Finally got around to re-wiring the lights in our shop.
As the basement slowly became a wood shop, I'd buy hanging florescent fixtures and mount them where I'd need them. But they only have 5 foot cords, and no switches on their own, so I would usually use extension cords to run them down to surge protectors which I'd mount creatively on the walls
When we built the teardrop, the first exercise in the morning and last in the evening was running around the shop switching on/off all the lights. It was unsightly, inconvenient, and possibly a slight fire hazard.
Spent some time thinking about how to fix this in the least expensive manner that was reasonable. The workshop was originally a garage and my builder insisted we needed dry wall to meet the fire code. I don't want to rip it out, and it seemed like a lot of work and aggravation to try and run Romex behind it. Running Romex in front of drywall evidently isn't the most code worthy practice, so I finally settled on using conduit and THHN wire. Used flexible PVC cable, which is easy and not too expensive, although the connectors are.
Ah well! For flexibility, I ran 7 columns of 3 outlets each (left, middle, right). I ran them into the existing florescent light fixtures in the ceiling, so now, they are all on one circuit. I left one off over the wood bin, so now I have 20 duplex outlets on a single 15 amp circuit.
"Isn't that illegal," I hear you ask.
"No," I politely answer. "An ill eagle is a sick bird," this is unlawful!"
Actually, although there are recommendations, there is nothing in the NEC about how many outlets can exist on a single circuit. Since I replaced all of the florescent tubes with LEDs, and I replaced the three 300 watt incandescent bulbs in the back room with 33 watt LEDs, I get away with this, and can even add a few more LED lights to the shop (which I plan to do, eventually). This wouldn't have worked when I first built the cabin--the florescents and incandescents would have exceeded 15 amps. I don't fill all of the outlets, but there will always be at least one for anyplace I want to add or move a light fixture.
I made a nifty helper to hold the spools of 14 gauge wire as I ran them through the conduit.
Turned out to be reasonably easy to do, since I had all straight runs. Curiously, I just ran out of the 100 feet of wire, but still have 40 feet of the 100 foot roll of conduit left over. Either the wire guys shorted me, or the conduit guys gave me extra.
Anyway, now the area lighting is all on one circuit. There are two more 15 amp circuits in the room, one for the outlets on the left and the other for the right side. We will, of course, have task lighting plugged into those, along with some of the tools. When the cabin was built, I asked the electrician to give me one 20 amp circuit in the garage, which he did, although since we didn't know where to run it, he just added a single outlet under the breaker box.
So, now, I'm thinking it would be a good idea to extend that across the shop for the table saw (a Sawstop contractor saw draws 14 amps, by spec, so it exceeds the 80% rule for a 15 amp circuit), bandsaw, mitre saw, and drill press (which used to dim the lights when started). Naturally, we wouldn't generally run more than one, or at most two, of those at any one time. I'm already thinking, with anticipation, of running the 12 gauge wire through the conduit...
With all this shop improvement, we're also thinking it might be nice to spring for some of those magic boxes that automatically turns on a shop vac when you turn on each saw. Well, the shop vac I want to dedicate to the table saw claims to require 9 amps. (I'm hoping that's only on start-up but I haven't measured it yet.) If so, I need one of those magic boxes that lets you plug into separate circuits for the saw and shop vac. iVac works that way, some others don't.
In another year or so we'll have this shop set up just the way we want it. Then, I guess we'll have to find something to build!
Tom
by dbhosttexas » Sat Feb 19, 2022 7:13 pm 
