Electric Requirements for new shop

[dfndr]

Been buying equipment for shop in new 1 1/2 car garage(that’s actually too short to park a car in!). Mostly wood and light mechanical work—-no welding as of yet. Realized that there are only two plugs outlets in whole garage, one in ceiling by door-opener and one on rear wall, a distance from work bench. I have been using a cord reel to stretch electrical cord to workbench with power strip on it. But with new compressor, 18 amp cordless tool chargers, power saws and other tools, this isn’t going to work very well. Currently, just one 120/20 amp circuit but room on pane for at least two more circuits.
Need advice on what I really need for shop shop tools and lights. Thanks

 

[matt_i]

An easy solution would be to run a 60A subpanel from your main panel (taking up 2 slots) and then you can wire whatever you need out in the garage area.

 

[MushCreek]

I agree with matt. If you get into any kind of workshop, you'll need 240V eventually. Decent sized compressors and welders are generally 240. From the sub-panel, you can add breakers for 120V as needed.

 

[Jeffh40]

I'm building a new house right now and I asked the builder to include a 100A disconnect coming out of a 300A main panel for future electric needs. That is on top of the several dedicated circuits he is running in the garage for tools I already know about (table saw, air compressor etc.)

I'm not entirely sure what my future shop electric needs will end up being, but I don't want to be constrained by not having enough service available.

 

[CraigStu]

Figure as best you can where a welder, heavy saw, compressor will go and run 240 there. We built a new house this past spring and I had them install a 240 in one corner. My welder has the plug not removable (w/o cutting) from the power cable so I got the matching outlet style. I then got the same plug to put on the compressor lead. I don't need both at once so I plug in which ever one is needed which is compressor 90% of the time. That corner is also where the main circuit box is so I had them run 2 20amp 120V circuits. One goes along the side wall toward the front w/ an outlet every 6 ft. The other goes across the back wall w/ same outlet spacing. BTW outlets are 48 in off the floor so above any tool boxes/work benches but below any wall cabinets. Since you are in an existing space probably the easiest is to run conduit surface mounted on the walls.