My background is in digital electronics. However, an electrician I used to work with taught me a lot about home wiring over the years so I'm pretty comfortable with Romex and 120V circuits thanks to him.
But now my wife is getting an electric vehicle , and I need to run a 240V line for the charger. I want to make sure I don't fail inspection as I've never done anything with 240V other than a few sub-panels I've been the helper/observer on.
We have a very small, basic house in NJ (see image 1), a 100 AMP GE Panel that is FULL (Image 2) (and does not support thin breakers, Image 3) on the right side of the garage door and directly behind it, and I just want to run a 30AMP 240 Line to support a 24AMP charger over to the left of the door to mount the charger to the siding OUTSIDE. This is all we need for her car right now, and it's what I'm comfortable installing safely.
The inside of the garage is unfinished exposed studs.
Even on a high use day, it seems the amount of stuff we have in the house doesn't pull more than 60 amps at once (Image 4) so I don't think we are taxing the limits of the panel currently.
My questions were.... (and thanks in advance for anyone who can help, it is very much appreciated)
Wiring Questions
a) Can I just run 8 or 10 (I'd rather run 8) gauge Romex by itself for this, or do I have to use THHN in PVC and EMT conduit? While this cable would be inside the unfinished garage, the circuit will terminate through a hole in the wall to the outdoor-rated EV charger mounted on the siding outside.
b) If I can use Romex, can I run it right above and across the garage door wall at 8 feet above the floor and horizontally across the studs IF I have a running board going across the entire length to attach it to, or do I have to run the cable up into the attic and then down the other side back into the garage? (the attic is..... challenging... long story)
c) If I have to use Conduit... is PVC acceptable? Or do I have to use EMT.
Breaker Questions
a) The panel is full. However, I've identified 2 very low-use 15 amp circuits (we're now empty-nesters, only a couple of outlets in each room and they are mostly used for storage) that I could combine with 2 other 15 amp breakers. If I can do this by pig tailing the wires in the panel box, would this raise any red flags by an inspector? If I go this route, I need to do this since I have to have room for a double width gfci 30amp breaker since my panel doesn't support slim breakers.
b) If the above is not a good idea, then I found a UL listed product (image 5) called SimpleSwitch, which allows me to connect the wire from the EV charger to this device and then this device goes in between the breaker for the dryer and the dryer line. This device then turns off EV charging if the dryer it turns on, and then turns EV charging back on when the dryer is done.
We don't know how long we will be at this house, so I didn't want to spend $$$$ on a full scale charging system, and my wife has a 10 minute commute, so if my plans above are all bad ideas, we can just get by with 120V charging for a year or two.
But now my wife is getting an electric vehicle , and I need to run a 240V line for the charger. I want to make sure I don't fail inspection as I've never done anything with 240V other than a few sub-panels I've been the helper/observer on.
We have a very small, basic house in NJ (see image 1), a 100 AMP GE Panel that is FULL (Image 2) (and does not support thin breakers, Image 3) on the right side of the garage door and directly behind it, and I just want to run a 30AMP 240 Line to support a 24AMP charger over to the left of the door to mount the charger to the siding OUTSIDE. This is all we need for her car right now, and it's what I'm comfortable installing safely.
The inside of the garage is unfinished exposed studs.
Even on a high use day, it seems the amount of stuff we have in the house doesn't pull more than 60 amps at once (Image 4) so I don't think we are taxing the limits of the panel currently.
My questions were.... (and thanks in advance for anyone who can help, it is very much appreciated)
Wiring Questions
a) Can I just run 8 or 10 (I'd rather run 8) gauge Romex by itself for this, or do I have to use THHN in PVC and EMT conduit? While this cable would be inside the unfinished garage, the circuit will terminate through a hole in the wall to the outdoor-rated EV charger mounted on the siding outside.
b) If I can use Romex, can I run it right above and across the garage door wall at 8 feet above the floor and horizontally across the studs IF I have a running board going across the entire length to attach it to, or do I have to run the cable up into the attic and then down the other side back into the garage? (the attic is..... challenging... long story)
c) If I have to use Conduit... is PVC acceptable? Or do I have to use EMT.
Breaker Questions
a) The panel is full. However, I've identified 2 very low-use 15 amp circuits (we're now empty-nesters, only a couple of outlets in each room and they are mostly used for storage) that I could combine with 2 other 15 amp breakers. If I can do this by pig tailing the wires in the panel box, would this raise any red flags by an inspector? If I go this route, I need to do this since I have to have room for a double width gfci 30amp breaker since my panel doesn't support slim breakers.
b) If the above is not a good idea, then I found a UL listed product (image 5) called SimpleSwitch, which allows me to connect the wire from the EV charger to this device and then this device goes in between the breaker for the dryer and the dryer line. This device then turns off EV charging if the dryer it turns on, and then turns EV charging back on when the dryer is done.
We don't know how long we will be at this house, so I didn't want to spend $$$$ on a full scale charging system, and my wife has a 10 minute commute, so if my plans above are all bad ideas, we can just get by with 120V charging for a year or two.
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