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Posted to rec.woodworking,alt.home.repair
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Considering detached metal clad workshop questions/comments
"Pete C." wrote in :
RemodGuy wrote:
wrote:
RemodGuy wrote:
Wire is cheap,
boxes are cheap, breakers are cheap.
Best -- Terry
Where do you live that wire is cheap? It's gone up almost 400%
here in the last year.
I just checked Lowe's and 100' of 12 gauge with ground is $59. The
price I recall is $20, so clearly you're correct, wire appears to
have gone up quite a bit.
However, the original poster indicated that he was having a metal
building erected, he wants heat & air, storage, windows, garage door
opener, etc. What's the cost? (I honestly don't know) $4000? If
that's a decent ballpark estimate, an extra $120 of materials for two
more 20 A circuits seems a trivial addition. And a wise investment.
I wasn't trying to jump in your S # * T, I agree with you. I was
actually asking a sincere question about the cost of wire. Lowes in my
area had 12-2 up to $102 a roll. It's down to about $92. I found a
coil in the shop attic circa january '06 from Lowes with a $56 price
tag still on it. If memory serves me correctly, a year before that it
was about $27.
shop wiring - I would put in a 100amp 20 slot sub. I have that
now. plenty of room for lights. Plenty of openings for 220 circuits
as need. I run all the bigger equipment (jointer, planer, compressor,
etc.) on dedicated circuits. If I need to add anything, the source is
nearby and effort and cost is very low.
Current copper prices certainly suck, but it's still a one time cost and
you will otherwise regret it every day for decades if you skimp and
don't put in enough power the first time.
I just did a full replacement upgrade to the 20' x 32' detached shop at
my house. The previous owner who built the shop only had a 30A 240V feed
with a six space sub panel in the shop. Might have been adequate if I
was a woodworker, but since my preference is for metal it was hopelessly
inadequate.
I ripped out all of the old electrical, trenched in a new 80' run of
conduit and pulled new feeder to a new 32 space 125A sub panel. I also
ran the feeder two gauges heavier than the code minimum for 125A since
in this application it will get pushed close to 125A on a regular basis
(short duty cycle though) and I want to minimize voltage drop over the
long run.
The bottom line is just bite the bullet and do it right the first time.
The cost to do it right will only continue to rise so waiting to do it
later won't help. $500 in materials today might be $1,000 next year and
unless you have some real good investments you aren't going to make up
the difference waiting.
Pete C.
I put in 200 amp service in my workshop. I bought the materials 2 years
ago so it was considerably cheaper than if I had bought them this year.
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