairs through it. And ...oh yeah....land your ground first. The conduit box you used is called and LB. This is certainly the most interesting application I have ever seen of an LB. You didn't light up...nice.

[davidg]

Thank you for posting this. It was a learning moment watching and also reading the comments. Appreciate your time.

[alexbolt]

The electrician in me is going off the charts watching you do this. Always always start with your grounds first. Besides the other things. Always ground first at least.

[rmcfadde]

Thanks for the pointers.  After reviewing several hours of DIY videos (such as yours), I was able to install my tesla gen 2 HWPC. It was a total pain in but still saved me about 1k doing it myself. I'm going back to all the videos that I was able to get some key information and leaving a "thank you".

[sparkythebuilder]

Conduit is required to be a continuous assembly in order to use individual conductors and that conduit must be fully assembled before installing any conduit/cables. He just runs them in a wall cavity which is not allowed with individual wires. Also, you may only splice in an LB if it is marked with the cubic inch volume on the conduit body. There is nothing wrong with putting NM cable in conduit. It is just harder to install and you need to still follow the rules of conduit fill.

[jeanabarlow]

Just a comment, if you have an existing hole in drywall, rather than using a Forstnerr bit, drill a hole in a 1/4 “ piece of hardboard and use it as a guide to drill properly sized hole with hole saw. The guide will keep the bit from walking in your material (drywall).

[Ritalie]

Really cool video. The wood brace around the conduit looked really nice. At work we use something called a "toggle bolt."

A toggle bolt is used by drilling a 5/8" diameter hole in the drywall, and a metal piece with wings is inserted, and then when you begin tightening the bolt (usually a 1/4-20 size) the wings expand. Toggle bolts go into the hole, but then the wings spread out to 2" wide behind the hole, so you effectively have a 2" nut behind the drywall.

A toggle bolt is the only thing worth using when supporting anything large on drywall. If you are supporting very light conduit, then you can use metal drywall anchors. Pre drill the drywall with a 3/16" bit to make the drywall anchors work better, and seat into the drywall properly.

FYI. Never use the expanding plastic anchors that are 1/4" in diameter, as these are only good in plaster, concrete, stucco or rock that is very hard and strong. Drywall is too soft for expanding anchors, and they will be nothing more than a scam.

[johnrogerssr.]

Pretty good job, just 2 things that I noticed.

1. How did you get the THHN wires from the main panel and into the LB fitting? You cannot have individual THHN conductors installed without a protective covering such as conduit. You would have needed a right angle connector coming out of the bottom of the box and into the LB.
2. It would have been good in the video if you made sure to mention that the green bonding screw in the subpanel MUST be removed so that the Grounded conductor (neutral) and the Ground conductor are ONLY connected electrically at the Main Panel.



Subject to your local electrical inspector, the aluminum wire no longer requires an anti-oxidation gel. This is a requirement from the early days of aluminum wire because that wire was pretty much pure aluminum back then. Aluminum wire that is sold nowadays, is an alloy that does not have the oxidation issues of the older wire. It hurts nothing to use the anti-oxide gel, it just isn't needed.

[blackcreeks]

One thing I noticed and Loved about this video is how you included the parts where you ran into an issue and and the process of correcting them. Even having to go back to the store... I see you have other skills, carpentry etc. but you should definitely consider taking up the craft... Even if it’s just getting a State Cert. Nice Video btw 👍🏽

[gustavoramos]

You really didn't need the subpanel but at least u had some fun installing it and i hope that it was a learning experience for you not bad for someone who just did research so good job man

[nosbry]

A couple things to note. When running insulated wire from server panel to sub panel (or anything for that matter) it is proper to use one black and one red wire to symbolize hot wires, white for neutral wire, and green for ground.
Second: For future reference, DONT DONT DONT run Romex inside conduit. Romex is a form of conduit used inside house walls. Conduit (metal or PVC) is used for exterior, as you done properly, but you put insulated wires in verse romex. When adding romex inside conduit, you are increasing heat build up which in turn can cause overheating and possible fire hazard. Its dangerous and more expensive. Other than that, you did fine.

[Byron_Thomas]

For future reference, using NM (Romex) in conduit is not illegal (except for wet locations) but not advised due to the Romex trapping heat.

[supermario]

the last time i installed a 240v outlet was for a dryer. It only had 3 prongs. It wasnt clear if the 3rd prong was a neutral or a ground. i bought 10/3 instead of 10/2 (I would NEVER want to run a bare wire as your neutral). that way I had a black and red for hots. and i used the white for the 3rd prong which connected to my shared neutral/ground bar. I left the bare ground wire unconnected at both ends.

[johnmitchell]

😂😂😂 just the tip...

Good video man, now I want to put a sub panel in even though I don’t need it.

[rupe]

Wiring a sub panel is basically a piece of cake. Doing the install up to code is the hard part. This one is not up to code, even though it looks ok from across the room. Hint: Removing some sheetrock and flushing everything into the wall would have been less work because no conduit would be needed. Trading the conduit for a piece of drywall might actually be cheaper. Only difference in the whole job would be the dry time for compound and paint. Also, if you bother to put in a sub panel you might as well pop the extra $20 for something with a half dozen extra spaces for future expansion.