Electrical - Sample Workshop Layout

[Julie Moriarty]

New Shop Layout:

In this example, we have a 2-car garage that we want to convert half of it to a workshop. We're feeling spunky so we put a wall up right down the middle.

Let's assume all we have right now are the machines identified in the drawing. The table saw and the jointer are both 240V, everything else is 120V. The plan is to make the electrical rough-in as flexible as possible for future expansion and everyday workflow. The TS, jointer and DC will all be on their own circuits.

The circle with the hashtag in it is a double receptacle, the one with just 2 parallel lines is a single receptacle. Slash marks on the conduit runs represent wires, the long ones are neutrals, the shorter are hots. I did not include any ground wires in this. A ground wire is a long slash with a dot at the end of it. The numbers near the devices are circuit numbers and correspond to their location in the panel. This is for a 120/240 single phase system.

The conduit sizes are the minimum I would suggest. If I was doing this, all the branch conduits in the above drawing would be 3/4". The double receptacles will each be on their own circuit. This gives you the ability to plug two heavier loads into the same box without tripping a breaker. If you want to really dress it up, mark every box and device with their respective circuit numbers. I included a neutral with each 240V dedicated load because some require it.

Any questions, just ask.

[Julie Moriarty]

Here, we have ceiling mounted, 8' fluorescent fixtures, spaced 4' apart. There are two switches at the door and another at the workbench. If you look at the end of the fixtures you will see "11A", "11B" or "11C". The "A", "B" and "C" relate to the switch that will operate these fixtures. The switches will have the designation next to them. "S" is switch.

You do not have to split it up like this but the lighting controls should be figured around your work habits. You may not always want all the lights on at the same time. And if you want to add another fixture over the workbench (like when your eyes get bad ), you can easily do so. The junction boxes at the end of every fixture simplify expansion. You can pull through all the fixtures but you won't be happy when you want to change something.

Just as with the power plan, conduits are marked with their size and number of conductors. Again, any questions, ask.

[Julie Moriarty]

If all goes right, you should end up with something like this. The blue/purple conduit is for lighting and it's all in 1/2" pipe. The yellow is power and in this drawing is all 3/4" pipe.

There's only one saddle, a 3-point saddle in the lighting conduit that crosses the 3/4" power conduit. It's always easier to bend the smaller pipe so install the larger pipe first. And there's one kick in that same run that goes to the wall switch. Sometimes you have to kick a 90 over because there's not enough distance to allow for a full 90 bend. Everything else is 90 bends.

I ran a pipe across the ceiling for the power to feed the 240V TS first, then go either way for the convenience outlets. While taking the conduit all the way around the wall would have been easier, the wire pull would be tougher and any future additions would be more problematic.

[Jeff Bartley]

Julie, you really are my favorite electrician! Thank you very much for your tutorials.

[Jeff Ramsey]

I regret not using 3/4" conduit for my power runs. I used 1/2" for both power and light. Fishing twin power/neutrals and a ground through 1/2" conduit for duplex twins like Julie has in her drawing is not fun. I also have little chance of fishing anything else through for expansion.

[Julie Moriarty]

Jeff, if you pushed the wires, I can see having problems with 1/2" pipe. But pulling 3 or 4 #12 wires shouldn't be a problem at all. A fish tape like a Slinky would make that pull easy.

[Jeff Ramsey]

I have 90's with fish covers and pulling through with the cover off, then downstream was not easy. Maybe it was technique?

[Julie Moriarty]

Jeff, sorry I'm getting back to this so late. I missed it...

My next guess is the size of the pulling head is the problem. When making up the head, you can't just strip the wires and thread them through the fish tape eye, bend them over and pull, unless it's just a few wires.

Let's say you have (6) #12 wires you are trying to pull through a 1/2" pipe - two sets consisting of (2) hots and (1) neutral - black-red-white. Each set is called a network. Take one black, one red and one white, strip two wires about 4" down and one about 6-7" down. Twist the wires together making sure the one longer one stands out from the other two. Only the longer one will be thread through the eye of the fish tape. Do the same with the other network. You can trim or fold over the excess of the shorter wires. Then fold the longer ends around the eye and tape the whole bunch tightly. The tape should extend just past the insulation on the wire. Leave a twist in the end of the tape so you can remove it easily once the pull is done.

[Robert Engel]

Julie,

First off, I'm not an electrician, but I've worked with them quite a bit and done quite a bit of my own wiring, so anything I tell you please run it past an electrician.

