Running electricity to the Garage --

Burchtree

Burchtree

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Well, I'm running out of power in the ol' garage/shop and have been trying to figure out my options. I live within the city limits of Springfield, Mo and right now, I had to run 220 into the garage, but I plan on getting an oven in the future and some other stuff so I was wondering if anyone has ever put in a seperate box for their shop/garage and about what kind of cost and problems I might be getting myself into.

Thanks -- Michael
 
Michael,

I would have another fuse box installed off of the 220 line and then breakers for all of the other power tools. This would give you the most options as far as adding more circuts when they are needed.

BTW, I am looking at moving to the springfield area soon. Well, Rolla temporarily. I would love to come by and chit chat once I get settled in!!!

Jim
 
I had a separate service run into my detached garage. It cost $175 for the power company's part. I had estimates as high as $2600 to install everything to code and ended up being helper to a licensed contractor friend who did the job for $1200, wiring in a 100 amp service with 6 cicuits. $75 for a permit.

We disconnected the power that used to come from the house. When the little-napolean-old-POS-ex-electrical-contractor city Code Inspector came to ok it all, he said I couldn't do this and we had to tear it out. Said it was against code. Being another belligerent crabby old POS, I asked him why Com Ed would agree to install the service if illegal, and also why the City would issue the permit in the first place? He couldn't site me a code ordanance I had violated. It then got interesting when this white boy got racist, saying, "You ever sell your house, these Mexicans will wire that service back to the house and it'll be a real mess." It was a very interesting exchange and ended with him saying, "Yours will be the last install like this ever allowed in Waukegan. I'll see the ordanance is changed today". I smiled and said "Have a nice day" as I flipped on the power to my garage....

Check with the local authorities before you add new boxes or service, Michael. Make sure the person doing the work is licensed to contract in your locale. Don't want to give an insurer a reason to deny a claim from an electrical fire.
 
It is a good idea to have adequate power in the shop and the same problem will always exist. Use large enough wire, use the right breakers. The wire size is both in coming to the shop and inside the shop. A furnace is a genuine 220 volt load as is any motor load. You will not be sorry to go over with wire size.
 
When I started building my shop in earnest, I realized that I was going to have power issues, especially as I had no 220V outlets and had just purchased a lathe that needed 220! Not wanting to burn my house down, I hired an electrician to do the job. I had him put in a 75amp dedicated sub panel to feed the shop. The total job was around $2200.00 which included the sub panel, five 220V outlets and a half dozen additional 110V outlet positions. I didn't pull a permit, but the job was done to code so I don't expect to have any issues. It seems like money well spent to me.
 
Ditto what Fitzo says about a licensed electrician. I worked in the electric utility industry for 25 years and Ive seen houses burn and insureres refuse to pay because of non inspected electrical work.
 
mike and mike:D
when I did mine I put in what's called a subpanel, you run wire out of your main breaker box, the leads come off the main lugs at the bottom..
the subpanel is just about the same as your main breaker box.
mine runs at 50 amp, I run my mill oven,welder, grinders never all at
the same lights are on all the same time, oil furnace , puter all that stuff.
if you suck 50 amp all the time, I want stock in your power company:D

I ran all the wiring and put up the box and had a licensed electrician check out my work and hook it up..

edited to add I don't think I had over $200.00 in to it..and I had to run wire at least50 ft to the subpanel

but this was 20 years ago
 
You talking to me, Dan?? :p The old line out to my garage was a piece of outdoor Romex (the white stuff?) that ran underground and got concreted in when the previous owner put in the garage. Putting in a new service seemed a little easier than cutting 17 feet of concrete slab and digging up the yard. Only the power company can run above-ground lines here. I did my homework... ;)

I think I got a pretty fair value out of my arrangement. If I'm going to spend money frivolously, well, I want it to be on something frivilous, like more tools.:D
 
fitzo said:
You talking to me, Dan?? :p The old line out to my garage was a piece of outdoor Romex (the white stuff?) that ran underground and got concreted in when the previous owner put in the garage. Putting in a new service seemed a little easier than cutting 17 feet of concrete slab and digging up the yard. Only the power company can run above-ground lines here. I did my homework... ;)

If I'm going to spend money frivolously, well, I want it to be on something frivilous
Click to expand...
:D :D

Mike, did I tell you, here in Maine we all are electricians, plummers. carpenters
did I mention great lovers,, lord here come IG I can see it now :foot: :rolleyes: :D
and we all spell real well too, that's
spell not smell:D well I smell some times too.:D :D
 
Dan, I will do plumbing, carpentry, natural gas stuff without batting an eye, and I have no problems handling radioactive materials or toxic chemicals that will make other people blanch. That said, when it comes to electricity I don't like messing with the stuff much more than changing an outlet, putting in a new light, or wiring a motor. Electrical panel work and such I just don't like to do. I've had my muscles locked up before, found a friend unconscious from a 440V shock, and had another take a substation arc through the forehead to his feet and crisp. Not for this boy scout.....
 
