New shop questions

[John of Conover, NC]

I've purchased a utility building 10'x16' that I planned on storing my lawn stuff in. I have since then decided to move my shop out to the building and leave my other stuff in the garage.

I have two questions.

1) Do you feel that this would be enough space for a shop? The building has 7' walls and I plan on moving my TS out in the yard to do big cuts.

2) How should I wire it? I use primarily 110v and will be running a table saw, compressor, compound miter saw, router table, planer, shop vac, and drill press. I probably should have at least 2 circuits run. I can do the wiring in the building myself, but what are the my options for getting the power to the build?

Any information you could provide would be a big help. The building will be about 30' from the house in my back yard.

[WoodMangler]

I've done a similar thing before, and here's how I done did it :)
[li]Ran a 2" rigid pipe from the existing box (right alongside the pipe that held the wires coming from the pole) up through the eves and up to a height that gave me a clear shot (including droop) to the shed.[li]Installed a small load center (not sure about the correct terms...sorry) inside the shed, and ran a 2" rigid pipe from that up through the roof.[li]Installed the Weatherheads and ran the wire...[li]Make sure the wire comes out of the weatherhead and is secured to the pipe so that the tension is on the pipe, not the weatherhead.[li]Make sure the droop is high enough (might wanna check the codes for your area.)and that any water that forms and runs down the wire falls harmlessly off the droop.[li]Attach the runs inside the shed[li]Install breakers[li]Hook it up at the main box.Keep in mind that I didn't pull permits or have an inspection. I looked at other installations, and copied what I saw around the neighborhood, and it worked great. When I sold the house, the inspector said it was fine...no problems. I would recommend you don't do it without getting a permit though...not worth the risk.
Hope this helps..
Marc

[Sonny Edmonds]

John,
What Marc posted is one viable way.
Another would be to run UF #10/4 wire underground to a sub-panel in your shop and distribution inside.
Tap your main panel to give you a 30 amp 2 pole 240 volt feed and distribute it with 20 amp circuits, run your TS on 240 volts.
The other stuff on 120 volt unless you can change it over to 240 volts.
Piece of cake friend.
Go here for more:
http://home.earthlink.net/~sonnypie/
Print out the page about sub panel for your reference. Email me if I can be of any other help and I'll walk you through it.

I think you can do it but it sounds rather tight. But a mans gotta do what a mans gotta do. Good luck and work safe!
Sonny

[WoodMangler]

I had concrete...all the way, so the best way wasn't possible. I'd tell ya the story of me standing on the roof in a thunderstorm holding a 20' piece of 2" rigid pipe up in the air trying to get it into the hole I drilled in the eaves...but I don't want ya to think I'm an idiot. :)
Marc

[Sonny Edmonds]

Naw Marc, you did just fine. Running underground isn't always possible. Ya have to weigh up the easiest way with the least damage.
As for holding up pipe in a T-storm, well you probably had to get something in the hole before the rain came down.
Calculated risk, you won.
Besides, not that many folks get hit with lightening. Although it's a scary thought.
Sonny