I am looking at running a sub-panel to a detached garage. The distance is about 35-40 ft. What size UF electrical line do I need for a 60 amp 220v sub-panel???

6/2 w/ground from the main panel to the sub-panel and be sure to ground the sub-panel with a ground rod at the shop.

Yep

if your in a frost zone i personally would run pvc, and pull your own #6s im not a big fan of direct burial cable.

Good Idea!

6-3 wg for the subfeed

The sub panel should have a main disconnect too. Ken

I did this very thing for my barn. I buried 2 conduits, both 1 1/2". In one I ran 3, 6ga THHN conductors, 2 hots and 1 neutral. The ground for the sub panel in the barn was supplied by a separate ground rod driven into the ground near the barn. The second conduit is for future use.

This should work for you, just add in the numbers and distance and it will tell you what you should need.

http://www.csgnetwork.com/wiresizecalc.html

220v 60 A, sounds like a cracker box welder set-up? Or, your gonna get your feet wet getting the dry clothes, cause mama aint gonna go get'em!

Yes.

+1 on the disconnect (within 8' of where it enters the structure), and the ground rods (or UFER) in addition.

If it's getting inspected, be sure to ask the inspector what he looks for so he'll be happy when he comes out. eg. some folks have adopted a new code for ground rod installation.

by new code you have to carry 4 wire.... 6-3 with ground is correct. In conduit makes more sense.

I don't have my book at home but 6-3 shoudl suffice, thats a short run, but IMHO I'd run a bit more just for future possible loads... but thats just me....

Six guage copper will work, but four guage aluminium will also work and it might be cheaper.

Why only 60 amp?

Here is a story to support the driven ground advice here. When I worked for the electric company, I was called to a fairly new home that had had trouble after a bad lightning storm. The family had bought home the from the person that built it by himself. About all of the electronics in the home were taken out by the storm. The nice electric panel was in the attached garage. The first thing I noticed was a rail road crow bar (spud bar?) leaning on the front of the panel. When I removed the bar, I noticed a large burn on the panel door. I looked at the concrete floor and it was freckled around the bottom of the bar. The lightning had gone to the rebar in the garage floor.

Bottom line. There was no driven ground for the home. When the lightning entered, it was looking for a path to ground. It found it. This was a rural home that had no inspects.

GFI's depend on grounds also.

The "ground wire" (actually a bonding wire) is for clearing a fault downstream of your meter (one you generate). The ground rods/ UFER/ water bond are all for clearing faults that generate upstream of your meter.

If you are worried (and I mean really worried) about a big fault like a lightning strike or a malfunctioning transformer, get a TVSS (transient Voltage Surge Suppressor).

Because the max I need is 60amp. No more than one piece of equipment is used at a time. This is for a garage setup for metal working tools..........welders and the kind!

Are you going to have the lights on while welding?? How many lights? Wattage? It ALL adds up. Give yourself some room. (future expansion?)
Mark

Most towns that have a code have a minum for a subfeed panel where I live and work 70 amp is the minum.I would run nothing smaller than #2 alum. or #4 copper.

My last house had the normal driven rod at the meter outside. Lightning struck right at the meter thru the roof/sophit and into the meter and down the rod (as evidenced when it blew off the clamp) and still managed to go out the other side of the house and blew out the concrete where the copper pipe water line for the washer came out of the slab and blew a pretty good hole in the copper pipe as well.

All kinds of fun stuff, but it still was better than the strike I had about 20 years ago that got the electrical, the phone, and the cable all the way down the road.

I second (or third) the idea of getting a bigger panel than you think you will end up using. Much better to get it done now while your building and burying than 5-10 years down the road. I'm glad I did in one instance because I was able to add a 30amp outlet outside the building where the subpanel was for a trailer plug where I kept my trailer parked.

That is not correct, GFI's (yeah, I'm of that generation, too. I learned that instead of GFCI) measure current differential on the two current carrying conductors - hot and neutral - to detect current that has found another return path (someone) to ground.
I'd hate to see someone in an older two wire wired structure forego GFI protection because they thought they were SOL w/o a ground.

Another common misconception is that they keep you from getting shocked. Not true, they only limit the duration. See the NFPA shock hazard video at the 17:43 mark, if my memory serves.