Garage Electric Feedback

[kajo]

Long time lurker but first post here. Anyways, I just moved into a new tome home with a small 20X21 garage which is a downgrade from my old 54X28. The good news is the garage is gutted with only one light and one outlet so I get to wire as I see fit.

Attached is a PDF with my planned layout and any advice would be welcome. Ceiling height open and the rafter are 7 1/2 foot off the ground. Floor will just be concrete since I weld and do a lot of fab work. Walls will be painted white once sheet rocked.

 

[DeadSock]

Everything looks reasonable, but I would make the welder circuit be 50a and use 6/3 to a 14-50R. The welder can be adapted if it has a 6-50P.

 

[pattenp]

Everything looks reasonable, but I would make the welder circuit be 50a and use 6/3 to a 14-50R. The welder can be adapted if it has a 6-50P.

Unless you just like to spend money for no reason why use 6/3 and 14-50R when a welder doesn't use a neutral?

 

[pattenp]

kajo, all 120V outlets in a garage need to be GFCI protected.

 

[DeadSock]

Unless you just like to spend money for no reason why use 6/3 and 14-50R when a welder doesn't use a neutral?

It's just future proofing. It appears the outlet is only a couple of feet from the panel (so minimal expense to upsize and run another conductor).

Perhaps someday a Tesla (or other elec. car) needs a plugin, or someone decides pottery is fun and wants a kiln, or a vistitor wants to plug in their motorhome ...

All could be served by a 14-50R for the few extra bucks of the wire upsize and extra conductor.

 

[DeadSock]

kajo, all 120V outlets in a garage need to be GFCI protected.

What was missed? I saw him using the load side of the first GFCI as the protect for the rest.

 

[DeadSock]

It's just future proofing. It appears the outlet is only a couple of feet from the panel (so minimal expense to upsize and run another conductor).

Perhaps someday a Tesla (or other elec. car) needs a plugin, or someone decides pottery is fun and wants a kiln, or a vistitor wants to plug in their motorhome ...

All could be served by a 14-50R for the few extra bucks of the wire upsize and extra conductor.

FWIW, HomeDetest pricing has the upgrade at ~$1.25/foot for the wire, (and the recept. is actually cheaper, probably offset though by the breaker bein 50 vs. 40).

 

[Falcon67]

You don't have NEAR enough 120V plugs. Your drill press and grinder will take that entire quad you have located on that one wall. Think "motor+light". You need at least two more quads on just that wall, maybe 3. Same on the bench - you need at least a quad on both ends and maybe a strip under the front lip of the bench. Etc, etc.

 

[kajo]

Thanks for the feedback. I think upgrading to a 50amp fuse makes sense since the run will be less than three feet and financially it is not a big expense. I looked at the layout today at work and also thought that a few more outlets would not be bad. I plan on buying 2 contractor packs of 20amp outlets so will add them in on that wall and maybe get a few extra. The master electrician that is going to "watch" my work and run the wire from my main panel to the subpanel is coming over this weekend to review my plans.

 

[pattenp]

What was missed? I saw him using the load side of the first GFCI as the protect for the rest.

You are correct. I was misinterpreting his diagram. I was thinking the color coding was identifying the outlets that were GFI protected, not that they were actual GFI outlets. I thought it was odd to have some outlets GFI protected and others not.

 

[brewchief]

I would run conduit to the welder plug and over to the spot for the air compressor, either 3/4" or 1" and then use thhn wire of the appropriate size to wire them, if something changes in the future it's easy to pull new wire.

I agree with needing more wall plugs and I would think about adding a couple in the ceiling that a cord reel could be plugged into.

FWIW you can use 15 amp receptacles on almost every 20 amp circuit unless it's a dedicated circuit with only a single receptacle, the 15 amp are normally a bit cheaper.