Decided to build a garage. Now the fun begins.

[South VA]

No progress on the garage for the past few weeks., as other projects have taken priority for now. However, the Subdivision has been parked inside for over a week, so at least the garage is fulfilling part of its mission.

The apron and driveway are the next major step, so I'll have to dig the trench for the power line from the house before the apron goes down.

Time to get utility locates and line up a trencher to rent.

 

[South VA]

Back to planning.

# Step 6. The electrical wiring plan

This will include such elements as the number and locations of outlets along the walls, plus those needed for overhead lighting and future garage door openers; the size and routing of MC cable and conduit; the subpanel; the electrical feed from the house to the garage; and the number and placement of ground rods.

Coming up with an electrical plan has been the toughest part of the planning process for me, as I am not an electrician. I can pull wire and install fixtures, and have even successfully rewired a main panel in the past; but starting with a clean slate like this garage, is actually proving to be difficult for me.

The main issue is that I’m not sure the best way to lay out the circuits and wire runs. It ought to be simple, but for some reason I’m having a hard time wrapping my mind around just how to approach it.

Then there’s the question of MC versus conduit. I went back and looked at my neighbor’s garage, since his electrician just used MC cable throughout. It doesn’t look all that great. I’d prefer a neater, cleaner look, which means running conduit in the lower portions. I don’t have a problem running MC cable above 10’ off the floor.

As for the type of conduit, I’m currently leaning toward Schedule 40 PVC instead of EMT, as it’s easier to work with and maybe a bit less expensive.

So, after a good while of thinking about it with little progress, the best way forward in this case may be to have the electrician draw up a plan for me. Since that seems to be the major roadblock, having him draw up a plan would be worth the cost, which I expect wouldn't be much. Then I can get on with setting boxes and pulling wire.

More to follow.

 

[PlayingWithTBI]

As for the type of conduit, I’m currently leaning toward Schedule 40 PVC instead of EMT, as it’s easier to work with and maybe a bit less expensive.

I think, by the time you buy elbows and fittings converting from PVC to metal connectors at each box, you'll spend more money on PVC. Plus, running EMT is faster - it's easy to bend an offset each time to need to go around an object etc. Yes it take a little practice but, when you buy the bender, make sure it comes with instructions. If not, get some.

As an example, here's what you do to get around, and power, your overhead doors. a few sticks of pipe and some couplings, took me maybe an hour to run both pipes ( one for 240V service to the air compressor and one for 4 - 120V 20A (12ga) circuits for 3 outlets and 1 for the door opener circuits. If you look closely at the pipe above the center of the door, you'll see an example of an offset (then an elbow) you'll occasionally need to get from point A to point B . And, IMHO metal pipe looks way better than plastic. YMMV

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[Erik the Awful]

I absolutely prefer metal conduit to PVC. It's way easier to run. I have the 1/2" bender and the 1" bender. I didn't read the instructions, and it still went very easy. I used a cutting disc on my grinder and a stepped drill bit to cut and clean the ends of each section of tubing before installation. You don't want any burrs on that conduit.

I did one 4-outlet box on every 10' section of wall, 4' up from the floor. Then I put a NEMA-60 box 2' off the floor everywhere I thought I'd need 220v power. My power is breakered by wall, north, south, east, and west. I ran all the power up to the rafters and dropped it down for each box. I also went overkill and ran a ground wire to each box.

The lights are on their own breaker, and the cool thing about LEDs is that I was able to use a single breaker for all the lights. The're a 220v breaker for the oven, one for the compressor, and the rest of the outlets run to a single breaker because I can only weld in one place at a time. I made sure and put a both a 110v box and a 220v outlet between my roll up doors. With my 10' welder extension cable I don't have to pull a vehicle in the shop to weld on it.

 

[South VA]

I think, by the time you buy elbows and fittings converting from PVC to metal connectors at each box, you'll spend more money on PVC. Plus, running EMT is faster - it's easy to bend an offset each time to need to go around an object etc. Yes it take a little practice but, when you buy the bender, make sure it comes with instructions. If not, get some.

Thanks. The guy that suggested to me using PVC was in the electrical supply business; I don’t know whether or not he had ever been a practicing electrician. Maybe pricing was different when he was in the business than it is now.

