wiring new shop - ideas

[skipdup]

I am finally ready to start wiring my shop. I'm not an expert (by any definition), but growing up I spent my summers as an electricians helper, doing mostly industrial and commercial construction - for whatever that's worth. I do plan to research and probably get a real electrician to come out and check my work before I go live.

Shop is 40x40. 2x6 construction with 12ft ceilings. I plan to get the floor protected, do the electrical, insulate, cover the walls (maybe plywood). I already have a very cool lighting plan from Platonic Solid.

I think I'm realizing I took some of this for granted. Now that I'm ready to start buying material, I realize I've got a bunch of unknowns and little room for error.

Use will probably be pretty typical. General auto stuff. Maybe wood working in the future. I've got an old (smaller) lathe & mill (110) I want to learn. A small (220) compressor. Praying for a 2-post lift (we'll see). In theory, I'd love to learn to weld. Drill press. Stuff like that.

The right 1/3 of the shop is my trailer storage (due to HOA). Left 2/3 working area. The lift (if I get one) will be in front of the back garage door. The left side wall will be mostly full of cabinets (~20 ft NewAge on the way) workbench, etc. Mill & lather will go to the right of the rear garage door.

So, with that all said... Anyone offer some global advice as I start planning this out? Recommendations on things like receptacle height? Breaker box size/# of circuits? How many receptacles on a circuit? Cool tricks that I'll appreciate in the future? Etc???

Many thanks!
Skip

 

[zmaxmotorsports]

Where is power being fed from?

 

[wyliesdiesels]

DO you already have power out there?

 

[skipdup]

Power fed from the main panel of the house. Wire already run and stubbed into the shop - did that during the build of house & shop.

I'll remind myself tomorrow what size wire and breaker feeding it...

Thanks!!

 

[holdover]

I did my 40 X 60 completely in conduit after I insulated and put up wall covering. this is a working garage. 200 amp service. Outlets are located every 10' along the walls, so no outlet is more than 5' away. I also put in a ceiling cord reel. On the work bench, which runs across the back wall, the outlets are 5' apart. Using the work bench any tools can be plugged in directly, without using extension cords. Lighting is also in conduit and I decided to use LED light bulbs. There are about 20 lights on the ceiling, broken down to switched zones for use depending where I am working. There are also three 220 Volt outlets along one wall for the welders with a 50' cord that allows me to use the welders throughout the shop as well as outside for backhoe and farm equipment repair. All the materials used are commercial grade and the breakers are all ground fault, which cost a bit more but in my estimation are safer. There are also two ceiling fans in the area that I work in. The two 60 gal compressors are on their own circuits. The two lifts also have their own circuits, 220 V. Built it 10 yrs ago and looking back there is nothing that I would change, except make the garage bigger!

 

[skipdup]

Just went out with a flashlight...
The wire is 2-2-2-4 aluminum. 70 amp breaker at the house feeding it.

Holdover- I ran a lot of conduit in my teens. Used to have nightmares about it. That and installing receptacles in large apartment complexes. But it was a long time ago.
That'd make future changes super easy. Just don't know if I'd want to take up wall space...

- Skip

 

[cybrdyke]

My 2c:
Put in alot more receptacles than you think you need.
Put in at least one USB receptacle where your workbench will be.
Good luck,
CD

 

[ard]

cover the walls (maybe plywood).

Plywood is flammable. As a detached, non-living space, code should be fine with it. But IMO I like having a fire rated wall. It also looks better. You can apply wainscotting, metal or wood, over top if really needed for protection.

 

[rburke65]

All my outlet boxes are 4" sq. with double duplex recepticals being fed from two different circuits. I may have ..?..a total of 8 circuits for the recepticals. Boxes mounted 50" off the floor as to not to interfere with benches. Also have double recepticals by each window....windows are 8' to the bottom from the ground. The one receptical is switched from the door....for neon signs ? and the other "plug" is always hot...?...for a clock? Install a large panel...I'm out of remake space now.

 

[Falcon67]

Didn't say on your drawing where you stubbed the power. If it's on one end, buy a LOT of 12-2. In my 24x40 I placed the 20 slot box on the house end of the shop to shorten the power run. With two light circuits and 5 outlet circuits (all 120V), and the "work room" on the far end from the box I used around 900' of 12-2. I ended up with 5 240V runs - heater, compressor, lift, well pump and mill/lathe. So I'd recommend at least a 24+ slot box with a main. After that, print out a good sized copy of the layout and play with a pencil figuring runs up and along joints, etc as needed. I used the least wire in the general work area - ran to outlet 1 then ran through the studs to daisy chain others. I also put in singles in that area - a do over would be to put in quads. I did that in the work room and I consider quads a minimum now. I ran to a start quad with a GFCI and a regular outlet, then daisy chain off the load side of the GFCI. All 120V runs use a GFCI except one to an AC unit high on the wall. In general, I'd put outlets up at least 48" which allows for a sheet of ply, OSB, etc to lean against a wall and not block plug access.

 

[skipdup]

Thanks guys. This is all extremely helpful!!!

 

[skipdup]

The power stubs into the building on the left side wall, near the front door. I was probably going to mount the panel behind the door.

