Powermatic electrical bid advice

[John Van Domelen]

I recently bought the Powermatic 3520B, 220 - 3 phase power lathe (has an inverter to take regular 220v service) - assuming that I had 220v service to the garage for an electric dryer.

So far so good - right?

Well - guess what - the garage ONLY has gas dryer service. :mad:

Just spent the morning lining up 8 or so bids to have 15 and 20 amp 220v lines and pigtails dropped into the shop - and a new breaker box - old one is full.

Below is the rough bid out I am proposing ( other electrical work on the same bid )- any recomendations?

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Electrical Service Job Requirements:

Plan A:

1. New Breaker box for 2 220 volt lines and two 110 lines, placed on back of house in close proximity to existing electrical drop.

2. Run 2 new 110v lines in exterior conduit to existing outdoor plugs located corner of covered patio to new breaker box. Replace plugs and hardware as needed. Lower and upper receptacles to be on separate 15 amp breakers.

3. Run two separate 15 amp and 20 amp 220 volt lines on at least 12 gauge wires to ceiling mounted receptacles with locking plug outlets located approximately at center of garage ceiling.

4. Place a quad plug 110v receptacle on garage ceiling, tie circuit into ceiling light circuit controlled by wall switch.

Plan B (preferred):

1. Run wiring of code recommended size (or better) from service drop in rear of house for a garage sub panel. New panel service wiring will be sized to handle several 110 circuits and one each 15 and 20 amp 220volt lines. Locate new sub-panel over gas dryer on rear garage wall.

2. Run two separate 15 amp and 20 amp 220 volt lines on at least 12 gauge wire from sub-panel to ceiling mounted receptacles with locking plug outlets located approximately at center of garage ceiling.

3. Place a quad plug 110v receptacle on garage ceiling, tie circuit into ceiling light circuit controlled by wall switch.

4. Place a 110v receptacle on garage ceiling, tie circuit into new sub-panel – wire for always on regular 15 amp service.

5. Run 2 new 110v lines in exterior conduit to existing outdoor plugs located corner of covered patio to new breaker box. Replace plugs and hardware as needed. Lower and upper receptacles to be on separate 15 amp breakers.

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Thanxs!

-- John

 

[Brodie Brickey]

John,

I had a similar problem in my garage. Only one line and that 110.

I wired my garage with extra lines to a new subpanel in the garage and had an electrician run from the main panel at the house to the new sub panel in the garage. This gave me flexibility to add additional lines as necessary and only 1 expensive run from panel to sub panel. It made life quite a bit better.

Cost me about 1k (for the electrician and a heavier gauge for the panel to panel run) but that is in Southern California with a then shortage of available electricians.

I'd recommend going the same route if possible. Electricity isn't that hard to run as long as you use the correct guage wiring. This will also allow you to distribute your lines within the garage. The line from the panel to sub will need to support 60 Amps and then everything else is 15 & 20 amp runs from there.

 

[Steve Worcester]

I had an issue when we moved in. The panel was in the garage, but nothing other than a 110v line. Had them drop a 50a in the main box out to a subpanel for the garage (uhm, I mean studio) which is what they will do for you. The only difference is that it sounds like the panel and were the sub would be are not in close proximity. All you really nee in the main panel is a space for a 220 breaker. They would come off of that to the sub, then you pop in the sub panel whatever you need.

You might want to plan this from the amount of stuff you want to plug in first, how many 220V items at one time (amount of plugs/drops needed) and how many would be running (amount of amps/220v breakers in the sub panel). The figure out the same for 110V, but with 110, since they don't need to e run point to point and can go from plug to plug, you can crap abunch onto one circuit. BUT, if you have a large 100v compressor or duct collector, plan for those to be the only thing running on that circuit

 

[Garmar]

I believe I would use 20A breakers with your new 220 service providing you have the right size wire ect.