Light and electrical plans

[DSWalker]

So I drew this up last night to give to the prospective electricians. I have Zero 220 tools right now. I realize I may need more 220's at some point, but only have 3 set up on this plan. All 110 boxes will be 4 gang. I have added an additional 110 outlet, [not shown], suspended from the center of the shop as I presume I'll end up with something in the center of the room.

Thoughts/suggestions?

 

[KenOfCary]

Plan on putting the dust collector near the door for easy emptying and add a 220 outlet there even if it is currently a 110 unit. You may update that in the future to a 2HP or better unit and it will then need 220. Or you can wait and do it later if you upgrade.

It might also be a good idea to plan on an emergency battery powered light that comes on when the power fails. That way you can find your way out of the area in the dark. At least if you're ever working at night or without windows. Wire this into a non-switched circuit.

Just things I learned from my first shop that will be incorporated in the new one.

 

[FlyingRon]

If this is a one man shop as most of ours are, I'd put more 220 receptacles in. You can put them all on a few circuits because you won't be running them all at the same time. It's a pain in my shop that I had to build some heavy extension cords to plug in my planer because the 220V receptacle is just a hair too far away.

Eventually, if you have a choice, you probably will end up swtiching your motors to 240 even if they are 120 now. I'm going to do that on my bandsaw which is marginally too close to the 20A rating at 120.

As for lighting, can't have too much. I can't tell if you have windows, but if not, my wife installed some solartube skylights in my shop. I scoffed at her when she did it, but they are really handy.

You might want to consider putting your dust collector and perhaps air compressor in the covered shed. Makes more room for the shop and moves the noise outside. Mine are sitting in the adjacent airplane hangar.

 

[Rwe2156]

David,

My suggestion is run all the 110 circuits as shown but hold off on the 220 till you get machines. I ran all my circuits in surface mounted greenfield. This makes it very easy to add/change outlets or circuits.

Reason I say hold off is many stationary machines like a TS or planer are usually centrally located, not next to a wall. You may end up using an extension cord which is not really desirable. In my case, I ran the cable along the DC pipe and installed an outlet directly on the machine stand. See what your electrician says about this.

Its good to see you are using an electrician just be aware from personal experience I can tell you guys that wire residential houses may not be totally up on wiring for machines. I even had a commercial electrician run 12 GA wire on a 30A breaker to my 5HP compressor. It calls for #10 when I asked him about it he told me it would be ok. Needless to say, there were problems and I ended up running #10.

 

[ehpoole]

For your 4-way outlets plan on running two 20A circuits for each side to each of those outlets (most typically with a shared neutral, but they may also have dedicated neutrals as well), this will allow you to have a large shop vac plugged into one side and a large router in the other without worrying about tripping circuits.

If you plan to add a window A/C unit, then ensure that there are both 120V and 240V outlets near a window (A/C only will usually suffice with 120V, but if you add heat as well then plan on needing 240V). As already mentioned, decide where you would like to park your dust collector and equip with a 240V outlet dedicated to just the DC. Also, if you are ever likely to install a large air compressor then also plan to set aside a dedicated 20-30A (wire for 30A and upgrade the outlet and breaker later if needed) as any decent capacity air compressor will require 240V. It is much easier to add these now rather than later, especially if running everything in conduit. If you want to add an electric strip heater then set aside a 240V outlet wired for 30A so that you may set it up for either 20A or 30A as needed for heating, or if you prefer to use several 120V units then set aside a dedicated pair of circuits to plug them into. If you intend to run a 120V air compressor then such is best installed on a circuit dedicated to such because they can cut on at any time.

What I wound up doing was running a pair of 20A 120V circuits to all the outlets along each wall, with each wall having their own pair of breakers, that way my 120V air compressor or shop vac plugged into each circuit on one wall did not inhibit my from plugging a 3-1/4HP router into the outlets along another wall, which is another way of managing things.

If you setup an island in the middle of your shop with jointer, tablesaw, and bandsaw (for example) then you can potentially make up a custom extension cord with the necessary 120V or 240V outlets at each tool allowing all to share a single outlet and circuit at the wall since you would ordinarily never run them all at the same time. That sort of thinking can save you some on wall outlets and circuits if multiple tools can safely run off the same circuit since they would never be run concurrently. However, you can not do this so much for tools that tend to run concurrently (like DC, shop vac, or heating and A/C)or which may switch on at any time (such as air compressors). Basically, you want to lay out your electrical such that you never need to risk overloading a circuit to use the tools in your shop.

