what guage???

[diovol]

So I have started to add some electrical to the garage( which I will post pics once it is all cleaned up) and its time for the 240 stuff. Now I was just wondering what most people use for wire guage....

Here is what i will have that is 240.

1- welder, which i dont have yet but can be as high as 40 amps
2- compressor which will be a 5hp single phase, between 15-20 amps
3- a construction heater- ( to heat it), not worth me running a gas heater out there as i wont be keeping it heated all the time. I know the construction heaters draw around 30 amps or so.......

so any help is appreciated....

 

[rockwithjason]

40a circuits will need 8ga, 30a circuits use 10ga, 20a use 12 ga

 

[nate379]

This really depends.

If you run an outlet specific for the welder, you can go as high as 50 amp on a #10 wire. Now you will need to label that outlet as "welder". Personally I would rather run a larger wire and be able to plug in whatever I want though, so for 50 amp it would be a #6

The other two normal wiring rules apply, so #10 would be fine (good to 30 amps)
Now that is with reasonable length runs... if your shop is very large and the compressor is at the other end of the building from the panel, you may want to upsize the wire.