TL;DR
An electrical subpanel is a secondary breaker panel fed from the main panel by a feeder circuit, used to add circuit spaces or bring distribution closer to a garage, addition, workshop, or EV charger. Unlike the main panel, a subpanel must keep neutrals and grounds on separate, isolated bars, and detached buildings get their own grounding electrodes.
What it means
An electrical subpanel is a secondary breaker panel fed from the main panel by a feeder circuit, used to add circuit spaces or bring distribution closer to a garage, addition, workshop, or EV charger. Unlike the main panel, a subpanel must keep neutrals and grounds on separate, isolated bars, and detached buildings get their own grounding electrodes. Installers size the feeder and its breaker to the calculated load — a 60- or 100-amp feeder is typical for residential work.
Where it sits in the glossary
Electrical subpanel is part of the Trade jargon group inside the ProFix Directory glossary. Browse every term in this category from the glossary index.
Why Ohio homeowners should know it
This is a term Ohio homeowners encounter when reading contractor quotes, hiring paperwork, or inspection reports. Understanding it well enough to ask one good follow-up question is usually all the protection a homeowner needs.
ProFix Directory keeps definitions short on the index page and saves the longer context — Ohio-specific rules, where the term comes from, and which ProFix tools touch it — for these per-term pages so the term is easy to cite and easy to share.
ProFix tools that touch this term
See also
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