Does this seem like a good choice?
100 Amp 24-Space 48-Circuit Indoor Main Breaker Load Center with Cover
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00N01TMQE/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[True North]

I would use deep 4” square steel boxes with two gang mud rings everywhere. Mount the boxes 8’5/8” down from the ceiling. You will most likely use 5/8” Sheetrock on the ceiling and work your way down with the sheeting. At 8’5/8” the bottom of the box should be on the plywood seem. I realize you already ran the service wire but if you can mount the panel behind a service door. That way you don’t cover the box with shelving and it’s easy to get at .
3/4 “ ent is plastic tubing that is very easy to run in the walls. That will allow you to pull more wire later as things change and everything will be in the wall and out of the way. Buy a coil of the ent and avoid splices in the ent runs.

Maybe a homerun to each side of the building and one to the columns. I would mount the panel flush in the wall and run a few more ent runs into the attic space for future needs.

 

[True North]

Use all #12 wire and 20amp breakers for the outlets.

 

[True North]

That panel will be ok.

 

[JamesW84]

the breakers are all ground fault, which cost a bit more but in my estimation are safer.

I bought a bunch of GFCI outlets also, but learned that you only really need one at the beginning of a circuit and the whole circuit is protected. You can do that in lieu of using a GFCI breaker.

Using all GFCI outlets is an unnecessary expense.

You have the option of using 12ga wire and 20 amp breaker as suggested, but you could install 15 amp outlets to save some money. 20 amp outlets cost 3-4 times as much as a 15 amp outlet. If you need a 20 amp outlet later, you have the wiring and breaker set up for it, so you could just swap it out. Likely, you won't have many single 16amp (80% use of 20 amp) loads, but a 20 amp circuit would allow a cumulative 16 amp load across many outlets, which is more typical.

 

[sberry]

I did my 40 X 60 completely in conduit after I insulated and put up wall covering. this is a working garage. 200 amp service. Outlets are located every 10' along the walls, so no outlet is more than 5' away. I also put in a ceiling cord reel. On the work bench, which runs across the back wall, the outlets are 5' apart. Using the work bench any tools can be plugged in directly, without using extension cords. Lighting is also in conduit and I decided to use LED light bulbs. There are about 20 lights on the ceiling, broken down to switched zones for use depending where I am working. There are also three 220 Volt outlets along one wall for the welders with a 50' cord that allows me to use the welders throughout the shop as well as outside for backhoe and farm equipment repair. All the materials used are commercial grade and the breakers are all ground fault, which cost a bit more but in my estimation are safer. There are also two ceiling fans in the area that I work in. The two 60 gal compressors are on their own circuits. The two lifts also have their own circuits, 220 V. Built it 10 yrs ago and looking back there is nothing that I would change, except make the garage bigger!

I am not sure if I even know anyone with a 20A end on something, the only time I have ever seen it is cleaning equipment.
I like this generalization in the post above. I was in a shop addition the other day, done by a contractor and not all sure how happy the owner was with it as in the end he realize they installed a whole bunch of stuff he will never use. Lots of quads where duplexes would be fine. I like the 10 ft scheme. While there is some focus that changes are easy to conduit,,, I am down with that to the extent that do some simple and should you need to add its simple. I have a lot of parked wire on a couple projects where I future proofed, got 4 times the power I needed. Where I wired on the go for my shop I did a little better, in the end I could combine a quite a few things and in the event I really did need extra that 1 time in 20 years I ran a cord to another coffee pot or light is it really all worth it.
My neighbor runs a whole bunch of stuff from 1 mainly and has 2 circuits. I like the idea of about 4 in a common garage for recepts not to dedicated equipment. I one on each main wall and one over bench for all that parasitic **** where I might hook a couple power strips. I might put the tool circuit at bench on a circuit, other 2 walls on their own and put the bench and walls on opposite legs for simple load balance if I ever cared. Its a waste to do all that 4x4 2 circuits in a box ****. As I said, neighbor actually pretty muck pulls tools out or reaches something that is not connected at the wall to a cord reel, same circuit, 1 major tool at a time.
Dont be scared to run another piece of pipe. I got 1 place I ran an extra 3/4 for a welder recept I really could have got by without, donr need inch **** and larger boxes in these type of shops. Use all the easy common, run another pipe where and when you got to and put deep boxes anywhere that needs gfci or 240V recepts. You don't got to get it all in a single pipe.
I use 1/2 and some 2x4 boxes too, dead end, switch and have never really needed to come back and pull a welder circuit down some fixture pipe I have installed. I have bit the bullet and done rewire/remodel if you need to do some work again its not the end of the world and may be easier than future proofing. I moved an air hydrant give me a fit as it looked different when we designed it.
I have actually removed and disconnected as much during rework as added. Its great there was an air hydrant there but I never used it and saved 45 ft of pipe and half a dozen fittings moving a reel where 1 did the work it used to take 2 to do.

 

[Skiff Builder]

All my outlet boxes are 4" sq. with double duplex recepticals being fed from two different circuits. I may have ..?..a total of 8 circuits for the recepticals. Boxes mounted 50" off the floor as to not to interfere with benches. Also have double recepticals by each window....windows are 8' to the bottom from the ground. The one receptical is switched from the door....for neon signs ? and the other "plug" is always hot...?...for a clock? Install a large panel...I'm out of remake space now.

rburke65,
Question on the quad, 2 circuit outlets. Did you wire them using 12/3 and dual pole breaker (multiwire branch circuit) or did you use two 12/2 wires into each box.
doing something similar soon.
Thks

 

[TheEquineFencer]

When I wired my shop, I did every other outlet on two different circuits, but pulled the wire through the same conduit, it was all 12 gauge wire, on two seperate breakers. Everything , like lighting and outlets are 20A with 12 gauge.