New house going up, need power suggestions

[John Kain]

Well, the family and I took a huge step and decided to built a house. It's a great design. Of course, my favorite portion is the space in the basement that I've dedicated to my workshop. It'll (hopefully) be roughly 800-900 sqft.

I have already made arrangements for 240V wiring to the shop area. 3-phase is out of the question. If you had to wire up a new shop area, what would you have installed in terms of electrical design?

[Nancy Laird]

MORE electrical outlets - LOTS of electrical outlets. You will find that you will want/need an electrical outlet about every 4 feet around the perimeter of your shop, at waist level or higher to clear your workbenches, and you'll also want floor outlets or ceiling drops at the machines that aren't against the wall. You can NEVER have enough electrical outlets.

Just my .02, based on several years of experience.

Nancy

....

[Kyle Kraft]

For a one man hobby shop, 100 amp is plenty.

[Tom Jones III]

Floor and/or ceiling mounted plugs. I've gone the route of no extension cords in my shop except for hand tool use and I am very happy I did.

Don't forget to think about DC routing while you are planning.

[Ted Miller]

John, I have a very small shop/garage and I laid out all my machines then added the 220s for the larger equipment then I added double gang outlets every 48" as Nancy mentioned. 100 amps did the job, 3/4" conduit for the 220 with #10 wire and 1/2" conduit with #12 wire for the 120s. Two double pull 30 amp breakers for the 220 and 20 amp breakers for the 120 outlets. Lighting I pulled from the single garage light and put up 8' flourescents...

[John Kain]

The house is set up for 200A service.

As a self-confessed moron on the subject of electrical power, what exactly do I need running from the street to the shop? The builder said it's no problem wiring the shop for 240V, however didn't give specifics. What type of wiring will ensure enough power to the shop. I plan on running a 220V DC and a 220V saw/or J/P at the same time (for instance, DC pulls 12.5A, TS pulls 13A, planning on large J/P combo)

Again, my moronic understanding of electricity limits my ability to ask cogent questions on this subject. Please forgive me.

[Jim Fox]

220, 221 whatever it takes!

[Jim Becker]

Honestly, wiring your shop in a typical new home shouldn't provide much of a problem. In fact, you're in the ideal situation that you can provide your lighting circuits and other non-tool uses from the regular house service from the get-go and have a sub-panel dedicated to machinery...which means you can have a central cut-off for all machines for safety. That's really nice, especially for a shop inside the house. And the sub-panel will allow you flexibility over time with adding circuits, etc. with a minimum of hassles.

I happen to prefer dedicated circuits for machines, but even in my own shop, I've made some "convenience" accommodations on a couple 240v circuits to be able to reposition some machines if necessary. Branching is done in j-boxes in that instance. DC and Compressor definitely need dedicated circuits and there should be at least one more for tools...assuming one-person working in the shop at a time. Again, I still prefer dedicated for each machine, too. With the continued escalation in the price of copper, you might as well put in the heavier stuff now so you don't have to re-buy later.

Oh...with the exception of my older MM16 which is "only" 3.8hp and runs on 20amp 240v, my J/P takes a 30 amp circuit. (as does the slider) With that in mind, it is a good idea to pre-wire your 240v circuits with #10 wire for flexiblity over time. The 4.8hp motors require it and you can still do 20 amp termination/breaker for circuits that only need that on the heavier wire.

[D.McDonnel "Mac"]

Double-Gang (4 plugs) 52" above the floor every 4 linear feet around the perimeter of the shop. I ran a seperate 20 amp circuit for each wall of my shop.

A 220 circuit on each wall

A dedicated 220 and 110 circui to the middle of the shop for the Island tools (tablesaw, Jointer?, router in extension tbl?)

Ceiling plugs for pull down extension cord reels.

Ligting circuit seperate from tool circuits.

Consider a couple of track light runs for task lighting on top of General lighting florescents. These require switched outlets in the ceiling.

One more thing have a disconnect box installed to run all the tool circuits through. Pull down the arm on the way out of the shop and the tool circuits are dead!

MAc

[Pete Brown]

I happen to prefer dedicated circuits for machines, but even in my own shop, I've made some "convenience" accommodations on a couple 240v circuits to be able to reposition some machines if necessary. Branching is done in j-boxes in that instance. DC and Compressor definitely need dedicated circuits and there should be at least one more for tools...assuming one-person working in the shop at a time. Again, I still prefer dedicated for each machine, too. With the continued escalation in the price of copper, you might as well put in the heavier stuff now so you don't have to re-buy later.

240v outlets must be on dedicated circuits according to my electrician and my inspector, no matter what. They consider them stationary/dedicated even if not used simultaneously.

I made all my 240v circuits 30A and all my outlets 30A twist-lock plugs. I also put in a ton of outlets on 120V 20A circuits. I have it set up so I have one circuit per wall with the 120V outlets, but more/less may suit you better.

I also highly recommend a dedicated panel in the shop with 100 or more amps. I found 100 works well for me and my tools, as I'm a one-man shop. That also runs AC for me in the summer and a couple (ineffective) electric heaters in the winter.

Outlets above your head on pull-down wires can be helpful for sanding and similar. You'll also want a couple on the ceiling for things like air cleaners anyway.

Put in more light than you think you'll need. The older you get the more light you will need. Also see the threads on using electronic ballasts (no hum, no flicker) and full-spectrum lamps. I also have a couple pages on that here and here.

