Hello [member=82974]RobLS[/member] - Welcome to the group and welcome to H-Town. I have lived here all my life so maybe I can help. If you would like to see my shop which already has many of the upgrades described here you are welcome to private message me through this site and I will give you my cell number and we can discuss. A few observations. 1. We get a good hard freeze here every two to five years so construction techniques are very different than many colder parts of the country. I am 66 years old and we just experienced the forth time in my life where snow actually stuck to the ground. 2. It is very common to have electrical service on the exterior of the home. I would say that it comprises the majority of homes here. 3. This is Texas so state and county regulation is nothing like California, the mid-west or the Northeast. There are a lot of things that you are allowed to do yourself to your own home here. That does not always mean that you should but it is often allowed. 4. When we moved into this house almost 17 years ago I was able to hire a licensed electrician who helped me design the electrical set up that I wanted. He laid it out and made material recommendations. He then allowed me to do the bulk of the rough work myself. He pulled the permit and did all of the actual connections. It saved me quite a bit of money and I enjoyed it. Remember that it is crazy hot here, it’s in the nineties by April or May and often stays there until early October. I have lived through summers here with 40 plus days in a row of 100 plus degrees. Your first summer here will be an eye opener. That and some other considerations make good electrical planning very important if you want to upgrade things once. Let me know if I can help further.
Detached Garage into Workshop help
- Thread starter RobLS
- Start date
I think Smorgasbord's numbers are going to be close to what you'll pay. I had my electrician come out and replace the panel at my old workshop back in 2018. They cut the power to the building (by pulling the meter), then ran new wiring to the new panel as well as new grounding wires. Cost me then $900.
Please note at the outset that I live in Canada. Things may be different here, but I suspect are largely the same.
First, yes, for this kinda stuff you need to at least consult with a decent electrician.
My story started in 2000 when I bought my house with a 100A main fused panel and knowing I wanted to convert my garage to a woodworking shop for hobby use located on the far side of our 1700 sq/ft side split house from the electrical panel I thought for certain I needed to upgrade to a 200A panel and also there were potential electrical add-ons to come in the coming years such as powering a detached structure where I might want to do hobbyist level welding.
My dismay started fast when I was told with my frugal financial ability at the time that to change the 100A panel to 200A was gonna be quite pricey beyond just the panel work as my underground feed to the house would involve removing the air conditioner outside that was sitting directly over top of the feed line where the hydro folks needed to do an underground splice and replacing the oldish air conditioner on top that potentially couplers to reaffix the air conditioner may not be found and I'd need a new A/C anyways at the time.
In discussing with my electrician buddy, who doesn't charge me for anything other than for parts as he's my best friend and I do contra work in my profession him in return, he asked the magic questions which has made itself true to this day. "What do you have that runs on gas versus electrical of the real potential power hogs in your house?" Well, that question was the ticket! Our stove was gas, the clothes dryer was gas, the hot water tank and the furnace as well were all gas. Years later even a 150K BTU pool heater was gas also.
What we ended up doing was changing the original 100A fuse panel to a 100A breaker panel where we ran from a 60A breaker in the main panel with 6/3 line about 60 feet of zig/zagging to a sub panel in my garage fully converted to a woodworking shop.
Years later we ran another 6/3 underground in protected conduit to the backyard shed for another 60A panel although I will never get into welding it is there nonetheless for what is turning into a second shop of sorts regardless and soon to receive it's own DC and a CNC that also will have electric floor heating and already has a 5000 BTU 220-240V ceiling hung electric heater.
I was told by my electrician buddy that the second 60A feed to the garage from my 60A sub panel in my garage shop is technically something that an actual inspector or current code would no longer allow, but that doesn't overly concern me. It's been there for a dozen years now with no issues. I was told that if you had heavy feed at the same time off both of those non main panels, that could be an issue, but it will never happen while I live here anyways. I can't be shop playing at two shop places at once basically. For a future homeowner, that may not be the case for this set up/scenario. It was recommended I drop the breaker size to the shed from the 60A panel upon selling the house.
The logic for staying with a 100A main for the entire house was that being a lone bandit hobbyist, it is not likely that even if I had in my shop what are the triad big working tools of a planner, a table saw and jointer running all at once along with what is also what I suppose also a fourth hydro bandit of a 220-240V 1300 CFM dust collector system would I ever need more than 100A for anything else going on overall requiring power in the house collectively especially if as almost all of the big shop tools were running on 220-240V which I have in my shop for all of the above thus reducing the amperage involved. I think my Unisaw is the biggest draw IIRC at 12 or 13 A.
I've never tripped my main panel's 100A breaker.
Almost all outlets in the garage/workshop are home runs to the panel on dedicate breakers into the sub panel.