Lighting, as always, should be its own separate circuit so that trips elsewhere never leave you in the dark. It is also worth installing around four emergency lights to illuminate your shop should the power fail if you regularly spend time in your shop after dark as a shop is a very dangerous place in the dark, especially if you are blindly fumbling around in the dark trying to turn off a power tool that might suddenly power back on at any moment.

A frequently overlooked item is adding a ceiling outlet for an ambient air cleaner, which spares you from having to run a long extension cord to get power to such. And they are very nice to have as they help to quickly scrub any fines that get airborne during sanding operations (and airborne such dust tends to become).

 

[Jeremy Scuteri]

It might also be a good idea to plan on an emergency battery powered light that comes on when the power fails. That way you can find your way out of the area in the dark. At least if you're ever working at night or without windows. Wire this into a non-switched circuit..

Ken,
Where did you get your emergency lights from? I want to get a couple, but I don't care enough to do any research. I want to be lazy and just buy what someone else has used.

 

[KenOfCary]

Ken,
Where did you get your emergency lights from? I want to get a couple, but I don't care enough to do any research. I want to be lazy and just buy what someone else has used.

This looks similar to the one I bought - except mine is incandescent.

https://smile.amazon.com/eTopLighti...5&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=emergency+light&psc=1

I just extended a wire from a plug (always on) at waist height up to the light.

HTH.

 

[DaveD]

Looks good for your needs. Is the electrical panel nearby?
You might want to show where the switches are to control the lights and flood lights.pp
Have you considered a sub panel out in the shop? That would make future additions a whole lot easier and may even lessen he cost of your current needs.

If you are comfortable around electricity you can do it yourself and save a bundle. BTDT several times.

Be sure to be sitting down when you look at the estimates.u

 

[Charles Lent]

When I wired my shop I put quad outlet boxes every 4' along the outside walls of the insideof b my shop, with 3 conductor plus ground 12 ga wire, and I have wished that I had added a few more outlets in the workbench areas. The circuit breakers feeding these outlets are 2 pole 20 amp and each quad box is powered alternately from the ones on either side of it with the hot wire that feeds the adjacent box just passing through.. This spreads out the two 120 volt circuits and also gives me the option of adding a 240 volt 20 amp outlet in any of my convenience outlet boxes, should I ever wish that I had a 240 volt 20 amp outlet somewhere that it isn't, without the need to rewire my shop. I have since added one of these 240 volt 20 amp outlets that I use when testing 240 volt motors on the workbench. I also have a duplex outlet near the center of the ceiling with a re-winding type ceiling mounted extension cord, and I wish that I had installed two more, equally spaced across the ceiling. I also added a duplex outlet above my table saw that I have a laser line generator plugged into that shows the blade cut line across my table saw and well beyond it in both directions. It isn't perfectly aligned, and it's near impossible to keep it that well aligned, so I don't use it for setting my cutting to, but it gives me a good idea of where the blade is located and cutting when I'm dado cutting or doing some other "blind cutting" (If my fingers ever have a red line on them they are in the wrong place !!). It just serves as a great safety feature. The on-off button for this laser line generator is a wireless remote that is Velcro attached to the top of the fence on my table saw, so it can be turned on and off very easily.

Install your lights on at least two separate circuits and breakers. Alternate lights on each breaker or one circuit for each side of your shop. It's your decision. Mine are for each half of my shop. An emergency light that comes on when the power goes off is a good idea. It can be connected to any circuit, but one of the lighting circuits would be good.

When you put in 240 volt outlets, use #10 wire 3 conductors plus ground from each outlet box back to the circuit breaker panel. You can then run several outlets on one circuit breaker or put them on separate breakers later when you move tools around or add bigger machines. Very few shop tools for a home shop will ever require more than 30 amps at 240 volts. Size the breakers for what the machine or machines need, up to 30 amps total. Some 240 volt machines will need the Neutral wire and some won't, but it's there if you later decide that you need it (for adding a 120 volt light to the tool, etc).. Anything that requires more than 30 amps at 240 volts, like a big dust collector, welder, etc. should have a dedicated breaker and larger wire run directly to it, so unless you have or expect to add these soon it isn't worth wiring for them now.
All of the other 240 volt machines can use the 10 ga wire with up to 30 amp breakers, some machines can be connected to the same breaker and some to their own breaker and they can be changed around later without rewiring the shop. Put several 240 volt outlets with Neutral on each wall or just group them on one wall, if all of your machines will be located close to each other, but put in more than you need and leave the wires from them in the breaker panel so you can change them around later and you will thank me in a few years, It's impossible to plan ahead for future needs, unless you can see into the future, but this should cover your present and short term foreseeable future power needs in your shop quite well, if not completely.

