gardnesd Posted January 11, 2011 Report Share Posted January 11, 2011 Hey all, I'm currently working out of my garage. I have been doing serious woodworking for about 6 months. The garage is essential covered by 1 15amp circuit. It's definately not enough. I cannot ALWAYS run my track saw and festool dust vac at the same time. God forbid I have a space heater as well. Also, when we move into this house we "moved" the laundry room. Now the dryer and washer are on the same circuit as well. It's good times. I have plans to build a shop in the backyard in the next 2 years and most of my troubles will be gone. However, it appears that all of the breaker spaces on my panel are taken. Is there a way to add a second panel? I know very little about ele contracting etc. How much $$$ am I looking at? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Posted January 11, 2011 Report Share Posted January 11, 2011 How can your dryer be on a 15 amp circuit? I'm completely guessing, but I'd figure at least a grand for having an electrician to add a subpanel. Get some quotes, they don't usually charge you anything for those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardnesd Posted January 11, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2011 How can your dryer be on a 15 amp circuit? I'm completely guessing, but I'd figure at least a grand for having an electrician to add a subpanel. Get some quotes, they don't usually charge you anything for those. I meant the washer....sory. Dryer is 220. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomP Posted January 11, 2011 Report Share Posted January 11, 2011 Your probably going to have to run a sub-panel out to at least 100amp service to feed the equipment in the shop. I have 220 going to my garage and then it is split up to feed saws, lights, etc. You might need certain breakers for the table saw since that has a slow start up. Just my 1cent You might really think about getting someone who does electrical work and check your town codes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardnesd Posted January 12, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 No, I wasn't thinking of doing it myself. I can see a saw blade turning. I can't see electriciey, and so.... Your probably going to have to run a sub-panel out to at least 100amp service to feed the equipment in the shop. I have 220 going to my garage and then it is split up to feed saws, lights, etc. You might need certain breakers for the table saw since that has a slow start up. Just my 1cent You might really think about getting someone who does electrical work and check your town codes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssrt3 Posted January 12, 2011 Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 Ok I'm a electrician, what i would charge as a minimum is panel $100, breakers ranging in price for what you need $10-up, then wire $3.00ft labor $70.hr and i would say to install shouldn't be more than 8 hours. and that is about $1000.00 for all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BenMinshall Posted January 14, 2011 Report Share Posted January 14, 2011 A subpanel may be far more than you need at this point, and no question that 100A panel is far more than necessary. If you've got the money to burn, then by all means go for it, but a 20A multiwire circuit would be enough for the loads you listed. A 100A panel provides 24,000 watts. Your dust vac, track saw and space heater together are all of about 3,000W. The 20A multiwire would provide 4,800W. The first thing to investigate would be if your main panel accepts tandem breakers (mini, skinny, half size, etc). If it will, then all you'll really need for basic woodworking is a 20A multiwire circuit. You'd need a couple tandems, a 20A DP breaker, some 12/3 cable, a double gang box and a couple GFCI receptacles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger T Posted January 14, 2011 Report Share Posted January 14, 2011 I added a 60amp sub panel for my shop. Being that it has only 6 breaker positions, I have 2 220 amp circuits, and 4 110 amp circuits. Lights and outlets on all seperate circuits. 2 for lights and 2 for outlets. Serves me very well. The expensive part was buying the 60 amp breaker for my main panel, and then the heavy wire. Everything is in conduit. Easy job and can be done in a day or two. Did it all myself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmorretta Posted January 18, 2011 Report Share Posted January 18, 2011 Hi, I just went through the installation of a subpanel. The cost for me was about $350. $175 of that amount went for the inspection. While I did the work myself, I wanted the peace of mind an inspection gives to me. The subpanel accomodates 12 full slot breakers. That may sound like alot but it goes quickly when you start installing the 220amp breakers. The installation started with placing a 120amp breaker into the main for the subpanel. Code-appriate wire was installed from the main to the subpanel. Prior to installing the subpanel breaker, I had to do work in the main to free up the needed two slots. I waited for a sunny day to do this work. This allowed me to turn off the main house breaker without being in the dark. Making the space for the subpanel breakers was accomplished with two split breakers. These are the breakers that fit two circuit breakers into one slot. All of this installation started with a lot of tinking and the use of masking tape to map out the location for the outlets. I started the process wtih thinking about my equipment. The result of thsi thinking was to see a clear need for five 220amp circuits; 1-surface planer, 2-dust collection, 3-heater, 4-table saw, and 5-drum sander. I use the last two bays to accomodate four circuits; 1-20amp for air filtration system, 2-shop lighting, 3-shop lighting, and storage area lighting. I split the shop lighting across two circuits to allow me to work on one lighting circuit without being in the dark. There are a pair of 20amp circuits in the main that are used in the shop for plugs. The draw on the subpanel is also something to think about. The draw comes from the amount of devices you expect to run concurrently. In my case I use the lights, AFS, and both 20amp circuits along with two of the 220amps running at the same time. One 220amp for the dust collector and one for the device I am using like the table saw or the surface planer. Hope this helps you sort thought the challenge. If I were to do it again, I would install a larger subpanel. Regards, Bobbie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Mc Jones Posted January 19, 2011 Report Share Posted January 19, 2011 I ran a 60 amp sub panel to my shop/garage. I highly recommend it. I cant give you a ball park. I dont think anyone really can. Other then I recomend going to a licensed eletrician and get 3 bids to do the job. If your not confident with electricity dont fool with it. Leave it to the pros. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulMarcel Posted January 19, 2011 Report Share Posted January 19, 2011 I also ran 60 amps to the shop; depends on your concurrent tool use like Bobbie pointed out. One difference is that I didn't need to put my lights on that; since my shop is my garage, I chained the lights off the existing light circuit. With the gauge wire I ran from the mains to the sub panel, I could run 75 amps to the shop although that is the limit taking account the conduit fill and adjusting for our maximum summer temperatures. Concurrent is the key. All my heavy tools are on one circuit since I don't run any simultaneously. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.