40x50 metal building electrical layout help / suggestions

[69CHARGERMD]

Red iron 40x50x14 building. Will be used to store some classic cars. Work bench, air compressor, 4 post lift, tools, etc.
Will have 6 LED lights for the ceiling.

What is the typical layout that would be recommended for electrical ?
-how many outlets
-do people advise ceiling fans ?
-what basic things would you guys advise ?
Electrician and contractor are coming out soon to review plans for the building, so I would like to have a rough idea on what I will need.
thx

 

[69CHARGERMD]

 

[Norcal]

A lot of these questions should have been asked before the concrete was poured, so any desired/needed conduits could have been placed.

 

[69CHARGERMD]

A lot of these questions should have been asked before the concrete was poured, so any desired/needed conduits could have been placed.

The electrical has been run to the building and plumbed up thru the concrete for the main box.
Just need some general ideas on basic layouts that people recommend.

 

[Walkers]

An outlet every 8’ is standard, I prefer more. I have 3 separate circuits for outlets and they hopscotch around the garage. That way I can run multiple high load items close to each other without tripping a breaker. I also mounted my boxes at 39” so I don’t have to bend over to use them. Don’t forget to add a box for a big air compressor, and a couple of NEMA 6-50 outlets for welders.

 

[alfredeneuman]

An outlet every 8’ is standard,

There is no standard spacing

 

[Walkers]

The 8’ maximum spacing is mandatory here, which means it must be in the previous version of the UBC, which is the standard used here.

 

[Norcal]

The 12' spacing only applies to dwellings, have no idea where 8' came from.

 

[alfredeneuman]

I'd assume by the OP's username that he is either a doctor or in Maryland, which is on the 2014 NEC.
In Az there is no Statewide Code, only County and Local Codes.

 

[Fasthotrod]

Beautiful Charger... one of my favorite cars of all time.

This is a little late for you, but when I was designing/building my 40x50x14 shop, an electrician friend of mine recommended that I drop PVC conduit into the ground before I poured my concrete, starting from my planned electrical box location and running to the outer walls of the shop. The thought being that underground, I can run a straight shot from the panel to any place in the shop, and a straight line is the shortest distance which means less cost overall for installation. (Conduit and wiring) Instead of going up 10' from the box, then up to the roof peak, then down to the next wall, then over to the location that needs power, you just drop down 5' - 6' then shoot the diagonal, then come up 5' - 6' and you're done. So that's what I did... and he was right. I also saved myself from having to run a bunch of exposed conduit up at the ceiling. (I still have to run the conduit for the lighting... and that took me renting a man lift for a couple of days for the high work. (No way in hell I'd be on a ladder 20' in the air... not to mention climbing up/down and moving the ladder every couple of feet.)

For your shop, the first thing I would do is figure out what equipment you have, what you plan to buy soon, or will buy in the near future. That will drive what power is required, and where. Will you have a 2 or 4-post lift that needs power? Welder? Plasma Cutter? Drill Press? Where will your workbenches be, and will regular outlets suffice there or will you need more juice? Do you plan on adding HVAC? Will you run electric tools, or air powered? (Air ratchets, air guns, air chisel, etc...) If you will have an air compressor and plan on running air lines around the shop, you can plan those along with the conduits so you're not getting them into each others way.

For my shop, I decided I wanted a lot of light. I installed 30 - 8' long LED lights, and I wired them into three zones/bays. My main 12x12 shop door is dead center in the west facing 50' wall, so I wired it based on that being the 'center bay' that is about 12' wide, with a 'left bay' and 'right bay' that are approximately 19' wide, respectively. I have three light switches on the wall so I can turn on/off each bay independently. When I'm actively working in there, I kick all of the lights on... but if I'm just running into the shop to grab something, I just hit the center bay lights so I don't smash into something.

If you have a minute, can you post up pics of where your electrical panel will be located in the shop? Proposed workbench locations? That will help for planning out where things should go.

Hope this helps.

Mark

 

[infinkc]

should have done skylights, i never have to have lights on in the day.

 

[69CHARGERMD]

I'd assume by the OP's username that he is either a doctor or in Maryland, which is on the 2014 NEC.
In Az there is no Statewide Code, only County and Local Codes.

North Carolina.

 

[dcg9381]

Agree with others, what "should" have been done is multiple runs of electrical conduit thru-slab so you can transition from one side to the other... That being said, with the look of that building, 3 sides may need power of some type. Personally, I'd have a sub panel on the opposite wall from the power entry point. Building like this, probably 90A feed is what you want. I'd put in a 60A feed to the sub-panel. This gets you 240V if you need it on multiple walls and facilitates flexibility.

 

[u2slow]

Don't worry that you didnt get pvc jumpers in the slab. Many a commercial space is wired to a tenant's liking after the fact.

You may want to consider another sub panel on an opposite end/wall to minimize run length. I did that because I had extra #6-#2 wire and some extra panels.

 

[alfredeneuman]

North Carolina.

North Carolina has the 2017 NEC adopted Statewide

 

[alfredeneuman]

The 8’ maximum spacing is mandatory here, which means it must be in the previous version of the UBC, which is the standard used here.

Cave Creek (EDIT: and all of Maricopa County) is on the IRC, which has the same receptacle spacing requirement as in the NEC

 

[Walkers]

I’m actually in the county, so a little different than in the town.

 

[69CHARGERMD]

Beautiful Charger... one of my favorite cars of all time.