However you decide to do it will be your own decision. Use my ideas or toss them. It's entirely up to you. This is my 4th shop, so I have arrived at these ideas the hard way.

Charley

 

[gmakra]

So I have a few questions.
1. Is this run in conduit or Romex?
2 If conduit what flavor i.e. EMT, flex etc.
Now here is my 1.7/8 cents worth of advice.
Your needs will change down the line and it is impossible to figure ever change that might come up.
Different areas enforce the NEC differently but here is what I would do assuming your going Romex AKA rope.
I would mount 5S boxes every where you want an outlet stub up 1 inch conduit.
5S boxes have extra volume incase you want to bring in a 220 circuit later and you can get a variety of mud rings for your outlets.
Add the outlets you need now and you can easily add anything down the line and the inspector should not give you any grief on future outlets.
Keep the lights on a different circuit in case you trip a breaker.

If running conduit its a bit different but futures can be planed for.
General rule of thumb for 120 circuits is 1500 watts on a 20 amp branch circuit and 350 watts per receptacle or 5 outlets on a branch circuit.

 

[DSWalker]

Answers to a few of the questions...

I'm assuming it will be romex.
Will definitely have a sub-panel in the shop.
Lights will be on a separate circuit for sure.

Charley, your post is very informative, but i'm going to have to read it a few times to absorb it all! Thanks.

Ethan, the suggestion to put the 4 way outlets on separate circuits will definitely be used. I have had that problem before, throwing breakers due to overload. Great suggestion.

Someone made a suggestion to add a outlet in the ceiling for dust filtration [sorry I couldn't find who posted this suggestion w/o rereading all again]. I will be incorporating this as well.


Finally got my first electrician out today to see the property. He was informative. Looks like I'll be able to run a 60 amp circuit from the panel on the house. Hoping that will be plenty.

Anyone know what a typical mini-split HVAC unit pulls on amps?

 

[Bear Republic]

Thanks for all the great info! My shop is a few years out, but I'm taking lots of notes.

 

[charlessenf]

Consider hiring the electrician to install a sub-panel in the shop as that may be a bit difficult (depending upon the location of your main panel relative to the location needed for the sub-panel) and 'touches' your home wiring. From the sub-panel, the wiring of the shop is not a difficult task and could be done without involving City or County Inspections. Of course, if you have a mortgage and, thus, the mortgagee required insurance policy getting caught wiring any part of the home without a licensed electrician could prove insanely expensive as the insurer can demand it be re-wired or pass inspection on penalty of canceling your policy which would put you in default on your mortgage,

On the other hand, if you understand that you are basically running extension cords from your main panel with a circuit breaker where each 'extension plugs in,' used the correct wire and breaker sizes and standard components inside a previously constructed structure, you might well complete the job years before anyone from the City or County has a reason to visit your property.

You did not indicate if the intended shop was framed with studs or covered with drywall or paneling. If the paneling or drywall is to be installed after the electrical work and the studs are exposed, the job is much easier. Essentially nailing the right-size box at the right location, then running the ROMEX to (or to and through) the boxes.

One suggestion as to the lighting circuit - use duplex outlets mounted in the ceiling then simply hang and plug your lights fixtures in. Makes changing fixtures easy. In my case, I went from 4' shop lights to eight foot fixtures when I scored some great electronic ballasts. Before, I simply replaced the cheap 4' fixtures when the ballasts failed as the replacement ballasts cost more then the new shop light.

Ceiling fans in the plans? In that case run 14-3 to each ceiling mounted duplex so one side takes a fan and the other a light. I did this in my shop - no a/c as I have great ventilation - Man door, Garage Door and 5' read door with a pair of widows, Also have GREAT insulation which keeps me war in Winter.

You can also run 10-2 or 10-3 to ceiling outlets with locking receptacles to allow for drop cords to power tools in the center of the shop.