As for bending conduit, I watched a few youtube videos, and from what I’ve seen it doesn’t look like something I couldn’t do.

As an example, here's what you do to get around, and power, your overhead doors. a few sticks of pipe and some couplings, took me maybe an hour to run both pipes ( one for 240V service to the air compressor and one for 4 - 120V 20A (12ga) circuits for 3 outlets and 1 for the door opener circuits. If you look closely at the pipe above the center of the door, you'll see an example of an offset (then an elbow) you'll occasionally need to get from point A to point B . And, IMHO metal pipe looks way better than plastic. YMMV

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Metal also looks much better to me than plastic. And I do want this to be a clean installation, within reason.

Sounds like I need to rethink this.

 

[South VA]

I absolutely prefer metal conduit to PVC. It's way easier to run. I have the 1/2" bender and the 1" bender. I didn't read the instructions, and it still went very easy. I used a cutting disc on my grinder and a stepped drill bit to cut and clean the ends of each section of tubing before installation. You don't want any burrs on that conduit.

I did one 4-outlet box on every 10' section of wall, 4' up from the floor. Then I put a NEMA-60 box 2' off the floor everywhere I thought I'd need 220v power. My power is breakered by wall, north, south, east, and west. I ran all the power up to the rafters and dropped it down for each box. I also went overkill and ran a ground wire to each box.

The lights are on their own breaker, and the cool thing about LEDs is that I was able to use a single breaker for all the lights. The're a 220v breaker for the oven, one for the compressor, and the rest of the outlets run to a single breaker because I can only weld in one place at a time. I made sure and put a both a 110v box and a 220v outlet between my roll up doors. With my 10' welder extension cable I don't have to pull a vehicle in the shop to weld on it.

Sounds like a nice setup. Good to know that running EMT is actually easier than PVC. I was under a different impression. Ease of installation plus lower material cost plus a cleaner look is a hard combination to beat.

Running the power up to the rafters then down to the boxes is something that I hadn’t really considered. Doesn’t that method use more wire? This is part of why I’m struggling with the layout.

The shop lighting fixtures I have are 88W each, and it appears that a single 15A circuit would accommodate all of them. I had been thinking of putting the area lights on one circuit and the task lights on another, but that may not be necessary. I’ll divide the area lights into three banks for switching purposes, and have the task lights switched separately.

I also plan to have outlet boxes every 10’, but hadn’t considered installing multiple welder outlet boxes, much less supplied by a single circuit. That’s a great idea.

Thanks.

 

[PlayingWithTBI]

Running the power up to the rafters then down to the boxes is something that I hadn’t really considered. Doesn’t that method use more wire? This is part of why I’m struggling with the layout.

yes, it does. I run a 3/4" pipe with 3 or 4 circuits. Since I have a girt at 4' and one at 8', I run my power outlets down low and the lighting ones up top then the go up to the ceiling for hanging lights. In this picture you can see both. I also installed outlets for the lighting too. This way if I need to work on one, I don't have to kill the whole circuit. You can see the pipe coming down next to the door in to a 4-square box (all of my boxes are 4 square for more room to pull and land wire) that has the light switch and 3 120V circuits. I also run a box every 10' with rotating circuits so every neighboring box is on a different breaker. This way, if you have two high amperage devices you wanna run together (like a table saw and dust collection in my case) you don't need an extension cord. Each long wall has 3 breakes each for that. I find 1/2" pipe is OK for just a couple circuits but, when you're running 1 pipe the length of the shop, you need more capacity. A 3/4" pipe will also feed 220V circuits. BTW - if you use "Conduit Hangers" they'll keep the pipe up off the surface so you won't have to bend any offsets at every box. You can kinda see it in the picture. I use 1 hanger or box every 5' for better rigidity, NEC says minimum of 10'. HTH

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[PlayingWithTBI]

here's where I ran power from overhead to the other lights. Keep in mind you have to bend the pipe to the same angle as your ceiling to wall and at the peak in the ceiling.

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Here's how I branched off the light run for overhead ones and to a box for the opener on its own dedicated circuit. It's kinda hard to see.

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If you plan ahead, like you normally do, you can minimize effort and conduit/wiring expenses

 

[Orpedcrow]

You’re overthinking. Look how my uncle wired his barn

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[PlayingWithTBI]

Look how my uncle wired his barn

Wow, no face plates!