Otto Hoet asks:

I'm converting my small two car garage into a shop. I now have only two
outlets in there plus the light circuit for the ceiling lights. I would
like to put in a bunch of 110V outlets for handheld power tools, movable
lights, and such things. What I cannot find out is how many outlets I
should have per circuit when I don't know what the load is going to be? Is
there a "rule of thumb" somewhere, or a "best practice" kind of thing that I
can use as a guideline? I need this both for the 110V outlets and the 220V
outlets since I'm planning to leave some open for future tools.

I think the number was, may still be, 8 for 110 circuits. I really didn't check
on 220 because I put only 1 on each (aslo didn't run 8 on each 110: 6 was
plenty).

The main CB in my current panel says 150 so I assume
I have 150Amp service. Otherwise no labels or markings clutters up the
expanse of gray paint in the panel, so I guess my first job should be to
map out the circuits I already have. And finally, the panel is full. No
expansion possible. So I will have to put in a sub panel. I have room to
put it right next to the existing panel. Unless that is a no no.


Subpanel should be fine, but check locally. You might also be able to use half
thickness breakers, thus getting twofers--two breakers in a single slot.

Charlie Self
"If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at the people he gave
it to. " Dorothy Parker

http://hometown.aol.com/charliediy/m.../business.html