While 14 Gauge is AOK for lighting circuits and 12 Gage for most power needs, the added cost of running 250 feet of 10-2 vs 250 feet of 10-2 is less than sixty dollars today at Lowes or 24-cents/ft more. (similar differential as between 12-3 and 10-3) giving you 30 amp circuits now or later - and running 10-3 adds the potential of putting 220VAC in any of your equipment boxes 'as futures needs may dictate.'

As to the EMERGENCY LIGHTING - check Habitat Restores and flea markets - though $18.99 and free shipping seems a real bargain!

"...it isn't worth wiring for them now..." I disagree. Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance and installing a 100 AMP sub-panel (if you can) is better than a 60-amp Sub-panel and a 24 breaker sub-panel beats an 8 circuit sub-panel given the labor cost is the same and you cannot predict the future any better than I - or maybe you can. Larger gauge wiring is cheaper than re-wiring. You can connect connect 8GA wire to a 15 amp breaker but you can't run a 30AMP draw on 14-2 (or safely run 14-2 on a 30AMP breaker).

Mount your light switch between the Man Door and Garage door and hinge the man door on the left. If you plan another door (into shed?), consider a 'three-way' lighting circuit with a light switch at each entry/exit.

Are those Flood Lights controlled by a motion Detector or a manual switch or both? Where are they switched?

Is that covered shed open along one end? Or is there an exterior door not shown? Will it ever be completely enclosed?

Putting the DUST COLLECTOR and AIR Compressor in that Covered shed is an excellent idea as the noise in an enclosed shop is really annoying. (I have a Phone and TV in my shop and can't hear a thing on either when the compressor starts, or the planer, or . . .) I also ran coax for the TV and 10-base T to my router and a phone line (remote handsets don't get the best single 'way out to my shop).

"solartube skylights" Now, there's an idea - but they are not cheap!

"An emergency light ..." must not be attached to the lighting circuit or the battery will not charge when the light switch is off!

 

[sandfarm]

If you are going to do some of the wiring yourself and buying the wire, beware of Home Depot and Lowes. They have the same wire as your electrical supply houses, but are higher on some of the different wires/foot.
I recently priced #8 THNN stranded at Lowes. Lowes price was .59/foot. Three different electrical suppy houses in my town (Burlington) were .31-.33/foot for the same wire.
The big box stores are not cheaper on everything.

Joe

 

[bobsmodels]

David

I have several suggestions. My shop is a 30' x 60' with a 30' x 28' "L" leg multiuse pole building like yours.

First, have you positioned where your tools are going to be placed? By doing so it can enhance your electric layout. Just placing every x' is a good method but there is law - Murphy. It says that some tools (the heaviest ones) will have its outlet positioned such that it is either covered or just beyond the cord length. In 2005 I laid out my shop tools and it helped even after I moved and added some tools I was still ahead of the game. It especially showed conflicts with lighting, fans, duct work, and where ceiling drops should be. I posted a 3D PDF awhile back if your interested I can find it and post it as an example.

Second, my wood shop is 13' x 33' with 5' door on one end, no windows. At the opposite end I added a 2' x 4' opening into another room and filled it with a 2" x 4' ceiling tile (easy break through). Makes for a fire escape. In your drawing I cannot tell if you have doors or windows elsewhere in the room. Make sure you have some escape other than on one wall, especially since you have cars on one side and I thought in a previous post you mentioned tractors and farm implement's on the other side. You want to be able to get out of the center room if there is an issue on either side or inside the shop.

Third, I had an electrician take my drawings and put in all the wiring (#10 - 220V, #12 - 110V, #12 - Lights) and sub panels, after the walls and ceilings were put up ( I used 1/2" (not 7/16) lumber yard OSB) my wife and I wired in all the boxes, switches etc. All boxes were surface mounted. I could have done all this but the time vs $$ was such that having a professional do the bulk of the work made sense in my case. They were done with the entire building in four days as well as a run to another building. It would have taken me and my wife a whole lot longer, not as young as we once were and climbing all over the rafters etc was not in the cards.

Looks like you have a nice size shop in the making. I would have preferred a sq. box like yours rather than a long rectangle for woodworking but given my other needs the skinny rectangle was what was available.

Bob

 

[Jeremy Scuteri]

"An emergency light ..." must not be attached to the lighting circuit or the battery will not charge when the light switch is off!

