noob: Help me with Electric layout & costs

[Morgan06]

It's a long weekend, I have to submit an offer on a shop early next week and don't think I will have a proper estimate in time to sign the papers.

The building is a 5500sq ft., 55x100, 17' and 21' max height, steel frame and insulated. Half of the floor is poured, I am leasing as is - graded on the other half, no plumbing, no electric to interior. Supply is 800A 3phase.

I need some insight from either a member who has installed service to a shop, or a member who is currently an electrician. All I'm familiar with as far as electric goes is rewiring a new plug on my compressor (noob). I'm just looking for a rough ballpark for the cost of 5 220v 20A outlets, and 25 110v with wiring. Please assume the worst for length of wires - I'd rather over estimate.

Again, most of my area contractors aren't on schedule until Tuesday. I have a friend who is licensed in CT - but I can't move forward on the strength of a single person. I've already got a grasp on the other aspects of the finish work, just need some help on this portion. Or if you've got a link to a good 'how to' on general electric supplies/ordering I can do my own materials calculation.

Thanks if you can help,
Morgan

 

[W-Cummins]

It's a long weekend, I have to submit an offer on a shop early next week and don't think I will have a proper estimate in time to sign the papers.

The building is a 5500sq ft., 55x100, 17' and 21' max height, steel frame and insulated. Half of the floor is poured, I am leasing as is - graded on the other half, no plumbing, no electric to interior. Supply is 800A 3phase.

You better hope you have some of the switching gear all ready installed. A 800 amp main breaker can cost 3k new. Not to mention the dual runs of 500kcmil copper for the service laterals to the inside.. The switchboard for the main and sub breakers etc... If all that is on the building is a CT can you could be in for 20-30k installed.

 

[Morgan06]

Cummins, When I stated 'CT licensed' I meant Connecticut the state, not the supplier.

Here are some pictures of what's installed already on the backside of the building.

This is what the front looks like.

And on the inside.

 

[Morgan06]

For anyone interested or as new to this as I am, I found an informative page here. I'm halfway through and already have a good grasp on alot more than I did 15 minutes ago.

My only confusion stems from supply wires/outlets. If I wanted a dual or quad 110v outlet - how many supply wires do I need? As an example- a general house outlet has two plugs, are there two 14g (one to each plug) or is that 15A load split between the two? Does that make sense?

I assume if I wanted a quad outlet, it could be from 3wires (1+/1-/GND), or from a split 4 wire/220v - Am I correct in this general train of thought? Barring specific loads of course - just a broad example.

 

[rockwithjason]

There are a lot of ways to do that. You could split the load between a number of recepticles or you can have dedicated recepticles. For every recepticle you will need 3 wires.

 

[Morgan06]

There are a lot of ways to do that. You could split the load between a number of recepticles or you can have dedicated recepticles. For every recepticle you will need 3 wires.

Okay, thats what I needed to know for the 120s - guess wiring just depends what amperage I plan to run. After reading a bit, and re reading a bit more, and then checking prices - I don't think it will be that expensive in materials alone (wiring, outlets, and banks/switches). As long as I can convince my electrician friend to do some work for cheap - it won't be bad. The only thing I'm unsure of is how much a sub panel is going to run.

I'm thinking something along the lines of this so far:

 

[W-Cummins]

Cummins, When I stated 'CT licensed' I meant Connecticut the state, not the supplier.

Well The CT CAN I'm talking about is what you took this picture of. Looks like it is was set up for some sort of multiple occupancy (with all the meter bases), and there is either a main disconnect or a main breaker in the larger can.

William....

 

[markb1]

What size is the breaker at the meter location?

You'll have to run conduit and wire from there to your panel location.
Breaker size and distance will be used to calculate wire size and conduit size.

All based on " National Electric Code" and local codes.

Aluminum wire may be cheaper than copper but conduit size may have to be larger so you have to calculate it out and determine cheapest way to go.

Voltage drop is also a consideration if its a long run.

I don't think this answers your question but might give you an idea of whats involved.

 

[rockwithjason]

your plan looks a little lean to me. Having plugs only on the back wall of the main shop will be a pita. Put one duplex every 25 feet or so all around the shop and put some on the outside too. You will be glad you did.

 

[rockwithjason]

Well The CT CAN I'm talking about is what you took this picture of. Looks like it is was set up for some sort of multiple occupancy (with all the meter bases), and there is either a main disconnect or a main breaker in the larger can.

William....

There is probably not any CT's in that set up. The individual services are probably not more than 200A each and you don't need CT's for that.