I agree its no problem actually doing the wiring. What Im saying is that if you have a fire, the insurance company will look at the inspection history on the house. They can deny the claim if any wiring in the structure was done by an unlicensed electrician.

Im not debating the how to's or the whys. Its the way it is. If you feel comfortable with those facts in mind, wire away.
 
I also installed a 50amp sub panel in my shed. I did it myself for less than a couple of hundred dollars. I have a friend who works in the electrical department at Home Depot and a co-worker who is a licensed electrician. I told them what I wanted to do, and they told me what I needed to buy and how to install it. I asked a lot of questions and listened to what they said. Everything works fine and I have had no problems in four years (nock on wood). The biggest hassle was digging the 100 foot long trench (with a borrowed trencher) and dealing with the underground cable I used. Man, that stuff does not like to bend!
 
fitzo said:
Dan, I will do plumbing, carpentry, natural gas stuff without batting an eye, and I have no problems handling radioactive materials or toxic chemicals that will make other people blanch. That said, when it comes to electricity I don't like messing with the stuff much more than changing an outlet, putting in a new light, or wiring a motor. Electrical panel work and such I just don't like to do. I've had my muscles locked up before, found a friend unconscious from a 440V shock, and had another take a substation arc through the forehead to his feet and crisp. Not for this boy scout.....
Click to expand...
it's amazing how hard you can get hit with a little wire..I burned off a reg size Philips screw driver on 220 once, full load coming off the pole
it was suppose to be dead but to be sure I shorted across the
terminals to make sure (forgot my test meter..:rolleyes: )
I called the power company as a not so happy camper. :mad:
come to find out went you ask them to disconnect the power they don't do it from the pole any longer, they put tabs on the meter terminals, I wondered what the little plastic things were on the bottom of the box when I pulled the meter.. :rolleyes:
they knew I was changing the service from 60 amp to 100 amp too, that ment the meter box had to be changed out, with NO power from the pole..
the power company can kill you with a phone call.:(
 
Hmmm. . . sounds like it might me more expense and time than I want to do right now. My problem is that we only plan on living in the house for a couple more years so I don't want to toss a bunch of money into something that your regular joe wouldn't care about when buying a house. That, and I don't have any electrical buddies. :D
 
Burchtree said:
Hmmm. . . sounds like it might me more expense and time than I want to do right now. My problem is that we only plan on living in the house for a couple more years so I don't want to toss a bunch of money into something that your regular joe wouldn't care about when buying a house. That, and I don't have any electrical buddies. :D
Click to expand...
Mike
how about any fly buddies?

if you fly me out one of these nights I'll hook it up for free,,
and if anyone asked you who did it for you, just say it was one of those fly by night out-fits :D :D
 
Dan,years ago,when I was doing Electronics for the Government,I was supervising the refitting of the RATCC (The Blue room) at Oceana Air Station in Va.We were converting from the old analog scopes to the digital world.It required completely gutting and redoing the power room and all the radar equipment.Only problem is ....you can't shut down a big air base.We wired and built all the equipment and power cabinets sitting behind the existing equipment.Once it was all hooked up and in place we had 14 hours to remove the old equipment,install the new,and have the FAA flight test the readings and certify the base.When we were ready to go the new cable bundles were laying down the corridor along side the cable trench.When the power was cut off to the building I got into the trough and started cutting through the bundles of old cable to remove them,using giant cable cutters like tree limb cutters.The next thing I remember was the crew looking down on me and asking if I was OK.I had cut through a live 440V cable.There were no ends to the cutters,just handles.Seems the PW crew didn't want to cut off all the power and kill the Air Conditioning ,and get all sweaty,so they didn't cut all the power off,only the power to the radar equipment.Problem was that the AC power line was laid in the same cable trough as the radar lines (It wasn't supposed to be there).
Moral is - It ain't OFF just because someone says it is off.
 
Many years ago, at a plant were I worked (before I worked there), power was cut while a new transformer was installed. The electricians finished up the work, then went back inside and turned the power back on. Unfortunately, one of the electricians was still working on the transformer and was killed. A few weeks later, the electrician who turned the power back on, thus killing his friend, committed suicide. The moral here is - don't turn it back on until you're absolutely sure all is clear. I hate these kind of stories, but they serve their purpose -- keeping us thinking, and out of trouble.
 
absolutely
never assume and lock out your own work, you are responsible for your self and maybe others..
if someone else kills you, whoops I'm sorry..
you hear it all the time ,,and this too " I thought that gun was unloaded." :confused: it's sad to know that a few simple precautions do save lives..could very well be your own..if you are not very sure of yourself and what you are doing, walk away..:thumbup:
 
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