And here we go

JAWilliams

JAWilliams

KNIFEMAKER
Well here is the first pics of getting power to my shop. I am using a square D box. I had to have my father in law punch a new hole. As you can tell there is one very short wire.

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Getting ready to mark for bolts.

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Holes drilled and bolted to the wall.

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Well looks level.

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Wired up for power.

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Well now to contact the electric company. If it is alright I will keep posting here with my progress.

Thanks for looking,

James
 
Congrats! Getting dedicated power for your shop is an exciting project. There's nothing quite like looking around an sayin', "Dang, this ROCKS!! No more extension cords running all my tools off one outlet!" :)

Running lights and outlets is one thing, but installing a new box, well...

I'm not a pro, but frankly your pics frighten me, friend. I have heavier-gauge, better-insulated wire running to the toaster in my kitchen, than you show running to the box that's going to supply your whole shop. There are laws and codes for this sort of thing for a reason. Mainly, so people don't burn themselves and their neighbors to a crisp.

I presume you're running power from your house to your shop. How many amps are serving the house, and how many are you running to your shop? I see a 100-amp breaker in your pics, but are you really getting 100 amps into the box safely? Did you assume that a $10 breaker will take care of all your power needs? Is your shop wired properly to deal with that kind of amperage? Is the rest of the wiring in your shop noodle-thin as shown?

Are you a licensed electrician, or did you have one run the main-line and inspect the box? Are both the box in the house, and the box in the shop, properly grounded? Do local codes require you enclose the new box in the shop? Does the enclosure have to be steel or can it be wood? Does every single outlet in your shop have the proper rating for the tools/lights you plan to run off it? Is your shop attached/part of your house, or is it seperated by "however many feet your local codes require"?

Are you certain your homeowners/renters insurance covers the shop now? Is it a hobby or a business? Any zoning requirements involved? Does your mortgage holder/landlord know about this? You might be surprised at the fine print these people have in your agreements, and how badly you can get slammed if the worst happens and you're not in compliance.

I'm not trying to be a drag, but these are things you need to deal with. This is SERIOUS BUSINESS that can destroy everything you ever worked for if you don't have it done right!! I could be completely wrong, you may know exactly what you're doing. If that's the case, I apologize sincerely. Just sayin...

Cover your butt now, it may save your butt later. No one wants to wake up (or, not wake up ever again) in a pile of ashes and find out they're being sued/fined as well. It "only" cost me $275 to have a licensed, insured professional run power to my garage and make sure it's all legit. The electric company came out and signed off on it being legal/safe for free. This is at least a start.
 
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James thanks for your concern. It is on a meter of its own. My father in law is an electrical engineer and the one helping me. We have checked the wire coming in and it is to code. Now for the inside we have been talking about this. we will be using 10 gauge and 12-3 to do the wiring. Everything will be run in or above code. We have more thoughts on a safe way instead of the fast way. We are running one side first then will go to the other side later on.
Once again thank you for your concern. That is the biggest reason I love this forum is people looking out for each other. Oh to have the electric company come in and change it to 200 amp is a night mare. We are going to wire for the fact of this. As in every other outlet on a separate ciruit. Then label them A,B,C and so on to make sure they are not over loaded. We are talking about running 12-16 lights, 3 or 4 per circuit depending on the amps they pull. We figure it will take as many switches as circuits. We are staying away from wire under 12 gauge. Too much could go wrong and that is something that we don't want going wrong. There will be (if I am remembering right) a total of 5 220's. Once again labeled so we know how much is running at the same time. My father in law was able to get everything he wanted before he retired. To him this is a challange he is looking forward too.



Thanks Wayne. Will keep them coming as I get more done.


I need to change the date on my camara.
 
