Ain't much of a garage to brag about...

[55 Rescue Dog]

I wired all my garage receptacle circuits with 12ga using 15 amp breakers and outlets to have the option to change any circuit to 20 amp. Plus 12ga has less resistance, and voltage drop on bigger loads. I also use wire numbers to identify everything later if needed. If my house was wired like my garage, I could run like 20 crock pots, and more. I was lucky enough to have my local utility run a separate underground 100 amp service to my garage, plus fiber optic.

[chevynut]

BamaNomad, I would think that a hot water high pressure washer would pull more than 15 amps, do you know what the current rating is for it? It probably needs a 20A circuit anyhow.

IMO if you're going to put the 12 gauge wire in, I see no reason not to use 20A breakers from the get-go. Why "upgrade" to 20A breakers later? The breakers are meant to protect the wiring in the structure. Personally I wouldn't wire a shop with anything less than 20A wires and breakers.

Both of my shops are wired with 12 gauge wires and 20A breakers except for my compressor circuits which are 10GA 30A 220V and welder circuits 6GA 50A 220V. I even used 12 gauge on lighting circuits. I have GFI outlets at the beginning of each 120V circuit and they can sometimes be a PITA but are required by our codes. In my new shop they required "tamper proof" outlets which are BS in a shop, imo, and make it hard to plug things in.

I run a large Jet 12" disc/belt sander, another 12" sander, my shop vac that's connected to my bead blaster, a drill press, and my Jet horizontal bandsaw on the same circuit on one wall and I usually don't have problems but it's close when my son and I both work and we've tripped the breaker there. I've made plans to split that circuit in two and the new wire is already run from the panel to where I need to cut the circuit. My plasma cutter is pretty much on it's own 20A 110V circuit unless I need to cut heavier material, then I plug it into 220V. I have one 220V welder outlet at each end of the old shop and one in the new shop in case I ever need to weld there . We usually use a 220V extension cord for the 180A TIG and I can plug my Miller 211 MIG into 110V or 220V.

For lighting, in the old shop I have 8 4-foot fluorescent fixtures with 4 bulbs each and in the new shop there's 11 of them with 4 bulbs each. The old attic has six 60 watt LED bulbs and the new attic has four 4-foot fluorescent 2-bulb fixtures. I find the LED bulbs give more light than incandescent, and CFLs are worthless.

And you're right about voltage drop. For extremely long runs it does make sense to use larger wire but 20GA should work just about anywhere.

[BamaNomad]

We get by in our home 'one man' shops with putting more equipment on the circuits than it would support, but we can only operate ONE at a time, eh?

[chevynut]

We get by in our home 'one man' shops with putting more equipment on the circuits than it would support, but we can only operate ONE at a time, eh?

You don't need to design a circuit to support having everything on at once. If we did that, we'd need a 1000 amp panel to our homes.

I have several 110V circuits in both shops. Unfortunately I didn't plan to have so much equipment on one wall in the old shop because I didn't originally build it for a business. Still, it all works with no problem 99% of the time even with two of us working.

[WagonCrazy]

In my new shop they required "tamper proof" outlets which are BS in a shop, imo, and make it hard to plug things in.

And with final inspection long since completed, I'm sure you've solved that by replacing those with the old fashioned ones...

BTW. Thanks for describing all the circuits and uses in your old/new garage. I'm in the process of trying to figure out what I want for wiring in the new garage (still in the design phase in my head at this point).

