40 amp service?

[JB740i]

So my father in law stopped by work today after being out at my house under construction. (Owner builder but he's the expert and an electrician) I told him I'd just heard from the electric company who had been out inspecting the site and had some questions.

They had advised me that it would be costing big money if they ran the power out to the back yard for the detached garage. I think the house is too close to the property line and the guy was worried about the trucks getting back there.

My father in law said he was gonna be running the power out to the detached and said he would run it off the house with 40 amps service. I'm thinking, **** everyone else on garage journal has like 200-300-400 amp service out to their garage. How am I gonna live that down?

So I try to say well, I've got that big air compressor (not yet, but I do covet one of the big IR 80 gallon deals) and want a welder some day.

I didn't mention the lift that I will want some day. Cause my first baby arrives Tuesday@!@#@!!! so the lift may be a good 20 years away.

I think the restricting factor is the detached garage will be probably 200' away from the meter so maybe he's trying to save on the cable expense for now?

 

[LoneGunman]

I can't see any electrician wanting to run a 40a service to a detached garage, it makes no sense what so ever. It's not my intention to insult your FIL,maybe I'm missing something.

Is this a new house and it's yours? If so, no way in hell I'd allow a 40 amp service to be put in. Yes youll save in wire but youll pay a lot more later to upgrade. 100 amp or above is the only thing that makes sense, also run an extra 1" conduit out there for future low voltage use.

Many welders require a 50a circuit.

 

[PAToyota]

You're not going to be happy with 40amp. My compressor is 30amp, MIG and plasma is 50amp, TIG is 100amp...

 

[cj7jeep81]

at my old house, the previous owners had ran a 30 amp service to the detached 24x32 garage. of course, they also installed a tiny panel (10 spaces maybe), and must have used several 90 degree elbows in the conduit to the garage as I couldn't even get a fish tape through.

i never did pop the main breaker, but had I lived there longer, I was going to upgrade the electrical. i had a 240v 60 gallon compressor and a 120v welder (never ran at the same time). the worst part of it is the sub panel in the garage was within 30 feet of the panel at the house. it would have cost maybe $50 more to put in a 100 amp panel at the time. i'd definately go as big as you can. the small cost up front (even if a few hundred dollars) is well worth it.

 

[JB740i]

That's been the interesting part about working with the inlaws. Feeling the need to be able to justify the wants instead of spelling them out.

On the other hand, they're working hard. He left the house he was working on the other day and drove an hour and a half to delivery some stuff out to the site that they needed. Can't complain about that kind of help.

 

[PAToyota]

It can be a difficult situation. My ex-wife's uncle was going to help with the electrical on my shop - but I started to find that a lot of his recommendations weren't cutting it, either for my use or for codes. Turned into a bit of a touchy situation...

 

[sharpshooter]

Yeah, I can feel your pain about the inlaws. I bought my 1st house back february and I have been living with them since that time, while I renovate it. Now we are winding down on the house and are getting close to moving in and I mentioned something about dressing up the garage floor and I felt like I needed to justify how I spent my money...... good luck with whatever you decide...

 

[Bevis]

Family....I've had some issues with them, while building my pole barn. Trying to get me to do it their way, But I put my foot down and said it was mine and I was going to to it my way...they haven't been back around to help since then.

 

[JB740i]

Family....I've had some issues with them, while building my pole barn. Trying to get me to do it their way, But I put my foot down and said it was mine and I was going to to it my way...they haven't been back around to help since then.

I was reading Forbes or Money magazine last night and the article was talking about being your own contractor. It said something along the lines of "sure, you think you're pretty handy around the house. Didn't you put a new handle on the toliet last night? Why couldn't you build the house yourself"

I thought that was a fairly accurate picture. I'm more interested in working on cars than houses and so it's not quite a project where I can stomp my feet and hope they don't help anymore.

My wife and I couldn't be building it down without them.

 

[kbs2244]

I would guess he is just trying to save you money.
But the extra cost of supplies for a big service isn't that much more.
Labor cost will be the same after all. (Free)
Tell him you want it for the increased resale value.
That will show you can think ahead.

 

[mulepackin]

I "upgraded" my house and garage to 200 amp service about 15 years ago. Have 100 to the house and 100 to the garage. Now wish I had 200 at each.

 

[vettezx-6]

This is definitely a situation where you have to put your foot down and get what you want. I've been a very similar position with my father-in-law plenty of times, you just have to say "this is my house, we're doing it my way". You don't have to be mean or put him down in any way. You'll regret not doing it right in the first place when you're spending big bucks to re-do it later.

 

[jayc]

I've got a 40amp service to my garage. The big power items are a 220V compressor and a 220V 180A Lincoln mig welder. I've run both at the same time with out issue. Over the winter I was also running a 220V construction heater and normally was running about 8 100W light bulbs.

My advice, go with the 40amp it'll likely suit your needs just fine. BUT put the cable in conduit so you can painlessly upgrade further down the road. I put a 125A panel in the garage just in case. So all I have to do is pull new cable and upgrade the breaker in the house. But honestly I think your FL is correct, 40a is plenty.

 

[W-Cummins]

You could probably live with the 40, but 60 would give you a little more breathing room. I ran off a 50 amp feed to my old garage/car port and ran:

a MM SW. 351, Lincoln sp 200, 5hp compressor, ( all ran just fine ) and I ran a 15hp RPC and my iron worker, lathe and BP all at the same time w/o a single trip ever.... Now I like OVERKILL more than most ( infact I think I have the most power overkill of any one here ! ) but, many have no need for more than 100 amps at the most, in a single person shop, and would probably get by just fine with 50 amps

William...

 

[Uncle Buck]

You could probably live with the 40, but 60 would give you a little more breathing room. I ran off a 50 amp feed to my old garage/car port and ran:

a MM SW. 351, Lincoln sp 200, 5hp compressor, ( all ran just fine ) and I ran a 15hp RPC and my iron worker, lathe and BP all at the same time w/o a single trip ever.... Now I like OVERKILL more than most ( infact I think I have the most power overkill of any one here ! ) but, many have no need for more than 100 amps at the most, in a single person shop, and would probably get by just fine with 50 amps

William...

I am no electrician, but I thought in the neighborhood of say 60-100 amp at the most as well, even at that it should be overkill for sure.

Have you shared with the FIL any plans for the future? I bet that might change his mind. Oh, BTW, no offense, but who is footing the bill, you, or him? That might have something to do with it as well!

 

[nissan_crawler]

I have 150 amp service with a 20 breaker panel in the garage, and I'm running out of breakers, and not done wiring yet. I might have to change the panel just to get enough room.

 

[Bevis]

so it's not quite a project where I can stomp my feet and hope they don't help anymore.

My wife and I couldn't be building it down without them.

My Dad is the only one that comes around to help, when I need it (sometimes the wife). I'm the type that wants it done the right way the first time.