sub-panel detached garage

Soon to be installing a sub panel in my newly built garage/shed. Need to know what size the sub should be and number of breakers. There will be 1 eight foot shop light, 1 outside light, 1 two foot shop light , 3/4 hp shallow well pump, 1 20amp gfci outlet (as per code, [I believe]), an outlet for the garage door opener and finally 1 outlet for the freezer. Thank you in advance for your advise.

 

It depends on whether what you listed is all you will ever want, or whether you want to leave some room for future changes. It also depends on how far away the garage is. For a garage 200 feet away, economic concerns will dictate that you don't overdesign. For a garage 20 feet away, the cost of overdesign is small and there is little reason not to do it.

You probably want either a 40-amp or 60-amp subpanel, but if you need to pinch pennies at the cost of future flexibility, you could get by with less. I see little reason to buy smaller than a 12-space subpanel.

 

The garage is located 20 feet from the main panel. The garage measures 12x14 so there is not alot of room for expansion. I guess my question was how many different breakers would I need? And what size wire from the main?

 

In the future, you may desire air conditioning and/or heat. You may buy a larger freezer. There's a lot of possibilities.

Use a 60-amp 240-volt double-pole breaker in your main panel, run 6/3 cable, and install a 12-space panel. All of this is more than your current needs, but will only be marginally more expensive than the minimum you could get away with.

For the loads you've defined so far, I'd use the following circuits:[list=1][*]One 15-amp breaker for all lighting.[*]One non-GFCI 15-amp circuit for your garage door opener.[*]One 20-amp circuit for your pump.[*]One non-GFCI 20-amp circuit for the freezer.[*]One 20-amp circuit for your GFCI receptacle. You can add more receptacles to this circuit later if you want to.[/list=1]Any further advice would depend on whether the garage is attached or detached.