If you have forced air for heat/air, you will likely need to take extra steps to keep the rest of the house clean from your dust. You don't want air intakes in the shop, but you'll need to make up the air somehow. An HVAC person can tell you how. Ideally, you'd be on a separate zone, but that isn't always practical money-wise.

Also run a phone and cable TV line in there and some sort of "dinner's ready" buzzer

BTW, make your ceiling as high as possible (within reason), and consider some sort of closet for your DC.

Pete

[Pete Brown]

The house is set up for 200A service.

As a self-confessed moron on the subject of electrical power, what exactly do I need running from the street to the shop? The builder said it's no problem wiring the shop for 240V, however didn't give specifics. What type of wiring will ensure enough power to the shop. I plan on running a 220V DC and a 220V saw/or J/P at the same time (for instance, DC pulls 12.5A, TS pulls 13A, planning on large J/P combo)

Again, my moronic understanding of electricity limits my ability to ask cogent questions on this subject. Please forgive me.

You may run out of headroom with 200A total for the whole house, depending if you use gas for dryer/heater/stove etc or electric. I had my small house upgraded to 400A so I could run 100A to my shed and still support everything else. We have oil heat (forced air blower), but everything else is electric.

If you can do that while building, it will be cheaper than doing it later.

Pete

[Brian Tuftee]

The house is set up for 200A service.

As a self-confessed moron on the subject of electrical power, what exactly do I need running from the street to the shop? The builder said it's no problem wiring the shop for 240V, however didn't give specifics. What type of wiring will ensure enough power to the shop. I plan on running a 220V DC and a 220V saw/or J/P at the same time (for instance, DC pulls 12.5A, TS pulls 13A, planning on large J/P combo)

Again, my moronic understanding of electricity limits my ability to ask cogent questions on this subject. Please forgive me.

Are you going to wire the shop separately from the house? I ask, since you mentioned "street to the shop" in your post. Normally, you'd just take the shop power from the house's main panel. If I was designing it, I'd use wiring suitable for 300A (250kcmil copper) coming into your meter, then to the main disconnect, then break it out separately into a 200A panel for the house, and run feeders for a 100A panel in the workshop. You'd probably spec #4 copper for the feeders to the shop panel, unless it's a really long distance, then you might upsize to #3 to reduce voltage drop. The 100A panel in the shop would supply all of your needs there.

In the shop itself, I'd have a ring of 20A, 120V duplex receptacles at about 48" off the floor, every 4-6 feet or so. This may sound like a lot, but no one ever complains about having a plug located conveniently when they want one. Plus, a few extra outlets are cheap when compared with a whole house! A couple of overhead outlets would be nice too. Also, don't skimp on the lighting, for a 20x40' shop (800sqft), I'd probably have at least 8 two-tube, 4-foot flourescent light units, wired to be switched in groups of two. Also think about your dust collection, how it'll be triggered - do you want some switched receptacles for that? You may also want to consider using switched receptacles in the ceiling to run your lighting, instead of hard-wired light fixtures - this depends on whether you'll go and buy your flouresecent lights with plugs on, or have the electrician just install them when the shop is wired.

Have dedicated circuits for any stationary equipment, like a TS, BS, DC, etc. The ring of 20A duplex outlets, I would put those on at least two different circuits. A lot of this is overkill, but hey, if you're doing it from scratch you might as well build something that you'll never outgrow.

[Jim Becker]

Pete, relative to the discussion about branching 240v circuits. In some areas, and apparently where you live, local enforcment prohibits branching. In other areas, such as where I live, it's not an issue unless an "appliance" is involved. (Dryer, Oven, Range, Hot Water, etc.) For a shop, no problem as long as the branching is done in a J-Box. I asked. In fact, we don't even need a permit for electrical, just an independent inspection. Now, plumbing...that's a real money-maker for them...of the fine-toothed comb type! Oy!

[Pete Brown]

Pete, relative to the discussion about branching 240v circuits. In some areas, and apparently where you live, local enforcment prohibits branching. In other areas, such as where I live, it's not an issue unless an "appliance" is involved. (Dryer, Oven, Range, Hot Water, etc.) For a shop, no problem as long as the branching is done in a J-Box. I asked. In fact, we don't even need a permit for electrical, just an independent inspection. Now, plumbing...that's a real money-maker for them...of the fine-toothed comb type! Oy!

I think I'll move to PA

Around here, Plumbing, Electrical and HVAC must all be done by locally licensed professionals and fully inspected. Homeowners are not allowed to do any of it, even under supervision, although I have messed with it a little.

Honestly, I thought the 240v outlet issue was NEC, not local, as our local electrical codes are NEC. It's all up to the inspectors, though. What they say rules no matter what it says in print.

BTW, having done some plumbing, I'm happy to leave it to the pros!

Pete

[John Kain]

Well, I spoke with the builder who is going to look into 300A into the house with a dedicated 100A of that to the shop with a panel for machinery electrical cut-off as Jim recommended. That's one added safety precaution as I have children in the house. I'm finishing the basement myself to cut down on construction costs. I'll certainly make sure to place outlets all over the place as suggested and have an electrician design the best wiring scheme. Another nice thing about placing the drywall later is that I'll know what machine will go where and design the dedicated 220V outlets accordingly.

I forgot about adding a closet for the DC. Actually, there will be a dead space behind one of purposed walls that should work great.