I have a circuit I believe is overloaded - too many devices hanging off that one 20A circuit. So I decided to do some detective work, and ran into some mysteries. First of all, my panel box is inside a car port. Here is a picture. On one side is the meter mounted on the exterior wall, on the other side is the panel. [IMG]http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w67/143house/Coontie/P1070207_zps3a43841d.jpg[/IMG] The meter. [IMG]http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w67/143house/Coontie/P1070215_zps42f9d1b8.jpg[/IMG] The panel. [IMG]http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w67/143house/Coontie/P1070208_zps1f73a671.jpg[/IMG] There is a reason I am describing their locations. So I opened the panel box trying to trace where that circuit goes. It goes into an EMT conduit - along with a few other circuits. Actually there are only five conduits leading OUT of the panel box, and they ran up into the storage area above the washer/dryer...then they ran back down into the washer/dryer closet. [IMG]http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w67/143house/Coontie/P1070210_zpsdbddc1bc.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w67/143house/Coontie/P1070211_zps646e784d.jpg[/IMG] The large diameter pipe is from the meter to the panel. Then almost all the EMT conduits (except two conduits - one to the washer/dryer, one to the car port overhead light) run back up and over to this space in the washer/dryer. It looks like a junction box. It's very wide. You can tell it is about the same width as my washing machine! [IMG]http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w67/143house/Coontie/P1070212_zpse7eb870a.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w67/143house/Coontie/P1070213_zpsdb2b7957.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w67/143house/Coontie/P1070214_zpse4f8603c.jpg[/IMG] I removed the covered screws but the cover won't come off. This is not a standard flat cover, it seems to "wrap" the top and bottom of the box and the top/bottom is cemented in. Now that I am looking at this, I am guessing this may be where the original panel box was? My guess is it was recessed mounted on the exterior wall very close to the meter. Then they addred the closet for the washer and dryer and the overhead storage, and moved the panel to the other side of this closet. However all the conduits ran out from there, so they put in this wide junction box here, and ran the wires to the new panel? This wide box is the real distribution center to the whole house? If so, it seems I might have a better chance to see if I can split out the overloaded circuit by opening this box? Am I on the right track? If so, why would they cement in the cover? There is no chance of running any conductor to anywhere through these conduits if there is this intermediate junction box that's not accessible! HELP!

I was looking into running power out to my garage to install power for 2 garage door openers, 3 lights and 4 outlets for small items (TV, radio...). The run is 90 feet from panel inside house to garage. I was thinking 12-3 wire from 20 amp breakers buried 18" deep in grey pvc to junction box in garage with 2 GFIC outlets in the junction box. 1 for each circuit and then branch off from the load side of those. Does this sound ok or do I HAVE to go heavier wire and a sub-panel?