Need help running 220V in garage

Elliott

Elliott

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2005
Location
San Diego, CA
Hey guys,

I know there is quite the assortment of handymen on this site. Since home electrical is like a foreign language to me (and too dangerous to experiment with) I am needing some help. I am wanting to add at least 1 220V outlet to my garage. The breaker is in the garage so it wouldn't have a long way to travel.

Anyone want to make a little $ on the side and help out a fellow wheeler wire up his shop? I am in Kernersville and am ready to pay $ or swap parts for some assistance.

Thanks!
-E
 
just unplug the stove in the kitchen and run an extension cord from there

or you could attempt to wire it up yourself and since you have no previous home wiring experience you will shock yourself, drop the wire, and without thinking reach down to pick it up and shock yourself again, then later you will accidentally ground yourself out and get a frikin wakeup like no other until you finally figure out that house wiring is much different than car wiring and get it to work right . . . . . . . or at least thats what my dumb @$$ did.

Wow, i do sooo much stupid stuff that could have potentially killed me without thinking about it :shaking:
 
Elliot,

the only issue I see with running the wire yourself is insurance... Not sure if it's the case but if your house burns down or something like that and you have no record of a liscensed electrician hooking up the 220... what do you think they'll do?

Like I said I dont know if that's the case but i'd check into it.

Other than that I think it's pretty much just: buy the breaker, plug it into your box, run the wire, hook it up....
 
Technically, yes. The inspector would need to see all of the work before you sould turn on the power to the circuit. There's a lot of building codes when it comes to wiring. Not only does the circuit have to be wired properly, the wire cannot be rin outside the wall unless it's in conduit. The receptacle has to be a certain height off of the floor, etc. There's a lot of little things to make it "legal".
 
Honestly It isn't that hard. If you have room in your break box then you could make it happen easy. If I were closer I'd do it for ya, but it's a bit much to type out. Good luck!
 
Paul said:
Homeowner exemptions... no permit needed.
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Well, waddaya know. Seems I haven't been breaking the law after all. Still, the building codes are good to follow just for safety reasons. In the highly unlikely event the upgrades cause a fire, I doubt your insurance co. would back you say you left wires unprotected and on the outside of a wall. I'm just trying to play devil's advocate here for someone else's sake. I've done a good bit of wiring around my garage and basement that isn't exactly up to code, but I'm confident of the quality of work. Anyway, I'll STFU now.
 
You're right about it having to be up to NEC standards, but your insurance couldn't hold it against you because you followed the law and wired your own house. They would have to prove you did not follow code, and if you did it right, they'd be SOL.
 
Wiring it up is easy as can be...............for an electrician. Don't attempt to wire it please. You could do alot of damage without the knowledge of whats going on. An electrician will put one in fairly cheaply
 
Paul said:
You're right about it having to be up to NEC standards, but your insurance couldn't hold it against you because you followed the law and wired your own house. They would have to prove you did not follow code, and if you did it right, they'd be SOL.
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This is correct, and thats coming from a licensed electrical contractor.

;)

Its easy enough to do, but honestly pretty easy to kill yourself if you aren't careful. 220v will knock the piss outta ya.

Ive been hit by 480 and id take it anyday compare to a few home 220 bites...
 
It says it comes with a NEMA 6-50P plug which is a weird 50amp plug on it... and there's no 35amp breakers, so I'm thinking run 6gauge to it and put it on a 30amp breaker and see how that rolls... I could run smaller wire to it but I would hate for someone down the road to put a 50amp breaker on 8 or 10 wire just cause there's a 50amp plug.
 
Paul said:
It says it comes with a NEMA 6-50P plug which is a weird 50amp plug on it... and there's no 35amp breakers, so I'm thinking run 6gauge to it and put it on a 30amp breaker and see how that rolls... I could run smaller wire to it but I would hate for someone down the road to put a 50amp breaker on 8 or 10 wire just cause there's a 50amp plug.
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wow this is all over the place if you need advice call me 732 407 0325 i am a lic holder in 3 states --patrick

but i do like the # 6 a little overkill but i like that
 
RamJetGMC said:
but i do like the # 6 a little overkill but i like that
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I figured match the wire size to the plug (even though his welder is only 30-35 amps, it's got a 50amp plug on it) so if someone later on said "whoa, dryer plug... cool, just swap out the breaker" then there wouldn't be problems with something else pulling 50amps through #10 or #8.
 
Paul said:
I figured match the wire size to the plug (even though his welder is only 30-35 amps, it's got a 50amp plug on it) so if someone later on said "whoa, dryer plug... cool, just swap out the breaker" then there wouldn't be problems with something else pulling 50amps through #10 or #8.
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(x2) (x2 licensed contractor)
 
You mentioned that the breaker is in the garage. please give a little more info such as what size of breaker feeds your garage now like the amp size and does this box or breaker is a single leg [slim ] or does it feed from a double pole breaker {wide} . most contractor installed panels should be feed by a 220 service. If this is the case then all you have to do is install a double pole breaker in your panel and run the circuit. OR is that electrical box on the garage fed with a cord?
 
Looking at the breaker in the garage there are currently no open slots.. I will check tomororw to see if there is another breaker box in the basement... How much does that complicate things?
 
sharksanddanger said:
Looking at the breaker in the garage there are currently no open slots.. I will check tomororw to see if there is another breaker box in the basement... How much does that complicate things?
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Best case scenario, it would just mean pulling heavy gauge wire through a wall. Worst case scenario, your breaker box(if that's the only one for the house) is probably maxed out. My guess would be it's probably a sub panel with the main somewhere else. I take it this is an older house???
 
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