Electrical Code Requirements

[gmack5]

As some of you know, I recently bought an exsisting house with a 2 car Garage that will be my new workshop.

It's a "regular" detached 2 car Garage with some power in it but no Subpanel or the kind of wiring that I would expect to find in a Woodworking Shop.

So I started doing some research and found this write-up on Electrical Wiring.

Since it contains some specific information on Shop Wiring, I thought some of the other members might be interested in the Article.
http://www.landfield.com/faqs/electr.../preamble.html

[cwsmith]

GMack5,

Thanks, I've saved it to my "Favorites" referance section. There are always projects to be done and unfortunately my last book is at least 15 years old. Too bad they are so expensive. The online referance is a big help.

Regards,

CWS

[agent511]

Good useful information. I have a question not covered.

I am thinking about running a 220 volt line to my shop room to run the table saw and a dust collector. Do I use a duplex 220 v outlet? Or do you need dedicated outlets and lines for each unit? The combined amps of the two units should be about 15 or 16 amps. I would think that one line and one duplex outlet would be correct.

Also, the wire, would it be 12 gauge wire?

[scorrpio]

220v outlets don't come in duplex form due to heat considerations. If you are sure you have enough amps, you can run them off same line, and 12ga should be ok, but you'll want to put each outlet into its own box.

[Crash2510]

i would run 10-3 romex for this in case you ever wanted to upgrade to anything bigger it does cost a little more but it has greater expanandability
also at this point you are already at 80% load of 16 amps on a twenty amp circuit

[agent511]

I wouldn't plan on running more than 1 machine at the same time (plus the dust collector). So I can't see ever getting much closer to 20 amps. I think 12 ga is also easier/more flexible to run and wire up.

[Stick]

220v outlets don't come in duplex form due to heat considerations. If you are sure you have enough amps, you can run them off same line, and 12ga should be ok, but you'll want to put each outlet into its own box.

I have four 20A 240V duplex receptacles in my shop, installed by a former owner around 1990 and each on its own 20A circuit. I've never looked for any more but I'd dare to bet they are still available. He was a cabinet maker that worked alone, so only ever used one machine at a time, but had everything plugged in.