Keep in mind also, except for less than I can count on one hand of older lights, everything in my house for lighting has been converted to LED's over the last decade or so but even before that transition, I never had any real probs with breakers tripping.
FWIW.
First, yes, for this kinda stuff you need to at least consult with a decent electrician.
My story started in 2000 when I bought my house with a 100A main fused panel and knowing I wanted to convert my garage to a woodworking shop for hobby use located on the far side of our 1700 sq/ft side split house from the electrical panel I thought for certain I needed to upgrade to a 200A panel and also there were potential electrical add-ons to come in the coming years such as powering a detached structure where I might want to do hobbyist level welding.
My dismay started fast when I was told with my frugal financial ability at the time that to change the 100A panel to 200A was gonna be quite pricey beyond just the panel work as my underground feed to the house would involve removing the air conditioner outside that was sitting directly over top of the feed line where the hydro folks needed to do an underground splice and replacing the oldish air conditioner on top that potentially couplers to reaffix the air conditioner may not be found and I'd need a new A/C anyways at the time.
In discussing with my electrician buddy, who doesn't charge me for anything other than for parts as he's my best friend and I do contra work in my profession him in return, he asked the magic questions which has made itself true to this day. "What do you have that runs on gas versus electrical of the real potential power hogs in your house?" Well, that question was the ticket! Our stove was gas, the clothes dryer was gas, the hot water tank and the furnace as well were all gas. Years later even a 150K BTU pool heater was gas also.
What we ended up doing was changing the original 100A fuse panel to a 100A breaker panel where we ran from a 60A breaker in the main panel with 6/3 line about 60 feet of zig/zagging to a sub panel in my garage fully converted to a woodworking shop.
Years later we ran another 6/3 underground in protected conduit to the backyard shed for another 60A panel although I will never get into welding it is there nonetheless for what is turning into a second shop of sorts regardless and soon to receive it's own DC and a CNC that also will have electric floor heating and already has a 5000 BTU 220-240V ceiling hung electric heater.
I was told by my electrician buddy that the second 60A feed to the garage from my 60A sub panel in my garage shop is technically something that an actual inspector or current code would no longer allow, but that doesn't overly concern me. It's been there for a dozen years now with no issues. I was told that if you had heavy feed at the same time off both of those non main panels, that could be an issue, but it will never happen while I live here anyways. I can't be shop playing at two shop places at once basically. For a future homeowner, that may not be the case for this set up/scenario. It was recommended I drop the breaker size to the shed from the 60A panel upon selling the house.
The logic for staying with a 100A main for the entire house was that being a lone bandit hobbyist, it is not likely that even if I had in my shop what are the triad big working tools of a planner, a table saw and jointer running all at once along with what is also what I suppose also a fourth hydro bandit of a 220-240V 1300 CFM dust collector system would I ever need more than 100A for anything else going on overall requiring power in the house collectively especially if as almost all of the big shop tools were running on 220-240V which I have in my shop for all of the above thus reducing the amperage involved. I think my Unisaw is the biggest draw IIRC at 12 or 13 A.
I've never tripped my main panel's 100A breaker.
Almost all outlets in the garage/workshop are home runs to the panel on dedicate breakers into the sub panel.
Keep in mind also, except for less than I can count on one hand of older lights, everything in my house for lighting has been converted to LED's over the last decade or so but even before that transition, I never had any real probs with breakers tripping.
FWIW.
Thank you all again for chipping in.
I may take you up and get in touch with you locally.
I’ve been living here in houston for about 8 years now. I have definitely experienced the heat and freezes, one being the major freeze a couple(?) years back I think now.
And also that’s my idea, get major connections and plans through a good electrician and I can do the hard labor.
I may take you up and get in touch with you locally.
I’ve been living here in houston for about 8 years now. I have definitely experienced the heat and freezes, one being the major freeze a couple(?) years back I think now.
And also that’s my idea, get major connections and plans through a good electrician and I can do the hard labor.
Around 1968, a friend of mine, a Marine Corps private, returned to the States after serving two tours in Viet Nam.
After he came back, he said he was stationed in Houston. He said it was perfect. He was used to the heat and humidity from his two tours, and that the heat meant he continued to get “hazardous duty” pay.
I was never sure if he was just pulling my leg, or if Houston was as hot and humid as he made it out to be.
He came back a bit wonky and I spent most of my days trying to keep him out of fights.
In any case, since about 1968 I thought Houston was very hot and humid. I had no idea about the winters though.
After he came back, he said he was stationed in Houston. He said it was perfect. He was used to the heat and humidity from his two tours, and that the heat meant he continued to get “hazardous duty” pay.
I was never sure if he was just pulling my leg, or if Houston was as hot and humid as he made it out to be.
He came back a bit wonky and I spent most of my days trying to keep him out of fights.
