My shop has a total of four outlets.
It needs more so i dont have to run extension cord every time i plug something in.
Shop is cinder block.
Currently one outlet on every wall in a metal box with plastic conduit run to it from a 20 or 30 amp breaker. 110 volt.
Im reasonably competent with most things, but have never done this kind of thing.
So, what do i need/need to know?
30 Amp beaker for 110V duplex outlets is strange. Are you sure about that amperage rating? I'd be willing to bet it's 15 or 20 Amp breakers.
I would guess it is either 15 or 20 amp. In my "if a little's good a lot's better" mentality, I like to run everything for 20amp, even if it's only 15amp service. I was recently educated here in the ways of doing this and I found it was really easy to work with 12awg THHN wire in conduit. While the big box places were somewhat limited in their selection, my local mom and pop hardware store sold me the wire in green, white, and black for $0.30/ft each.
If you can run off the last box in the series to get where you want to go, you can open that up, knock out the plug, attach the new conduit and just go from there. If you don't already have a GFCI on the circuit, add one by either replacing the first outlet in the chain or putting in a GFCI breaker.
If you're trying to add in the middle, with the power off, you can cut a section out of the conduit and add your box in line and you might not need to buy any more cable. I believe the right way to do it is to strip a small section of the insulation and wrap that around the screw. If there isn't enough slack in the wire for that, you can cut, strip the ends, and add some correct color and correct awg wire to go to the outlet.
The hardest part is trying to get through walls and fishing cable around. If you don't have to do that, it really isn't that difficult or dangerous as long as you turn the breaker off before you get started.
My work space is pretty big and I was doing the same as you with extension cords. I ended up installing 2 cord reels on a ceiling beam and wiring them to 2 outlets. You can easily do this by using one of your existing outlets as a junction box and simply adding some additional conduit to wherever you want the other boxes. Buy some 12ga THHN wire(white, black and green) and start pulling.
I have a ceiling cord reel, but unfortunately it's not the whole solution.
I have a gcfi outlet already
Checked, and 20 amp breaker.
My thought was to come out both sides of the existing outlets horizontally with conduit and add outlets every 36-48 inches. Going surface mount, as the block walls are filled with concrete and rebar.
Thhn: can you explain? I was thinking i was to use the yellow coated wire bulndle like you would through studs. Is that wrong?
I forget what it stands for, but it's just the individual wires without the external jacket. Since you're going through conduit, the jacket isn't necessary and just takes up conduit space. If you get stranded THHN, it's even easier to manipulate. If I recall my research correctly, it isn't necessarily against code to put Romex in conduit in all applications, but it is preferred to not do that.
I recently ran THHN in my garage with cinder block walls. I had Romex in the rafters so I ran that to a box and conduit down the walls from there.
I got a roll of THHN stranded at Home Depot that was black white and green wires twisted together so I didn't have to buy 3 separate rolls.
Dumb question: why is extra space in the conduit needed/wanted? Thermal? Expansion and contraction?
In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :
There is a certain percentage of the conduit that you're allowed to use before you have to de-rate the circuit. I believe that 1/2" can have 9 strands of 12awg THHN before de-rating, but I could be remembering that wrong. It's to keep things from getting too hot.
In reply to RevRico :
I looked at those, honestly .but with my layout and office corner and zuch, running more outlets before adding power strips makes more sense.
Wae: thanks! Figured there was a good reason i didn't know about.
Follow up question can i run an outlet- lighswitch-warning light- wired outlet for compressor? Right now i have an extension cord run through the wall to the compressor in storage. Would like to make it a little nicer, and the circuit holds everything i want to run at once running already. And the lightbulb would be for a visual that the compressor is on, as i cant hear it from inside the shop. Cant tell you how many times ive heard it kick on while im in bed though....
Dusterbd13-michael said:Dumb question: why is extra space in the conduit needed/wanted? Thermal? Expansion and contraction?
Well, for one thing it’s really hard to pull romex (the yellow stuff) through a conduit....
You have a few options depending on the size of the space, where you want receptacles and how the existing ones are fed.
If adding new receptacles to existing ones, I'd just run MC cable from the existing to the the new. Wires need to be sized to match the circuit breaker.
Another option would be to replace the receptacle with a length of surface raceway/plugmold.
Some shop equipment is best to have on dedicated receptacle circuits if possible - air compressors, for example. But acknowledging adding circuits from the panel to the garage is often easier said than done.
So another idea, what I did in my shop.
First i went around and mounted outlets everywhere I wanted them. Then decided how many circuits I wanted/could use. Then the easy part, although I can see how it's not the most attractive option, was using MC cable and one hole clamps.
Costs a little more, but I've pulled enough wire through conduit through the years that I feel it was worth the expense.
Dusterbd13-michael said:I have a ceiling cord reel, but unfortunately it's not the whole solution.
I have a gcfi outlet already
Checked, and 20 amp breaker.
My thought was to come out both sides of the existing outlets horizontally with conduit and add outlets every 36-48 inches. Going surface mount, as the block walls are filled with concrete and rebar.
Thhn: can you explain? I was thinking i was to use the yellow coated wire bulndle like you would through studs. Is that wrong?
THHN describes the insulation on the wire. “T”hermoplastic, “H”igh “H”eat, “N”ylon outer jacket. It’s basically stranded, insulated wire.
The conduit fill rules are for the physical space inside the conduit as SVrex pointed out, as well as leaving enough air space for heat to dissipate from the conductors.
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