Comments on your layout:
1. For your lights, you don't need a junction box at every light. The fixture will have knockouts just use them and do your splice inside the fixture.
2. For the outlet circuit on the wall opposite the subpanel, you can run an extra black wire in the first circuit, go round the corner from the last outlet and just carry the neutral and ground with you. Saves you having to run the conduit over the top.
3. Same thing for your 3way switches. You can run an extra hot in the outlet conduit to the switch box, run the two traveler wires through the conduit tying the lights together and back down to the other 3 way.

Hope I'm making sense, here. I just saves you on all the extra pipe and bending you've got there.

BUT--

I'm going to suggest something entirely different that will save you gobs of time and will be MUCH easier to install.

I did a major expansion/remodel of my shop went with all-clad cable (flexible metal clad conduit with wires) surface mounted on walls.

I'm really glad I did it this way because I can expand and/or change any outlet or circuit I want any time I want with minimal effort.

And boy, has that come in handy on several occasions. If I move a piece of equipment and outlet 'just' out of reach? No problem.

I does make for a neat job if you pay attention to running the cable straight and level.

Set up your equipment first, and mount outlets accordingly. If something changes later, no problem. Don't have to mount outlets every 4 feet all over the shop.
Bottom line: it a HUGE time saver in addition to the flexibility.

In 250 foot rolls I found the all clad was only slightly more expensive than romex and I know its cheaper than conduit + wire. ( Actually the last roll I bought was $94 and Romex was $125).

There is a technique for stripping off the metal flex and you have to use special connectors with metal boxes, but all in all, not too hard.

Good luck!

Oh, forgot also no pulling wires through all that conduit, and best of all, NO BENDING!!

[Julie Moriarty]

Robert, I am an electrician. No need for me to call one in.

The layout I designed has flexibility built into it and takes into consideration the many different possibilities one might encounter with locally available materials.

1. The junction boxes at the end of every fixture allow you to tap off them easily should you want to add another light here or there. Some municipalities I have worked in do not allow feeding through light fixtures. Even if there were no code issues, some fluorescent fixtures do not have knockouts on the sides and that would require you to use a hole saw or knockout punch, and the side wall of some fluorescent fixtures are angled, which adds difficulty to the conduit work.

2. Pulling wire all the way around the corner to feed the outlets would be shooting yourself in the foot. As I explained in the post, the conduit layout is designed to make the wire pull easy and allow one to easily make additions in the future. It is always better to go light when loading wires in a conduit just as it is to make additional conduit runs. Trying to save time or money by elimination pipe runs and loading up the pipe is a fool's errand. Many times I've seen a short-sighted job foreman skimp on the conduit that caused problem after problem once it came time to pull the wire. And a lot of unhappy electricians.

3. See #2

BUT-

Easy is not always the best way. The thread focuses on designing a conduit layout for a workshop, not running flex. Installing conduit is much easier that it appears. See my Conduit 101 thread.

[Randall Davis]

Overkill for a home shop! unless you have 3 or more people working in your shop at one time.

New Shop Layout:

In this example, we have a 2-car garage that we want to convert half of it to a workshop. We're feeling spunky so we put a wall up right down the middle.

Let's assume all we have right now are the machines identified in the drawing. The table saw and the jointer are both 240V, everything else is 120V. The plan is to make the electrical rough-in as flexible as possible for future expansion and everyday workflow. The TS, jointer and DC will all be on their own circuits.

The circle with the hashtag in it is a double receptacle, the one with just 2 parallel lines is a single receptacle. Slash marks on the conduit runs represent wires, the long ones are neutrals, the shorter are hots. I did not include any ground wires in this. A ground wire is a long slash with a dot at the end of it. The numbers near the devices are circuit numbers and correspond to their location in the panel. This is for a 120/240 single phase system.

The conduit sizes are the minimum I would suggest. If I was doing this, all the branch conduits in the above drawing would be 3/4". The double receptacles will each be on their own circuit. This gives you the ability to plug two heavier loads into the same box without tripping a breaker. If you want to really dress it up, mark every box and device with their respective circuit numbers. I included a neutral with each 240V dedicated load because some require it.

Any questions, just ask.

[Daniel O'Neill]

Thanks for the good info Julie. I've looked at your posts a bunch as I add outlets & such in my shop.

[Julie Moriarty]

I created a page with all the lost photos and the number of the post here they relate to. Sample Workshop Designing

[Mike Heidrick]

Could you get rid of the pages wall paper? Its virtually unreadable as is to me.

[Julie Moriarty]

Could you get rid of the pages wall paper? Its virtually unreadable as is to me.

Sorry about that, Mike. It's been fixed.