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I'm with James, this forum watches out for each other in way that shows everyone cares. I've been other places where they seem to try to slam you against the wall if they think you screwed up. Here they want to help you instead of ridicule you. And Dogs if you take offence to constructive criticism here you should get 30 lashes with a wet noodle.:)

By the way James, I'm happy to see you are taking wiring your shop seriously. Too many of us just do what we shouldn't just to get by. Most are lucky but once in a while the disaster hits because short cuts were taken. OOPS! dang I just tripped and fell over another extension cord. Have a happy Easter all

Larry
 
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Well ran into my first set back. Have to re do the breaker box. Found out that it was not flat against the wall on one side.

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It will take about an hour to fix and then seal the edge up. Sorry about the pic, could only get it sideways. Well it will be a couple of days before I call the electric company to set the meter.
 
Got a little done today.
This is for two plugs. May seem strange but wanted two plugs on different breakers in case I needed to run extention cords.
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These are the two plugins. I still have to label them.
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Then came out of the top of the box.
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Wired in two more breakers. Each one will have 3 pluggins on each breaker.
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Will be working more this week.
 
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Lookin good James.Now we can see the size of the feed wire comming into your shop.It is bigger than it first looked.Hope it all continues to go well.

God bless,Keith
 
Looking good. Just a suggestion, in my garage I have seperate circuits for different outlets (4 circuits, 4 outlets each) rather than lable them I used white, grey, black, and orange outlets. Marking them works too but for me I just found it more professional looking with the different colored outlets.
 
jdkno said:
Looking good. Just a suggestion, in my garage I have seperate circuits for different outlets (4 circuits, 4 outlets each) rather than lable them I used white, grey, black, and orange outlets. Marking them works too but for me I just found it more professional looking with the different colored outlets.
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That is a great idea!!!! Will look into that. But small set back. I was given about 40 feet of 10 gauge wire and that is what I was using. Ran out and went to buy it and almost fainted at the price. So I will be going with 12 gauge on my longer runs on this wall. But will use the 10 gauge on shorter runs.

Chris I hope to be but next weekend. I have to fight with the electric company now.

Just finished talking to the electric company. They waved the deposit and they will be out next Thursday to turn it on. Now I am excited.
 
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Rock on man! I truly understand how excited you are, and I promise you, you won't regret the hassles and expense. Almost as good as finishing a good knife! :D Maybe better, cuz it will help you make more good knives :)

jdkno, that's a great idea, wish I'd thought of it. Maybe I'll color-code my cover-plates one day when I run out of other projects that need to be done, LOL.
It is a good idea that wouldn't cost much.
 
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Outlets are only $1.00 or so a piece. Even if you have everything in place already if you know what outlets are on what circuit, just kill the circuit and switch the outlets out.

JAWilliams - I am not sure where you are buying your wiring, you might want to check around and see if they have any electrical supply houses that will sell to individuals as they are usually cheaper than your typical home improvement store. Last I checked 10/2 was not that much more than 12/2 in the end. I think when I re-wired my garage it cost me like an extra $200.00 to run all 10/2 vs. the 12/2. I also went with 6/3 over 8/3 for my 2 220v outlets.
 
jdkno said:
Outlets are only $1.00 or so a piece. Even if you have everything in place already if you know what outlets are on what circuit, just kill the circuit and switch the outlets out.

JAWilliams - I am not sure where you are buying your wiring, you might want to check around and see if they have any electrical supply houses that will sell to individuals as they are usually cheaper than your typical home improvement store. Last I checked 10/2 was not that much more than 12/2 in the end. I think when I re-wired my garage it cost me like an extra $200.00 to run all 10/2 vs. the 12/2. I also went with 6/3 over 8/3 for my 2 220v outlets.
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Thanks, talked to a contractor yesterday and he said prices have been bouncing around. I am going to look into the 6/3 for 220v. This is a project that I wish I had the money for someone else to do it for me. LOL But I will know what is where and how it was done. so it will pay off in the end.
 
I don't think there has been a single home project I have done yet that I hadn't wished I paid someone to do while I was doing it. After the fact I am always glad I did it myself. Well I take that back I do still wish I would have paid someone to to put my new roof on lol.

Are you running the wiring in the wall or on the surface?
 
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