This is a little late for you, but when I was designing/building my 40x50x14 shop, an electrician friend of mine recommended that I drop PVC conduit into the ground before I poured my concrete, starting from my planned electrical box location and running to the outer walls of the shop. The thought being that underground, I can run a straight shot from the panel to any place in the shop, and a straight line is the shortest distance which means less cost overall for installation. (Conduit and wiring) Instead of going up 10' from the box, then up to the roof peak, then down to the next wall, then over to the location that needs power, you just drop down 5' - 6' then shoot the diagonal, then come up 5' - 6' and you're done. So that's what I did... and he was right. I also saved myself from having to run a bunch of exposed conduit up at the ceiling. (I still have to run the conduit for the lighting... and that took me renting a man lift for a couple of days for the high work. (No way in hell I'd be on a ladder 20' in the air... not to mention climbing up/down and moving the ladder every couple of feet.)

For your shop, the first thing I would do is figure out what equipment you have, what you plan to buy soon, or will buy in the near future. That will drive what power is required, and where. Will you have a 2 or 4-post lift that needs power? Welder? Plasma Cutter? Drill Press? Where will your workbenches be, and will regular outlets suffice there or will you need more juice? Do you plan on adding HVAC? Will you run electric tools, or air powered? (Air ratchets, air guns, air chisel, etc...) If you will have an air compressor and plan on running air lines around the shop, you can plan those along with the conduits so you're not getting them into each others way.

For my shop, I decided I wanted a lot of light. I installed 30 - 8' long LED lights, and I wired them into three zones/bays. My main 12x12 shop door is dead center in the west facing 50' wall, so I wired it based on that being the 'center bay' that is about 12' wide, with a 'left bay' and 'right bay' that are approximately 19' wide, respectively. I have three light switches on the wall so I can turn on/off each bay independently. When I'm actively working in there, I kick all of the lights on... but if I'm just running into the shop to grab something, I just hit the center bay lights so I don't smash into something.

If you have a minute, can you post up pics of where your electrical panel will be located in the shop? Proposed workbench locations? That will help for planning out where things should go.

Hope this helps.

Mark

Thx Mark. Very helpful. Lots of great information. Will keep you posted on the progress.

 

[inphx]

Well, I found I needed 220 in some areas for a Tesla charger, another corner needed power for the Air compressor, and the opposite end of the breaker panel where I put a workbench I needed a bunch of 110 outlets. The 220 v is handy for a welder. Another after-build chore was to run power for a mini-split AC in an electronics repair room. Possibly a sub-panel mid or far end would make this more convenient to dd later.

The other posters are pointing out my wish... before pouring the pad I wish I had conduit or runs to some of the far areas.

As the shop fills up moving things to do the electrical or data runs gets tedious.

ALSO now that I am adding solar to the compound - the gragmahol roof is the simplest and preferred for the panels so the power capacity from the toy shop to the house now matters for the power to be feeding the other way.

For ceiling fans, I improvised and screwed a 2x6 in between the topmost rafters and had a standard ceiling box centered and a home depot residential remote-controlled fan.

For lighting I wouldn't recommend it - but I used led eBay units with **** connectors. it seemed like a good idea, they provide plenty of light and look neat. The purlins flex with temperature and winds and the female-to-female connectors took months of chasing to remove and crimp down and reseat - they are seemingly not copper and I expect this to be a long-term issue even though for now it has some stability. I do have one main switch by the door but two sub rooms have some lighting - I wish I wired the main switch to override the remote rooms.

Don't forget a ceiling outlet for the garage openers, I like to have my circuits switched for security reasons so there's an extra wall switch to disable the openers.

Also before you get too filled in consider some MaxAir lines to set air receptacles at the far end.

I have two ceiling-mounted northern tool spool reels for 110v. They have on the reel a 15 amp pop-out breaker that pops on 14.999999 surge amps reliably, or whenever you really need to get some work done, so I would get higher amp ones or do a safety delete if I was doing it again. Using some tools it kicks out.

I keep an 8' PVC pipe to reset the spool breaker or tap a light connect to reseat w/o getting a ladder.

The other thing for me is IT. I have Cat6 to the corners so I can feed a shop tv youtube, have wifi and some other devices like security cameras running.

 

[mcbane]

should have done skylights, i never have to have lights on in the day.

Never seen a skylight that can take serious snow load, so that only works in global warming areas.

 

[rjprice]

Red iron 40x50x14 building. Will be used to store some classic cars. Work bench, air compressor, 4 post lift, tools, etc.
Will have 6 LED lights for the ceiling.

What is the typical layout that would be recommended for electrical ?
-how many outlets
-do people advise ceiling fans ?
-what basic things would you guys advise ?
Electrician and contractor are coming out soon to review plans for the building, so I would like to have a rough idea on what I will need.
thx

So I did a 40x50 with 15ft lean-to. 35 outlets, some on the lean-to. 12 LED 24,500 lumen high bays. My barn has a 16 ft ceiling. Lighting/elec plan attached.

 

[dcg9381]

Never seen a skylight that can take serious snow load, so that only works in global warming areas.

In Texas (no snow load), I've had them blown out by hail. If I was doing a building like that, I'd have the upper parts of vertical panels done as skylights - no snow load and not damagable by hail.

 

[dutchgray]

We did an 35' by 18' garage for a customer and he had outlets every 6' on one side and every 4' on the other, wired with a box conduit with removable lid round the wall under the roof with tube drops for each, with singles.
The 4' spacing is probably excessive.
The other option is to buy a dozen long extension cables and see where they end up after a few months of use, then put outlets in those locations.

 

[nadogail]

You put the power where the equipment will be.

Putting the equipment where ever you happened to put the power is evidence of a lack of planning.

 

[Hobby_Man22]

How do you get the doors so close together? Had a building guy say they needed like 2ft on either side of each I beam support

 

[jacks2000]

Mount your receptacles 50" or more so you can lean lean plywood, metal, etc. against the wall and not cover then up. I mounted mine at 45", dumb move. I also use quad receptacles on separate circuits.