[55 Rescue Dog]

2013-01-12_15-40-16_863.jpg2013-01-19_09-41-37_7372.jpgI had my garage inspected, and approved with the minimum required 1 GFCI outlet, a light switch, and 2 60w bulbs. He didn't say anything about the 20 circuit 100 amp panel on the wall. I wired the crap out of the garage after it was inspected. I finished the interior wall with exterior Smart siding. In case I need to add a couple more circuits, I might never need, I installed a couple pull wires from the breaker panel into the attic. I also put in 2 extra light switches with wire dead-ended in a junction box too. Have stainless switch/outlet covers on everything now. Oh yeah, my 11:1 1970 LT-1 loves 110 octane racing fuel. In on picture on the lower left is a 1 1/2in PVC pass through for an air hose, or cord to go outside. Cut a hole in an old center cap for a bezel. Although my garage will never be a show piece, I tend to avoid doing anything I should be doing on my 55, now covered in snow. I hate the thought of trashing my shop with the dust, and crap needed to get the project rolling. Poor excuse I know, but I hate the mess.

[Bihili]

Rescue Dog, does OSHAA approve the saw blade above the door?????

[chevynut]

I had both my shops final inspected with everything wired up because I figured I wanted to make sure it was done right, and I had nothing to hide. If you cheat on stuff like that and the place burns down, insurance companies can refuse to cover it if they find out. My wife is an insurance agent. I also ran some spare wires and terminated them in a box which the inspector asked about but was okay with.

The only other thing the inspector questioned was that the lights in the stairwell of my attic didn't have a switch at the top and bottom of the stairs. He said that was required. I asked him why I would ever want to go up into the attic and turn the lights off (one switch controls stairwell and all attic lights), and he thought about it and signed off on it.

I have since made some minor changes after cutting through the side of the old shop's attic to get access from the new shop attic. I recently added a switch for the old attic lights. No inspection.

[WagonCrazy]

The service panel + sub panel upgrade is finished. Inspector signed off early this week.

Main panel. Lots of room for future circuits (a whole house remodel is in the planning mode)
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And the subpanel in the freestanding 2 car garage (have 60 amps to work with here)

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And a new 120v- 30amp RV plug installed on the garage (so I can power my toyhauler when I have it parked there for guests sleeping over).

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I guess you can say that we're happy campers now!

[chevynut]

Looking good Paul....one thing I question is the dual 220V/20A breakers for the compressor. Is that enough for your compressor? Mine are dual 30A with 10ga wires. That's what the compressor installation instructions said I needed for a 5HP compressor.

Also, don't they require a main breaker in any sub-panel? Here one is required for any stand-alone building so they know where to turn off power in case of a fire and. I have a 125A breaker in each of my shop's sub-panels and it was required by code.

[WagonCrazy]

one thing I question is the dual 220V/20A breakers for the compressor. Is that enough for your compressor?

Yep. Label on the compressor motor says 205-230 volt- 15 amp. It's working just fine with the dual 20A breakers.

Also, don't they require a main breaker in any sub-panel?

Possibly, but this subpanel wasn't part of the inspected work...(add on after the fact). There is a dual breaker for this panel in the main panel, just not one out here in the garage. Shut off all 3 and you have no power going past this sub panel.

[WagonCrazy]

New freestanding garage is getting started after 10 months of wrangling with the City of Santa Clarita Planning, Bldg & Safety, Oak Tree Preservation District, and LA County Fire Dept. Lots of hurdles...
1690 sq foot garage. 5 car bays + a mancave bay + a bathroom.
Any freestanding structure over 1000 sq. feet invokes the wrath of G_D around here.
But I did it! All permitted and moving ahead now.

Utilities in the ground up to the building site. Excavated and recompacted 5 feet of dirt under the slab. Then cut a finish level on the pad. Now we're forming for a monolithic pour...86 yards of concrete (9 truckloads) set for next week. Then lumber arrives and the walls start going up. Pissing money at a fast clip now...

I'll post some pics later, when I transfer them from my phone.

[BamaNomad]

Congratulations Paul! FINALLY... it does seem like forever since we read of your initial efforts to get your garage started! It sounds like you're going to have a very nice shop to work on your car once finished!

[carls 56 (RIP 11/24/2021)]

size matters, sounds plenty big. congrats on getting it started.

[55 Rescue Dog]

"The Barn is Always Bigger than the House"