You don't connect the emergency light after the light switch, that would cause it to turn on whenever you turn the lights off. Emergency lights connect to the power feeding the light switch (ideally), that way the light switch doesn't affect it and emergency lights turn on when your lighting circuit goes down, which is the only time that emergency lights are useful. The lighting circuit is the ideal circuit to connect the emergency light to.

 

[charlessenf]

One circuit feature I did not think of until after finishing the shop was a circuit for my Battery Operated Tools. Often, while working in the house with one of my C-3 19.2VDC Craftsman tools, I need to swap out a battery. I try to take the old one to the charger as part of the process so it will be ready if needed.

So, I plug the battery into the charger and plug the charger into the wall outlet and go back to work in the house. Then the wife wants to go out, or the mailman bring a package or the chickens get loose, or the car battery dies, or the lawn needs mowing, or . . . and I completely forget to check the charging battery - often discovering my 'failure' the next day or later.

I wish I'd created a circuit on a timer (I have several of these in-wall timers replacing various switched devices in the house) that would control one or more outlets where a battery charger or ??? my be connected so I could set it for 30 minutes and forget it. Then, when reurned to the shop the next day and saw the battery in the charger, I could simply take it out without cussin my aging memory chips for leaving the power on all night or all week!

 

[ehpoole]

One circuit feature I did not think of until after finishing the shop was a circuit for my Battery Operated Tools. Often, while working in the house with one of my C-3 19.2VDC Craftsman tools, I need to swap out a battery. I try to take the old one to the charger as part of the process so it will be ready if needed.

So, I plug the battery into the charger and plug the charger into the wall outlet and go back to work in the house. Then the wife wants to go out, or the mailman bring a package or the chickens get loose, or the car battery dies, or the lawn needs mowing, or . . . and I completely forget to check the charging battery - often discovering my 'failure' the next day or later.

I wish I'd created a circuit on a timer (I have several of these in-wall timers replacing various switched devices in the house) that would control one or more outlets where a battery charger or ??? my be connected so I could set it for 30 minutes and forget it. Then, when reurned to the shop the next day and saw the battery in the charger, I could simply take it out without cussin my aging memory chips for leaving the power on all night or all week!

If your tool batteries are lithium based then leaving them on the charger indefinitely will not harm anything as the charger shuts doff once the battery is charged, save for the "charged" LED. If using old NiCd batteries then it is fine to leave them on a slow trickle charger for extended periods (though they should be removed eventually), but they should not be left on a fast charger (though many modern chargers these days will positively shut off with NiCd and NiMh batteries as well).

So you are not really harming anything if they spend an extra day or two on the charger, much less overnight. The advice to remove batteries from the charger was most critical back when the charging circuit consisted of little more than a transformer, bridge rectifier (to create DC) and a current limiting ballast resistor as these basic "dumb" chargers just kept dumping power into the batteries long after charging had completed (something NiCd batteries were relatively tolerant of). Most modern chargers these days are either microcontroller based or incorporate dedicated charging circuit ICs that much more tightly control charging and either shut off entirely at the end of charging (especially for lithium chemistries) or go into a very low current trickle charge mode meant to keep the battery fully topped up without pushing the battery limits or warming the battery excessively. So modern chargers tend to be much smarter and much easier on our battery packs, though you will still occasionally find the old "dumb" charger designs in some very inexpensive toys (particularly where it takes the batter part of a day or more to fully charge the device). It is hard to believe, but these days the smart charging IC and supporting components are often cheaper than the large power transformer and power resistor used by the dumb chargers so even where you would not expect to see a smart charger they often are still incorporated into devices nowadays, especially for items that typically charge in a few hours or less.

So a lot will depend upon how old your battery powered tools and their charger are, but you can always leave lithium type batteries on a charger for extended periods because all lithium chargers are required to shutdown once the battery reaches its peak voltage on any one cell (better models will also rebalance/equalize at this point to extend functional battery life). In the case of lithium batteries, the danger period is during the charging phase, not afterwards.

But if you want such an outlet, just buy a two gang box and install a timer and outlet into it, properly wired (and remember to ground the box if metal) then run a grounded power cord out of it, with proper clamp for strain relief, and plug into a nearby outlet. You can just set it on a bench or counter, or mount it to the wall, and you will have your timed outlet without having to run any new electrical in your shop and it will only cost you one outlet for the power cord (which your existing charger already occupies). If you want more outlets go for a 3-gang box and you will have four timed outlets. So if you want this feature there is no reason why you must go without as such can be incorporated into your shop at any time.