electrician?

[ChrisB]

I have a two-car garage shop that I need to get rewired for my equipment. Can anyone recommend an electrician in the Raleigh area who understands the wiring needs of a woodshop?

Thanks,

Chris

 

[mkepke]

Not interested in DIY ?

Even if you are planning to hire it out, hopefully you are planning to tell the electrician how many circuits you want for which machines and where the receptacles will be located ? -Mark

 

[eyekode]

That is a really good point. No matter who you go with come up with your plan first.

My neighbor is an electrician. I have never had him do any service on my house but he did a great job on his and he is a heck of a nice guy .

Here are his reviews from google: http://maps.google.com/maps/place?c...9&ie=UTF8&ll=35.788855,-78.92767&spn=0,0&z=13

 

[ChrisB]

I do have equipment locations identified and amperage loads, etc. for the shop. I need a new breaker box for the garage/shop run from the main box in the basement of the house and I feel more comfortable having a licensed electrician do this work.

Part of my concern is powering equipment in the middle of the concrete floor, such as the table saw, jointer, and planer. My ceiling is only 9' high so I'm slightly reluctant to build a wood floor on top of the concrete. I've worked in shops with outlets attached to floor to ceiling posts but they were large shops so they didn't get in the way - I'm not so sure they'd work in a standard 2 car garage. I've also worked where outlets were mounted to short posts coming up from the floor but that would definitely require either major concrete disruption or the additional flooring option, which is not out of the question. What are others using for equipment not arranged along walls?

Also, are there seals that help keep dust out of the electrical boxes?

I've also worked in shops where we had a "panic button" that, when pushed, shut off all power except the lights. I regularly have more than one person at a time working in my shop and, though I've never had an accident of any consequence, I thought the "panic button" might be a good idea.

Any thoughts or input is appreciated!

 

[bholcombe]

If you're looking to put power into the middle, you might consider using some flexible, reinforced drop cords from the ceiling to put a few power points around 6 feet high (high enough to not hit with your head). If you do that, you may also want to look into either twist locking or some other method for securing the power cord to the hanging receptacle.

 

[Bill Clemmons]

Chris, I have a couple of thoughts. First, since you're concerned about doing the wiring yourself, I would definitely get a licensed electrician to do it. You'll sleep better at night not having to worry if you did something wrong.

I would suggest you have the electrician run nothing smaller than 12 ga. wire. 14 ga is pretty standard for most 15 amp circuits. Using 12 ga. or better gives you the flexibility of going to 20 amp circuits anytime. The cost difference will be insignificant.

As for wiring to machines in the middle of a concrete floor, I understand your concern w/ a wood subfloor taking away from your 9' ceilings. But could you spare 3/4"? If this is going to be a permanent shop (not parking cars in it), what about laying down 4x8x3/4" T&G subfloor with a 3/8" x 1/2" channel routed in the underside. Run the wiring through the channel and bring it up into a junction box where ever you need power in the middle of the floor. Same concept as radiant heating in a floor.

If you use this method, I would suggest putting down a double layer of 30# roofing felt under the floor. It acts as a vapor barrier as well as cushioning the floor.

HTH

Bill

 

[terry1166]

The "panic" shutdown is probably best achieved by routing the new panel feeder through a 2 pole (for 240V) contactor. The contactor would need to be the same ampere rating as the new feeder. From the contactor, an emergency stop control circuit could be run to as many "panic" buttons as you feel you need.

Terry

 

[ChrisB]

Thanks to all of you for your advice. I don't have to share the space with a car so I may resort to Bill's plywood floor suggestion. I may also go ahead and lay down some 1x sleepers and rigid insulation board under the plywood and run wiring up from the floor. I'd lose 1.5" in height but it might help keep the chill down in the winter.

Thanks also to Terry for the "panic button" wiring help.

 

[eyekode]

+1 on the drop down cords (if you don't do the raised floor). Scott Smith does this in his shop and it looks like it works well. Since you have to drop down DC why not?

 

[junquecol]

A couple of thoughts. First, your floor most likely slopes towards the door, so you might want to put sleepers in vertically to level out floor. Also attach them to the concrete with screws, instead of nails and mastic, which are a royal pain to remove. Put down a layer of 6 mil poly as a vapor barrier before sleepers and insulation. Consider using multi-wire branch circuits. I'm not an electrician, and I didn't sleep at Holiday Inn Express last night, but I have wired both houses and shop. Be sure and pull a permit, as the inspector will correct any problems before signing off on the permit. Drops from the ceiling are the way to go, along with exposed EMT. As for "duct seal.' remember that wood dust is almost always an insulator, with treated wood being an exception. If it weren't, a Saw Stop wouldn't work. Bruce

 

[petebucy4638]

I do have equipment locations identified and amperage loads, etc. for the shop. I need a new breaker box for the garage/shop run from the main box in the basement of the house and I feel more comfortable having a licensed electrician do this work.

Part of my concern is powering equipment in the middle of the concrete floor, such as the table saw, jointer, and planer. My ceiling is only 9' high so I'm slightly reluctant to build a wood floor on top of the concrete. I've worked in shops with outlets attached to floor to ceiling posts but they were large shops so they didn't get in the way - I'm not so sure they'd work in a standard 2 car garage. I've also worked where outlets were mounted to short posts coming up from the floor but that would definitely require either major concrete disruption or the additional flooring option, which is not out of the question. What are others using for equipment not arranged along walls?

Also, are there seals that help keep dust out of the electrical boxes?

I've also worked in shops where we had a "panic button" that, when pushed, shut off all power except the lights. I regularly have more than one person at a time working in my shop and, though I've never had an accident of any consequence, I thought the "panic button" might be a good idea.

Any thoughts or input is appreciated!

Keeping the electrical layout of any shop flexible is important for future expansion or equipment relocation. I would never consider floor outlets in a shop or conduit stub-outs from a concrete floor either. Your best solution would be to run each branch circuit to an individual junction box, then either run a flexible cord drop to the tool or a more substantial conduit drop to the floor with the outlet in the conduit run.

Dust is generally not an issue with regard to outlets in most home shop environments. There are industrial outlets that are dustproof, but in your case you could get by either with no special protection from dust or by using an outlet cover designed for outside outlets that have cords connected to them on a longer term basis. You can buy them at Hom Depot or Lowes.

Pete