Here is my plan for wiring my new post frame shop. I'm sure I will hear opinions on why I shouldn't wire my shop this way, but that's why I'm asking here. My new shop is bookshelf framed or some areas call it ladder framing. I will have a metal ceiling and metal wall panels inside. I plan on running romex through large conduit from the breaker box into the attic. From there I will make my runs with romex utilizing some attic junction boxes and do vertical drops down the outside of the walls where I want outlet boxes. Those drops will be in conduit. My lighting will be similar. Conduit drops to the switch, once in the attic make the romex runs to the lights. Thoughts?
Romex to conduit drops?
- Thread starter alfy84
- Start date
Wrench97
Well-known member
Just run EMT and pull thhn though it.
Don’t run romex in conduit. It’s a pain to pull, and fills the pipe fast. Run conduit to the lights (or a box close, and use whips). That makes switching a lot easier if you want 3 ways, 0-10 diming, or to make changes to how the lights are banked after they are installed.
JohnX14
Well-known member
I wouldn't put junction boxes in attic. I'd pipe on the surface as the others suggested and pull thhn.
mike93lx
ALLIANCE MEMBER
It'll frustrate the **** out of you and cost a bunch, but do emt for all of it. When you are done, you'll be glad you did and proud of the work.
matt_i
Well-known member
In my two shops I ran a large diameter trunk line conduit around the perimeter in the attic. About a hundred tees (lol). Past the initial wireway, I did it also for future-proofing. It's so easy to add something new, worst-case a few wires have to be unlanded and rolled back to cut in a new tee body. Thankfully done before copper had to be locked up at your local bank vault.
Stuart in MN
Well-known member
If the conduit drops from the attic down to the boxes are straight shots it won't be a big deal to run the romex through them.
BreeStephany
ALLIANCE MEMBER
For indoor drops, it is permissible to run NM-B in conduit and use the conduit as nothing more than a protected chase for the NM-B, but as others have said, if you are pulling more than a single NM-B in a straight conduit, its going to be much less than enjoyable to accomplish. If your attic is accessible, run the conduit through the ceiling to an accessible j-box above the insulation line in the attic, run the NM-B to the j-box and then switch over to THHN.
BreeStephany
ALLIANCE MEMBER
True future-proofing in a shop is running busduct on the ceiling, but with today's material prices... busduct is EXPENSIVE... especially copper busduct, not to mention the cost of the buckets, kellems grips, and SOOW. I have set up a couple of hobby shops and quite a few commercial shops this way and it is truly the best way of setting up a shop for future proofing.
An older past coworker of mine has a shop where they have a 277/480V 3ph 1000A duct down the center and a 120/208V 3ph 800A ducts on the left and right sides of each of the 6 rooms that comprise their 'home hobby shop'. This is a ridiculous example of 'future-proofing', but it does guarantee that they can add pretty much ANYTHING equipment wise to their shop and have it wired and powered on in less than a hour without having to pull new circuits.... just open a door, click in a new bucket, bolt it down, torque the bus clamps and run SOOW out as a cord drop. The 277/480 bus is set higher in the ceiling than the 120/208V bus and they ran cable tray along the buses to support the cable until the point at which they need the drop. It's beautiful, its functional... but being a solution most commonly utilized solely in industrial plants, it is not a solution MOST any of us would ever utilize in our personal shops.
matt_i
Well-known member
That is big boy money right there! Kind of like owning your own CNC water jet or personal jet 
Suppose a person could get lucky at an auction and win pallets of bus and bus plugs for peanuts, the utility install and copper to feed it for 1000A makes me start to sweat thinking about the cost of it.
Of course then you'd run #14 to your standard machine tools on 480vac
Suppose a person could get lucky at an auction and win pallets of bus and bus plugs for peanuts, the utility install and copper to feed it for 1000A makes me start to sweat thinking about the cost of it.
Of course then you'd run #14 to your standard machine tools on 480vac