Tips For Shop Wiring?

[Don Jarvie]

There's pros and cons to all 3. No. 1 requires planning since everything will be walled up so you need to figure out where you plan on putting everything. While you can run outlets around the perimeter of the shop its planning on if you want to add a separate line for the DC or 30 amp lines for a TS or big tools. This makes the shop look nice and clean.

No 2 and 3 are easier but you have boxes and or conduit on the walls which can get in the way of hanging cabinets, etc.

A few other thoughts. Unless you have someone to help putting OSB on the ceiling is not a one man job. Drywall on the ceiling is fine. I personally don't see the benefit of OSB on a ceiling. Your only hanging lights or an aircleaner so your going to drill into the studs or strapping. Do consider a wood floor for comfort and you can run lines under the floor to various tools. You don't have to trip on cords.

The take away is to plan everything out before you start to work. Don't forget lines for heat/AC, the boat shop and outlets outside the building.

One last thing is they do make oversize plates for outlets.

[John K Jordan]

...Unless you have someone to help putting OSB on the ceiling is not a one man job. Drywall on the ceiling is fine. I personally don't see the benefit of OSB on a ceiling. Your only hanging lights or an aircleaner so your going to drill into the studs or strapping. Do consider a wood floor for comfort and you can run lines under the floor to various tools. You don't have to trip on cords.

It is a big job but I put up 1/2" plywood over my entire shop ceiling by myself with a panel jack commonly used for installing sheet rock. 24'x62' shop.

panel_jack_IMG_20150106_185527_791.jpg

A panel jack can be had for $150 on sale and sold for that or more after use. I decided to keep mine. Great for putting a Jet air filter into place.

I had several reasons to use panels instead of sheet rock, one is to hang things which is not, as you mention, all that important for a ceiling. More important to me is the ability to take down a section if needed to access wiring, compressed air, HVAC ducts, and DC ducts. I did build access hatches but the 3/12 trusses are way to tight to get very far unless you are a squirrel. An extremely minor point is a structural wood panel adds rigidity and strength to the building, perhaps more important to some but mine is built and braced like a bunker anyway. Sheetrock, of course, is better for fire management.

JKJ

[Bill Dufour]

Consider putting a subpanel on the wall farthest from the main panel. Often that will be cheaper then long expensive runs of bigger wire. make sure the lights are on there own breaker. I would install a couple outlets around 5' high near each machine controlled by the main light switch. use these to plug in adjustable task lights and you will not forget to turn them off along with the main lights.
Bill

[Marc Jeske]

One main point - Most receptacles should be at approx 42".

Here's the point - You want to be above any work surface height, and BELOW cabinets or shelves above the work surfaces. Marc

[Richard Gonzalez]

One main point - Most receptacles should be at approx 42".

Here's the point - You want to be above any work surface height, and BELOW cabinets or shelves above the work surfaces. Marc

To add to this concept, rip all your lower OSB sheets into a 42” and a 6” strip (or a 8” or 12” strip, etc.). If you take approach #1 or #2, all your outlets can be installed in the strip, and this is the only section you need to screw in to be able to access. It will be much easier to mark and do cutouts in the narrow strip, and you can cut 3 sided openings. Always easy to add more/larger runs later by dropping down from above through the stud bays.

This is is my plan for my next shop.

[Roger Feeley]

I just finished moving into a new shop. All of the wall studs are covered with 7/16" OSB. If I want to hang something it's great to just drive a screw. Inasmuch as I'm tall (6'-3"), I can reach the ceiling so nearly all of my outlets are in the ceiling joists. All of my machines are wired to the ceiling.

I have switches on the walls. For those, I have a removable panel behind that wiring and the switches are mounted flush.
I have one outlet behind the cutoff saw. I mounted the box on the OSB and just stapled down the Romex.

I would recommend mounting the Romex on the wall so that everything can be moved easily or removed when you are done with it.

[John Lanciani]

To add to this concept, rip all your lower OSB sheets into a 42” and a 6” strip (or a 8” or 12” strip, etc.). If you take approach #1 or #2, all your outlets can be installed in the strip, and this is the only section you need to screw in to be able to access. It will be much easier to mark and do cutouts in the narrow strip, and you can cut 3 sided openings. Always easy to add more/larger runs later by dropping down from above through the stud bays.

This is is my plan for my next shop.

50" to the bottom of the box makes much more sense for receptacles and switches in a shop. That way sheet goods can be leaned against the walls without blocking the devices.

[John K Jordan]

50" to the bottom of the box makes much more sense for receptacles and switches in a shop. That way sheet goods can be leaned against the walls without blocking the devices.

What is this concept? I don't think I have enough wall space anywhere in the shop wide enough to lean a folding chair against it!

JKJ

[Dave Cav]

I just finished my shop. I had the electrical sub put all of the 110 outlets around 48" above the floor with the wiring run behind the wall, and also wire in two 30 amp 240 outlets so I would have temporary power. The walls are 1/2" OSB, as are the ceilings. The panel is 200 amp, surface mount for easy access. Once I finalized all of the equipment locations I ran the 240 power to each machine location in surface mount PVC, mostly 1/2" but one 3/4" for the widebelt 50 amp outlet.

