I’m glad to say, I’ve never seen that!
Adding a 220V circuit into a building for air compressor and car lift.
- Thread starter Kern Dog
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1 Wild R/T
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I hadn't till it was posted a few weeks ago... Scary stuff... I saw plenty of sketchy electrical wiring thirty-forty years ago living in third world countries
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Hey Kern,
Sorry in not in front of a US switchboard right now or I would do a proper picture for you. Here is one I found online which shows it. Notice the circuit breaker marked in blue is a double pole (2 joined together). In this case it is showing a 15a circuit, but the principal applies to larger size circuits too. 35- 40a should do it and match the awg to suit. 10/3 as mentioned above should be enough for your needs. Black wire to one side of the breaker, red wire to the other side and neutral is white which connects to the bar that usually runs vertical down the side. You will see either white or bare copper wired attached to it. I hope this helps.
Sorry in not in front of a US switchboard right now or I would do a proper picture for you. Here is one I found online which shows it. Notice the circuit breaker marked in blue is a double pole (2 joined together). In this case it is showing a 15a circuit, but the principal applies to larger size circuits too. 35- 40a should do it and match the awg to suit. 10/3 as mentioned above should be enough for your needs. Black wire to one side of the breaker, red wire to the other side and neutral is white which connects to the bar that usually runs vertical down the side. You will see either white or bare copper wired attached to it. I hope this helps.
That is ludicrous! I’ve only seen pictures, of the foreign stuff. Unfortunately, I’ve seen plenty bad here, and still do.
...and that how easy it is to get killed on the job.
Electricity is not a toy....it plays for keeps.
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I thought that I was clear but I'll try again.
My current house and shop are fine. I am not interested in changing anything here. My question here was entirely about how to add a 220V circuit to whatever new place that I buy.
I figured that the Romex connected to two + sources in the fuse panel but could not remember exactly. For some reason, I thought that maybe some panels were only capable of supplying 110V and not 220V.
My plan would be to wire a wall outlet for the air compressor and a ceiling outlet for the car lift, run the Romex wire through the attic and let it hang near the service/fuse panel long enough to fit. I'll hire an electrician to do the connection to the panel, test everything then patch whatever drywall I removed to seal it all up.
In short, I think my main question was answered and Kiwi reinforced my thoughts about letting a qualified person do the hard part.
Thank you Gents!
My current house and shop are fine. I am not interested in changing anything here. My question here was entirely about how to add a 220V circuit to whatever new place that I buy.
I figured that the Romex connected to two + sources in the fuse panel but could not remember exactly. For some reason, I thought that maybe some panels were only capable of supplying 110V and not 220V.
My plan would be to wire a wall outlet for the air compressor and a ceiling outlet for the car lift, run the Romex wire through the attic and let it hang near the service/fuse panel long enough to fit. I'll hire an electrician to do the connection to the panel, test everything then patch whatever drywall I removed to seal it all up.
In short, I think my main question was answered and Kiwi reinforced my thoughts about letting a qualified person do the hard part.
Thank you Gents!
All '3' wire, be it NMB or UF, 14/3 12/3 10/3, etc, should have a black, red, white, and ground wire. 4 wires total.
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It's been nice knowing you Kerndog.
Hire it done by a licensed Electrician.
You aren't clipping on to 500KV from a chopper or vectoring 3 phase power banks for parallel. Stay within your knowledge point.
Get the right electrician and ask lots of questions while they are working. Most people are receptive to someone that wants to learn.
You aren't clipping on to 500KV from a chopper or vectoring 3 phase power banks for parallel. Stay within your knowledge point.
Get the right electrician and ask lots of questions while they are working. Most people are receptive to someone that wants to learn.
THanks, now I understand.
Ok @Kern Dog. Greg, are you paying attention? You worked many years as a carpenter. A professional Carpenter in a Union trade. (I would imagine) Now when it comes to adding a outlet for a air compressor, you are too cheap to call a professional? What gives here? I'm sure you know electricians in the trade. Give one a call. Write the check. Heck, they might come over and hep you do it and all it will cost you is a few cold beers! 
Detective D
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It's easy. Provided you have enough space in the existing breaker box and available amp draw remaining. I am super lucky in my home, the power was run to my shop first because the older couple that built this place lived in there for a year while the house went up. (So I also have a toilet and sink in there and a block chimney) So the main disconnect is in there, and a half full 100 amp box, with the house being routed separately off the in line with it's own main disconnect and a 200 amp in the house garage.
That said,
Step one is to kill the power, and find out what kind of breaker you need. Not the size, the type. This is going to depend on the age of the home and whatever random thing the builder found on sale, probably. Some of our electrician experts could explain the names of the types, but suffice to say you can't just go to the hardware and grab the amp size you want and shove it in there. When you get to that point, I bet posting a picture of the thing on here would have any number of the experts instantly ID it for you. Once you know the type you need-
Your devices should call out in their documents what amp size they need. Modern will tell you the amp and recommend a wire size too. Then you get to bend over and pay for what copper wire costs now.
You don't have to, but I like to run dedicated things and new shop lines(air or electrical) in conduit/pipe. Conduit is by far the least expensive part of the wire project now days. Of course, I do not have the need to hide wires or anything like that, my shop is not a drywalled extension of my living room like some prefer. So a conduit running along the top of the wall is not a cosmetic problem.
I would use a unique outlet type for the 220. One with the sideways prong, or the triangle shaped prongs..... something you know you will never have a helper or Grandson or yourself in an absent minded state plug a regular cord into to prevent an accidental destruction of a 110v tool. In your case, the lift would be direct wired I presume. Not sure if you have a portable air compressor or not. It is easy to wire the compressor plug to match your outlet if it is not direct wired.
That's the basics of the project, not the fine details. I would, as others have mentioned, evaluate the condition of the existing stuff and make sure it is not a giant hack job of wrong color wires etc before starting. It is one thing to install a new line on a properly installed system, it is another to try to splice into someone else's rainbow colored nightmare.
Once you get to the point of wanting to start the project, some pictures and questions about next steps would suffice for people here to walk you through it. No need to have the grand master plan all laid out before you are even sure what has to all be done. As you look for this new place, one thing to keep in mind with the breaker box: look to see if there is room left. In your case, you need (2) double spots to do this stuff, and you would want a couple slots left spare too best case. Otherwise you would need to upgrade the service box and that is not really a homeowner project for the novice, and will add a good bit of cost.
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I’ve bean a electrician for over 30yrs now , I see some good advice on this post and some not so good advice. If your not comfortable with electricity then it might be a good idea to get someone that knows what their doing to have it done.
This is the BEST advice.
It really is a fairly straightforward job though, you just need to install one of these ....
At least 660 3 phase?
660, 661 ... whatever it takes!At least 660 3 phase?
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