220V electrical lines, what amperage?

[Darius Ferlas]

Yuri, I have a Hammer B3 Winner and an A3-31 J/P.

In Canada, they are limited to a 20 ampere feeder, I happen to run mine on a 15 ampere feeder, it's been 4 years, some day I may upgrade to a 20 ampere circuit...............Rod.

All my 220 is 12awg, except for one, which is 8awg. I got it for free so why not.
I was running my A3-31 on a 15 amp circuit briefly and there were no issues, though I decided to feed through the 8awg and a 20 amp breaker. Well, I managed to trip that breaker a couple of times.

[Rob Russell]

Yuri,

I like the various discussions about wire gauge, but that's not your biggest issue. If you just want to run some "normal" (ie., not huge HP) 240V machines, (2) 20A 240V circuits will work. And yes, before someone posts - you can have multiple machines plugged into that same circuit. If you run 1 circuit for the dust collector and the other circuit for the table saw/jointer/planer/what-ever-other-240v-machinery-you-have - that's fine.

Your larger problem is that you can't run exposed NM-B cable (aka "Romex") along stringers on the wall in a garage. You have to either fish the cable through the walls or run surface-mounted raceway (aka conduit).

Rob

[Chris Friesen]

If surface mount isn't a problem, I'd say run 20A circuits for what you plan to use, and then if you ever need bigger you can add it later without digging into the walls.

[robert morrison]

As most have said 20 amp is enough for most equipment up to 3 hp. 5 hp reens a 30 amp.

The griz 3 hp cyclone rated at 22 amp use to recomend a 30 amp circuit and now they have changed the recomended amperage to 40.

The same 22 amp motor on a shop fox cyclone ia still showing the need for a 30 amp circuit. I have never tripped a 30 amp breaker with a 3 hp 22 amp shop fox cyclone.

Cost of heavier gauge wire isn't the issue as much as fitting the wire into the box. Use the largest deepest double gang boxes that you can buy to make it as easy as you can.

A 5 hp planer, tablesaw, or wide belt sander is the only other reason you might need a 30 amp cicuit besides a dust collector.