[Jim Becker]

I would recommend mounting the Romex on the wall so that everything can be moved easily or removed when you are done with it.

Technically by code, you cannot leave the cable exposed at wall level. Surface mounted electrical cable runs have to be in conduit or use armored cable until you get up to ceiling height.

[Thomas Hutson]

just do number 1. its not that hard i had no experience and did it myself. a jig saw and an oscillating multi tool is your friend for this job. the worst part is drywall on the ceiling. but in terms of the wiring. run wayyyyyyyy more than you think you will need. also wire the shop for speakers now. i recommend coax for the 2 subwoofers front and back and 7 channels worth of 14 or 16 gauge speaker wire. speaker wire should be run at least a foot away from electrical and cross lines at 90 degrees if you must to limit buzz or interference. the coax doesn't have as much a problem because its all shielded but the same still applies. you will be happy you did the speakers in the end. for the 240 volt lines run 10 ga and 12 ga for the 120v lines. it makes it easy to know whats what and makes sure you have the capacity for higher amp circuit if you need. alot of people will run 14ga for everything other than 120 because the 14ga fits the boxes easier. if you are neat and not wasteful you wont have any problems with that. make sure you put smooth side out on the osb when you mount it. some people like putting it up with a stapler but i used a collated drywall gun and it went super fast. if i ever need access to the wall i can simply unscrew the pannel and do what i need to do. on the bottom run make sure you leave about 1/8 inch off the ground so if you get water or anything in the garage it doesn't swell the ends of your boards. i ran all of my osb sheets tight to each other and i have seen absolutely no waviness or any problems. even after priming and painting. if you are going to paint btw get a good quality stain blocking primer because the tannin's in the osb will bleed through. i did two coats of primer and two coats of paint sprayed on and it did great. all in all i think i finished the ceiling and the walls for about 1k plus 200 for paint. ill take pictures when i get home. ohh also you might wanna consider two sets of light switches for wall lights as well as ceiling lights. the wall lights are handy for lighting up all angles of projects or seeing into cars etc. they can also be useful for task lighting. i have 4 outlets along my wall for task lights mounted at about 6 and a half feet up the wall. two along each long wall. sorry if this is rambling. i spent a lot of time going back and forth about stuff and this is ultimately what i did and the only thing i wish i did more of was 240. i have 5 circuits and i wish i had put more in. i never expected i would start accumulating this many 240v tools. anyways ask any questions if you have them!
edit about outlet height. i put all of my outlets at 48" off the ground. that is because the cut outs will be only in one panel when putting up the walls and if it is on two it is split between them meaning it is MUCH easier to locate them. this also places everything above the average work surface etc and your not bending over all the time to plug and unplug stuff. the only thign that is lower is the sub power outlet and the dedicated circuit for my miter saw station. that is because stuff will never be unplugged from there and i want it underneath the station out of the way. I will have a power strip build into my cabinets for chargers etc.

[Joe Jensen]

I like the idea of OSB for the walls but what about fire? Isn't drywall required for fire protection?

[Marc Jeske]

If it a one or two person shop, there is no need to have EVERYTHING on separate breakers.

Think from the angle of "what tools will I have running simultaneously" and put THOSE on seperate ckts.

The others, for possible example..you will not be running a jointer at same time as planer, hence they do not need separate ckts.

If this is not considered, a one man shop w a heckuvalot of machines will be putting in a 400A service.... TOTALLY un needed. Marc

[Peter Aeschliman]

Conduit is pain in the butt on the front end, but a huge benefit later on if you think you are likely to buy new machines or reconfigure the shop. I ran conduit throughout my basement shop and while it took a few weekends, I'm really glad I went to the trouble.

I would recommend running at #10 wire for all of your 220v circuits and #12 for your 120v circuits. You'll want to size your breakers and plugs to the machine's requirements, but the larger wires give you the ability to go up to 30 amp or 20 amp circuits later by just changing the plug and the breaker on the circuit later on.

Also, if you do conduit, I recommend using at least 3/4" for all of your circuits to leave you plenty of room to pull new circuits later.

The conduit itself is extremely inexpensive. The boxes are a bit more spendy, but I think the additional work and slightly higher cost will pay off in the long run.

[Bill Dufour]

Depending on what your inspector will allow consider buying a used breaker panel from ebay or craigs list preloaded with breakers. I got a 100amp panel. with quite a few breakers installed. It has about double the number of circuits as I was planning on buying for about the same cost as the bare panel would have been new. It is convenient to have all the breakers on the property the same make and model. that way you can switch them around as the design changes. I like Square D QO panels and breakers. Still being made 50 years later.
Same idea with the main cable I got some from Craigslist that can handle 150 amps but I only run it from a 70 amp breaker. I could up the breaker if I ever needed to but they are Zinsco on the house so new breaker would be at least $100.
Bill D
Bill D