Electrical advice

[Bowlingarage622]

Just moved to a new house that I am renting. My current garage the electric is fed from the house on a 100 amp breaker box. The garage breaker is 20 amps the garage as of right now has 3 4 bulb fluorescents and one outlet powering a fridge and radio I also have a compressor. The breaker powers my garage and living room in order for me to power the compressor I have to unplug everything **** the living room down then it still is hard to power the compressor have to reset it. How expensive is it to run separate electric? I am renting so I'm looking for a cheap route for this


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[wyliesdiesels]

Well first off youre renting so u shouldnt be doing any electrical work.

Second what is the horsepower rating on the compressor and how long is the circuit run to the garage?

The living room should be on a separate circuit.

Is the garage detached?

 

[timgr]

I agree, you have to accept the electrical the way it is, if you are renting. About all you can do is drag out a 12 gauge extension cord when you need to run the compressor, and run it from another 20A circuit in the house.

Unlikely you'll get your landlord to upgrade the garage circuit. I recall the electric code allows a single 110V circuit to a garage, buried 12" deep. This is enough to run a door opener, lights and couple of outlets. Any more power than that gets complicated with a deeper trench, heavy wire in conduit, ground rods, another panel, etc.

 

[tyme2par4]

If the garage is on the same circuit as the living room, I would be pretty confident in saying it's an attached garage...
The cost to add another circuit could range anywhere from $50 to $1000. It all depends on how far, and difficult it is to run the wire.
It never hurts to ask the landlord. If you volunteered to cover some of the cost, I'd be surprised if they declined.

 

[Bowlingarage622]

The landlord is a family friend I'm sure the would waive rent if I tried to upgrade however I don't know how long I'd be here if it was gonna be real expensive I've have already told my self to buy a gennie and the garage is attached electric work is all screwed up


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[930dreamer]

Talk to the landlord and see what upgrades he/she is willing to pay for or cut off part of your rent.

 

[Zeke]

Talk to the landlord and see what upgrades he/she is willing to pay for or cut off part of your rent.

I think this is a good idea because the living room and garage should not share a circuit. I can't cite a code on that given that I think the garage is attached. If not, then it's clearly a violation in my thinking.

Once that is sorted, a bit more power can be added to the garage.

IDK what size compressor the OP is trying to run but the idea of an extension cord isn't half bad. Instead of running it from a 20A outlet 'somewhere' I'd set a receptacle at the panel for this intention unless that's just inconvenient.

 

[timgr]

Before I suggested this to the landlord, I'd look at the panel and see if there is room for another breaker.

... Instead of running it from a 20A outlet 'somewhere' I'd set a receptacle at the panel for this intention unless that's just inconvenient.

This is a good idea ...

 

[Bowlingarage622]

The compressor is 120v 21 gallon not a very big compressor


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[tyme2par4]

The landlord is a family friend I'm sure the would waive rent if I tried to upgrade however I don't know how long I'd be here if it was gonna be real expensive I've have already told my self to buy a gennie and the garage is attached electric work is all screwed up

The best thing to do is just get an electrician or 2 in there for a quote. It could be relatively inexpensive.

I think this is a good idea because the living room and garage should not share a circuit. I can't cite a code on that given that I think the garage is attached. If not, then it's clearly a violation in my thinking.

That was my though too. I didn't think a garage could share a circuit with living space, but I could be wrong.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

If the garage is on the same circuit as the living room, I would be pretty confident in saying it's an attached garage...
The cost to add another circuit could range anywhere from $50 to $1000. It all depends on how far, and difficult it is to run the wire.
It never hurts to ask the landlord. If you volunteered to cover some of the cost, I'd be surprised if they declined.

the issue with assuming is that someone could have double tapped a breaker and thus feed the garage and the livingroom.

The compressor is 120v 21 gallon not a very big compressor


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That doesnt give the HP rating though.

Motors take a lot of current on startup.

U should put in a dedicated circuit for at least the compressor.

Where is the panel in relation to the garage?

Is there any way to fish wire from the panel to the garage? Is there any useable pathway?

 

[Bowlingarage622]

The garage is prolly 20 yds from the box maybe it's detached


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[Bowlingarage622]

As for the compressor it's 21 gallon 120v and 2.5 hp


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[Bowlingarage622]

I'm not much on electricity especially home electrical work. My dad told me my cheapest and easiest way to would be a generator but that would be such a pain every time I want to pump air to have to kick and pull a generator on


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[wyliesdiesels]

The garage is prolly 20 yds from the box maybe it's detached


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So the garage is detached now?

Need a definitive answer here as the wiring methods will be different depending on attached or detached.

Can u give us some pics?

 

[Bowlingarage622]

It is detached I'm sorry my phone must have auto corrected my last posting I can get pictures of some stuff in a.m.


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[wyliesdiesels]

If the garage is on the same circuit as the living room, I would be pretty confident in saying it's an attached garage...
The cost to add another circuit could range anywhere from $50 to $1000. It all depends on how far, and difficult it is to run the wire.
It never hurts to ask the landlord. If you volunteered to cover some of the cost, I'd be surprised if they declined.

see below why its not good to assume on this stuff. Apparently the garage is detached which means there is a double tapped breaker feeding livingroom and garage.

It is detached I'm sorry my phone must have auto corrected my last posting I can get pictures of some stuff in a.m.


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Since thats the case it changes things.

U will need to pull the old wire out if u want to use the existing conduit or abandoned the existing feed and trench and lay new conduit. then pull new wire through the conduit.

U should discuss all this with landlord first as this is a big project for a DIYer.