outlets 50" from the floor?

[Andrew Thuswaldner]

I'll be installing some outlets in the shop today so I thought I would get some last minute input. In scanning the forum some time ago I noticed that putting outlets at 50" above the floor seemed to be a pretty popular location. A common rationale was that it allows you to get at the outlet with a 4x8 sheet of plywood leaning against the wall. I think I like that height for other reasons. No need to bend over to get access, it's a height that's sure to be above your workbench top. Does anyone have an alternate viewpoint they'd like to share? A preference for something lower or even higher? Thanks, Andrew

[John Bailey]

No alternative viewpoint, just a confirmation that the 50" height is a good one. I did it with my shop and I'm glad I did. Sidewalls tend to be storage/clutter areas and it's a pain to always have to move things to get to the outlets.

John

[Russ Boyd]

Unless you are measuring to the bottom of the plug, 50" won't be high enough for a sheet of ply. Make that the bottom of your box and it will work. Just my observation. Russ

[Bill Arnold]

Yep. Mine are mounted at a height of 50" to the bottom of the box.

[Sonny Edmonds]

Yep, that works good.
But like Bill points out, make sure you have the clearance you want.
I tend to put them anywhere I need them. The only thing hard wired in my shop is my air compressor, everything else is plug connected.
On a back wall, I put up 16' of 3/4" ply, 2' wide and painted it white. It gets used for stuff that needed hung, odd-ball lathe stuff, a wire rack shelf, a shoe organizer that serves as cubby holes for my planes and hand tools. There's an existing outlet I had to cut out for.
I don't care for cords running across benches, so I tend to put outlets or convenience strips under the front of a work area bench or table so when a tool is set down the cord sorta naturally drapes down and out of the way. (hand held routers and a biscuit joiner come to mind)
Overhead I decided to put outlets for my lighting. Most of the fixtures are plug connected anyway and I have two circuits for my lights.
My SCMS cord and vacuum hose goes up so they stay out of the way.
And my TS is plug connected up front of the saw so I can easily unplug it for blade changes. Under that 240 volt plug is a quad outlet box for tools I roll up and dock to dust collection and power. The planer, band saw, and jointer, though only the planer uses 120 volts. The rest are 240 volt plug connected to the TS's outlet.
So you get my drift about putting outlets anywhere you need them. Make your shop nice and easy for you to work in.

[Bill Arnold]

Sonny mentioned using plywood as a surface for mounting stuff. After I did all of my wiring, I insulated the walls then put lauan paneling on the lower 48" of the wall and white pegboard on the top. The white pegboard gives me a lot of area to hang things as well as brightening the shop.

[Gary Click]

I mount my outlets so that the bottom of the box is at the joint line of a 4' wide piece of drywall or plywood depending upon the application. I also use a duplex box with one 240VAC and two 120VAC outlets.

I run a 12/3 with ground wire to the outlets and wire the 240VAC outlet conventionally with the Red, Black and ground wires. I clip the shorting bridge on the 120 VAC outlet on the hot side only (usually the brass or dark screw). I connect the white wire to the sliver screw, the red wire to one brass screw, the black wire to the other brass screw and of course the ground wire. The circuit is terminated on the other end with a 2 pole 20Amp breaker.

This gives me a 20Amp 240VAC cuircuit or 2 separate 20Amp 120VAC Circuits. The only restriction is that you cannot load up the 240VAC circuit and the 120VAC circuits at the same time.

[Ed Hazel]

50 inches is good but you also want a lot of them. Mine are every 48 inches and I wish I would have went every 32" n places also if possible do not skimp on circuits I now there are codes that limit how many plugs per circuit I would reduce that number by a third for a work shop. It may be overkill but it is extremely cheap to do at the construction stage and you never know what the future holds.

[Bill Arnold]

Ed brought up several good points. I placed duplex outlets every four feet and, in a couple of places, I used a quad box. There are no more than five 110V outlets on any circuit. All 220V circuits are dedicated.

[Eric DeSilva]

Dang... I just installed a series of boxes in my shop and went 48" to the bottom of the box. If I'd have thought about it, that extra 2" would have been a help.

I've probably got 7 or 8 boxes per line, but mine alternate breakers. Figure I'll spray the outlet covers different colors or something to make it easy to ensure I'm on two different circuits if I'm running two different tools.

[Greg Peterson]

Murphy hung the outlets on one wall in my work space. The outlets I installed were all placed at 52". On one wall, Murphy placed at 24", and wouldn't you know it, that's the one wall were stuff gets placed.

[Roger Bell]

High on the wall is the ticket. It also doesn't hurt to have a few even higher up, such as on the ceiling and towards the center of the room rather than strictly on the perimeter walls. There is no good reason to have outlets low on the wall in a shop...

I placed colored sticky-tab book markers taped over with scotch tape on the outside of each the outlet cover so I can easily recognize which outlets are on what circuit. Take the same sticky tabs and identify your circuits on the breaker panel as well. Easier than trying to write in English what is what on the tiny spaces provided in the panel. Light circuits can also be color-coded.

I also used duplex outlets every third box. Wish I had gone duplex the whole way around. I also used higher quality outlets. Unlike in a house, where a lamp is unplugged maybe once a year, your shop plugs will get a thorough workout. Spend triple what you have to to get good plugs and boxes.

[Rob Bodenschatz]

That's where I placed all mine. Here's another advantage that I don't think was mentioned: I have a tendency to tweak my back when doing stupid things like bending over to turn of the spigot or plug something in. Having the outlets higher helps prevent that. BTW, I also placed my spigots higher.

[Lee Koepke]

Sonny had some good points too.

Two of my work surfaces are old science casework pieces with outlets already roughed in. The outlets under the top make it easier to plug something in and not get in the way. I also have some up pretty high that again takes the cord out of the work area.

For my table saw, I installed a disconnect between the breaker and the plug. Whenever I change blades, drop the disconnect. Whenever I leave the shop, drop the disconnect. Its easier than unplugging, and it makes it real easy for me to see if power on or off ...

[Russ Massery]

I found the outlets overhead get the most use in my shop. That way the cord goes up out of your way. It was a suggestion from my electrician. Just an added thought.