In the next few months, I'll probably be upgrading my main panel from 100a/24 spots to a 200a/35 spot main panel. A big part of the driver is getting the headroom to expand my basement power. Both for my shop and extra living space. I have a couple options and I'm trying to figure out the best combination of panel(s) and location(s).
What I hope to end up with in the shop: 3 20a, 110v line for routers, hand held tools, and a HF dust collector. 1 20a or 15a circuit for lighting. 1 20a 220v (future 3HP cabinet saw) and 1 30a 220v (future 5HP jointer/planer combo) for future expansion. I want to get this "pretty close to right the first time," because I (read: my wife!) want to drywall finish the ceiling along the path of the runs. So I kind of only get one shot at this.
My original plan was to put a 100a panel in one spot very close to my main panel. (Main panel is in the garage.) Total run from the main panel to propose spot (which is in the storage room) would require only about 10'-15' of cable. Quick, simple, and everything is obvious, and I don't have to fight a giant service cable or long distances. Potential downside: that spot is about as far away as possible from the entry point into my shop. I'm estimate 30 feet from the subpanel to the closest outlet location in the shop and I'd have to drill through 3 joists to keep it out of the future drywalling. With 6 circuits, I could see that getting expensive quickly. And I haven't actually wired up the shop, just brought the power to the shop.
My second thought was put a 100a panel in a more central location close to my shop. The downside is now I have that whole run (30-45 feet) from the main panel to the sub panel. And I'd still have to go through three joists. The hole I would potentially have to drill to get gauge 1 wire and make a 90 degree turn worries me. Should I be worried? On the plus side, the utility room shares a wall with my shop, so I would literally only need to run cable cable 2 feet from the panel to my first outlet.
My third thought was to put two 60 amp panels in the basement, one at each location (storage room and utility room). 6-3NM cable is cheap enough and small enough to not break any backs during installation. Seems to solve the most problems, I'd only have to run one cable to the utility room, but I'd obviously need to buy 2 panels instead of 1, which might not end up saving me money.
Option 3a was daisy chaining option 1 and 3 together: 100a sub panel in the storage room, and a 60 sub-sub-panel in the utility room. Something about that seems bush league to me, but maybe I'm worrying about nothing. I also don't know if it's any better from just 2 60a panels.
Help?