In any case, since about 1968 I thought Houston was very hot and humid. I had no idea about the winters though.
leakyroof
Member
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2011
- Messages
- 2,499
Service box on the outside- yes, that brings back memories of living in West Texas.
As for Houston, my Dad and Step-Mother lived there for a few years in the 90s. I thought Florida was HUMID... [big grin] [big grin] [big grin]
I can still remember walking outside with my Wife while we were visiting from Chicago. A wall of humid air hit us as we started walking around their neighborhood to get a feel for it. We were drenched by the time we went one block.
It was then that I realized how much lower in humidity my living at the edge of West Texas had been growing up.... [big grin] [big grin]
A big yes to all the great advice above ^^^^. I too have a small shop, but in our basement, so climate is much more controlled. It's probably about the only plus I can give it versus a ground level shop. [wink]
I run my 240v 3HP Unisaw, and a 240v Single Stage Delta Dust Collector on one 240v 20 amp circuit, never have tripped the breaker with both tools running. Knock on wood.
LEDs are a great way to lower lighting usage costs, I'm slowly converting all our 40 watt fluorescent fixtures over to LED when we have money to do so.
If you have any plans to buy bench top sized tools that you'll use occasionally , think about a drop cord or two coming from your ceiling down to a work bench or project bench. This way there's no extension cord under foot to get in the way if you need temporary power to that tool.
Same with an air line, for a Brad Nailer, Pin Nailer. A flexible hose that you grab to use, then store on a fitting overhead is really handy. Avoid the more traditional yellow plastic lines that coil, there are better, softer hoses that are more friendly to use than the old stand by hoses, and also coil.
Last shop tidbit. Get a lighted magnifying glass, the kind that have a moveable frame and base, to be able to work on splinters or other stuff you need enlarged to see. I have a bench mounted unit from Grizzly that has lights on either side of the glass, and a large enough viewing area of magnifying glass to get both my hands behind it. Very useful when working with tweezers. [cool]
As for Houston, my Dad and Step-Mother lived there for a few years in the 90s. I thought Florida was HUMID... [big grin] [big grin] [big grin]
I can still remember walking outside with my Wife while we were visiting from Chicago. A wall of humid air hit us as we started walking around their neighborhood to get a feel for it. We were drenched by the time we went one block.
It was then that I realized how much lower in humidity my living at the edge of West Texas had been growing up.... [big grin] [big grin]
A big yes to all the great advice above ^^^^. I too have a small shop, but in our basement, so climate is much more controlled. It's probably about the only plus I can give it versus a ground level shop. [wink]
I run my 240v 3HP Unisaw, and a 240v Single Stage Delta Dust Collector on one 240v 20 amp circuit, never have tripped the breaker with both tools running. Knock on wood.
LEDs are a great way to lower lighting usage costs, I'm slowly converting all our 40 watt fluorescent fixtures over to LED when we have money to do so.
If you have any plans to buy bench top sized tools that you'll use occasionally , think about a drop cord or two coming from your ceiling down to a work bench or project bench. This way there's no extension cord under foot to get in the way if you need temporary power to that tool.
Same with an air line, for a Brad Nailer, Pin Nailer. A flexible hose that you grab to use, then store on a fitting overhead is really handy. Avoid the more traditional yellow plastic lines that coil, there are better, softer hoses that are more friendly to use than the old stand by hoses, and also coil.
Last shop tidbit. Get a lighted magnifying glass, the kind that have a moveable frame and base, to be able to work on splinters or other stuff you need enlarged to see. I have a bench mounted unit from Grizzly that has lights on either side of the glass, and a large enough viewing area of magnifying glass to get both my hands behind it. Very useful when working with tweezers. [cool]
Crazyraceguy
Member
- Joined
- Oct 16, 2015
- Messages
- 4,897
jeffinsgf said:
That may be a condition of age? The first house I ever owned, back in '84, was built in the '50s. It was originally built as a small beauty shop, in the back yard of a house on a corner lot. It was split of into a separate property in the '70s. All of that to say, it had both the electric and gas meters outside. The electric was on the side, between the house and detached garage. The gas was right by the front porch, behind a bush.
My current house was my grandmother's. She lived here from 1933 until 2000. I've been here since then. It has gone through several heating changes, from coal, to oil, to gas. The gas meter is inside [eek] has been for decades. It was replaced a few years ago, with the ability of remote reading. The told me "next time" it will also get moved to the outside.
The electric meter has always been outside. The interior panel had the glass screw-in fuses, when I was a kid. It has been upgraded since, with a secondary panel in the garage. It went from a single bulb hanging in the middle, to the beginnings of my retirement shop, complete with air compressor and mini-split. There is greater power draw out there than what was originally designed into the main house. It was only 60amp, IIRC?
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