Triple, I think you are right, we are closer in opinion on this then I first assumed.
Here is the info we where given.
Adding a 100 amp panel in a garage 175 ft from house what would be size to use for that long a run?
Sure it would be good to know if the panel is feeding a 100 watt lamp and a garage door opener, or a full machine shop, we don't.
Given that info, I will stand by 2 AWG, yes this could still be overkill or undersized, we do not know, but IMO based on the info given is what I would do.
A larger wire provided by the electrician does not somehow act as a capacitor for an extra burst of energy when needed
Very true, on the flip side an undersized wire creates a restriction to the current available from the utility service.
Iwire, the ocp in that residential garage is not going to allow (code-wise) to be loaded beyond 80% so I still don't understand why using a calculation above that amount would ever make any sense.
Of course the panel can be loaded to 100%...non-contiuous.
If you do the calculations, the continuous loads on a 100 amp panel can be 80 amps, non-continuous loads can increase the load to 100 amps.
If this was not the case there would be no reason to figure non-continuous loads separately from continuous loads.
Anyway it looks like we both want to provide a good job.
Again, Just My Opinion, as voltage drop is not really a NEC issue that is all any of this discussion is.
Bob
[This message has been edited by iwire (edited 02-29-2004).]