Who knew?

[Hybrid]

Just another fucking reason I hate this place...............NM that is.

The weak stick fucking developers that built my house set up my power supply with bitch ass cable.

So now I get to go get a permit with the city, dig a fucking trench 60 fucking feet across my front yard and have someone come out and bore under my driveway dig another 30 feet to my meter so I can run 00 power cable to the meter.

Then I get to have an electrician come and run the meter to a breaker/splitter that sends 100 amps to the existing panel (what it runs now) and another 100 amps to another panel so I can power up my garage toys (compressor, welders, plasma cutter and all my other shit) to start my builds.

So now I get to work more overtime to pay the bills and I guess puts some of my other purchases on the back burner.

I know...........boo fucking hoo........... makes me bored anyways

[Builtgypsy]

Pfffft. Go solar. I mean you'd only be able to use one tool for five minutes a night, but it'd be a moral victory!

[bumblebee]

You didn't ask those questions before you bought the house? I'll bet you do the next time

[bzb]

Dude, that's everywhere. Builders will skimp on whatever they can get away with.

[Hybrid]

No I just looked at the panel and figured I could use the 4 breakers available after converting my dryer to gas to (2) 220 plugs. Then I started thinking..............

TIG welder.........runs better on 220
Mig welder.........runs better on 220
Plasma cutter.....only runs on 220
Air compressor....only runs on 220

Then add in my 20 amp Kiln that runs on 110 so it needs a dedicated circuit when in use..........

Some extra here and there to run lights and fans and various power tools....

NEED 100 AMPS EXTRA just for the 220 shit. The 4 breakers I have will give me my power for more lights and plugs for tools and a dedicated circuit for the kiln.

They run mini transformers that luckily one sits in my front yard at the property line. Supposedly 6 houses per transformer. I have to have the power company make sure that it can supply the juice first (should be able to since no one has refridge air in the neighborhood yet) and if they pull up that its available I get to have them come out AFTER THE PERMIT and mark where I get to trench the yard 36" deep to the drive way and then from the other side to the meter spot.

Have the guy with the bore tool come knock a tunnel out under the driveway and lay the conduit. They come run the line....................

Then have the electrictian come splice of the meter and run dual boxes.

Man.................I should have just built a loft in a commercial building.

[Gaolee]

How many people run what amounts to an industrial welding shop in their garage? Nobody builds houses for people with the kinds of equipment you use. How many people even know what 220 is? They don't even think about the funny plug on an electric dryer or stove.

[Winchestr Boy]

Hybrid I have run gas lines under driveways without a boring tool.
The way I do it is I take a joint of black pipe (21ft) say 3/4 inch, put a bell reducer 3/4 to 3/8 a short 3/8 nipple. That will be the end that goes under the drive. On the other end I put a 3/4 cap. Then get someone to hold the pipe straight and hit the capped end with a sledge hammer.
Unless there is an awful lot of rock, you can drive it all the way through.
Then take off the cap and bell reducer from the ends and slide the wire through.
Works for me, but I don't mean to get into your business.

[kman458]

My old house originally had the power come into the garage through a fuse box that had 2 of the glass screw in fuses. It was later changed to a breaker box on the outside of the house behind the kitchen but with inly 4 breakers for the whole house so when I wanted to add lights and outlets to the garage I had to cut the existing power to the garage from the house and wire in a new box just to keep from throwing the breaker that covered half the house. That is the only way I can have a small compressor in the garage as well as a small 220 welder. Need to rewire the house along with re-plumb, add new windows and doors, add insulation, redo the bath and kitchen, pull siding off to repair any water damage from water getting in behind the aluminum siding that the po put on. Oh well we will get there one of these days.

[bzb]

I'd love to put a sub box in my garage for all my toys. I want to get a 220v cabinet saw - I keep seeing them on CL for super cheap.

Any ideas how much an electrician charges, typically, to run a sub panel in a finished garage?

[Hybrid]

I have 2 electricians. One I gave a helmet to so he owes me the other wants to trade me paint work for power work.

The cost of having it done with me buying the parts? Probably about 3-400 bucks.

If the cable to the meter can hold more than the juice youre getting its as simple as taking it from the meter, splitting it in a dual hundred splitter and running that to your existing box and to the new box.

I mean in all reality, a 200 amp service is relatively mild. Even the 100 amp panel i add wont get a full hundo drawn on it at one time. I cant mig, tig, plasma cut while the compressor is running.

I just hate having to fucking plug in and unplug and plug in and unplug to get shit done. I just want to walk to the area the tool is and start working.

I found a 100 amp panel for 80 bucks new, the breakers are about 20 each for 20 amp 220 breakers The splitter is 50 and the cable is about 20

So say you pay for it from your meter to the box.............500 max. That aint shit really.

But tis 500 I cant use to import some cool shit for my next project and 500 I cant dump into the streetfighter project I want to get moving on.