Any Electricians? Wiring in a 220 outlet

[Pablo]

Looking to add a compressor to the garage. The house is relatively new and has 220 for the AC already, the 220 ac breaker is in the top slot in the box with a few slots left above it. The box is on the outside wall of the garage directly opposite the spot (roughly) where I want to put the compressor. This spot already happens to have a 110 20amp single outlet there which is oddly placed only a couple feet from another regular 110 double outlet confused. I have no problem using the spot with the single 110/20a for the 220, so there's no hole or anything that needs to be cut.
Tell me if I understand the basics here: I need to put in a 220 breaker above the AC breaker. Run wire from that to the outlet in question, put in a 220 outlet? Seems like a half hour to an hour of work for someone who knows what they are doing. Am I missing something?

I feel like I must be because I called a couple of electricians and one of them said it would cost 400 dollars to do this, and the other said it would be 250. Are these insane prices or is that what I should expect?

 

[turbo nasty]

First make sure your service will handle the extra amps. Look at the FLA Full Load Amps of comp..... the breaker has to be able to handle that. Wire size is based on the map draw as well.

Now back to the main if your main brkr is say 60 amps and all of your 110 brkrs plus the dryer outlet may have the panel close to its max rating.

You have to fish the walls and run the outlet etc.

Your house have a attic?

 

[salvageV6]

Cost of breaker, outlet, bushings, and new wire and if it's a direct through the wall shot replacing an existing cable it should be more like $150-$175.

In CT the homeowner can do the work themselves if they pull the permit and get it inspected.

I usually skip that part though.

You probably won't find anyone wanting to come out for that little though.

 

[Pablo]

The main breaker (same as the service disconnect?) I believe is rated at 200 amps. The switch has 200 printed on it. I take it to mean that is 200? We have gas appliances and heater so I don't think we use that much power aside from the dish washer and AC. The garage has a second floor directly above it so no crawl space but the breaker box is on the outside wall in literally the same spot where the compressor is going to go on the inside wall. I would imagine there would be maybe 2 feet of wire at most

 

[dynoman]

Is the main panel recessed in the wall ?

 

[John Larkin]

delete

 

[turbo nasty]

Sounds like the service is 200 amps. What is the other 220 brkrs amp rating?

 

[chopped39]

I just added an on and off box and hardwired compressor to box.

 

[dynoman]

If the panel is not recessed in the wall or you can get to the sides & bottom of it you can flex it to the main panel ( hard wire, no plugs ) and connect it to the proper size double pole breaker (220 breaker).

 

[Pablo]

The other 220 breakers are a 15 for the dishwasher and a 50 for the AC. The box is recessed in the wall but there appears to be a little access panel up toward the ceiling (like a light switch cover plate) which I'm guessing would let me access the conduit coming out of the top of the box Maybe that would be where you try and feed the wire back down. Not sure I could feed it back down to that outlet space I wanted to use.

I'm actually moving overseas very soon but need a compressor to get the buick up and running again so I didn't want to spend too much but on the other hand I don't want to rent out a house or sell it in the future with a less than perfect install. Plus, lowes has a campbell hausfeld 60 gallon 10.2 cfm compressor on clearance for 335, and I get a 10% military discount off that! Can't beat that even if it isn't that great of a compressor. Beats my 110 30 gal (that is now dead) by a mile.

I think I am going to go ahead and just call an electrician who will hopefully do a clean job so I can be up and running and focus on the car. So 150-175 is ballpark east coast price? Then it sounds like 250 is probably not that far off for the kalifornia price. Anyone know any good electricians in S.W. riverside county? :smile:

BTW Thanks for the information guys

 

[injdinjn]

Why not just buy a 110v compressor. Thats what I have and even roofing the house never ran out of air.

MAKE SURE IT'S OIL Compressor do not buy a oil-less way tooooo noisy.

 

[Pablo]

The last compressor was a 110 and it sucked. It was also oil-less and was loud as hell. I think I lost maybe 5 years worth of hearing because of that thing. It def wouldn't run my sand blasting cabinet either much less work for paint which I'd like to be able to do. I'll be taking the new one with me overseas so I'd like room to grow.

I spoke to another electrician that quoted me 175 and I think I am gonna go for it. I think you almost can't do an engine build without compressed air unless you are ok with all kinds of lint and crap in your engine when you fire it up.

 

[Rivical]

Since you seem to have the electrical in hand, another consideration is for the compressor. If you intened to do much more than spray painting and intermittant air ratchet or impact usage, I'd certainly be shopping around for your discount at other places for a more suitable compressor to your needs. You say your looking at 60gal. which is plenty for most things, but the real problem you're going to encounter with anything like a blasting cabinet, DA or airfile, or shooting alot of bolts with the ratchet, etc, is your cfm rating. You'll find that most of these tools are going to require over 11cfm @ 90psi. Using a smaller compressor, even one that's rated for a similar cfm at a lower pressure, is really going to be pain because it'll seem like all you ever do is wait for it to catch up. The compressor you use for your average needs should be something that you don't need to think about again for 20+yrs. If it's not what you needed in the first place, your growing needs will make you think every time you use it till ya just get po'd and spend the money while taking a loss on the initial one. Hope that's helpful! Tools are an investment in your own future!

 

[gnxtc2]

What he said^^^^^^

THe tank is your reserve. You have to look at the cfm at XX pressure. Most people are misled by the tank size.

I'm a licensed electricain in NJ. A recessed panel in the garage is a PIA to run circuits out of unless is was prepped for future circuits. The quotes given are very reasonable. The $175 price is very shady, is the guy licensed?

I charge for a service call around $125-$175 depending on the distance. That's for a simple repair, ie: change a switch, receptacle, change a bulb, etc, etc. Then my rate changes to an hourly rate if actual work needs to be performed.

Billy T.
gnxtc2@aol.com

 

[Pablo]

Thanks for the tips guys. I agree with you about getting a compressor that you don't have to think about. It would be great if I could get something like that but I managed to pull off the unthinkable and get this brand new CH 10.2 cfm @90, 60 gallon compressor for 210 dollars out the door. Considering how anything better than that would likely cost me 400 dollars more, it made my decision that much easier. I hope I will be more than satisfied, my last compressor was an oil less 30 gal coleman 110v deal of unknown cfm.

I have an electrician coming tomorrow that says he will do it for 150. I will take your concerns into consideration Gnxtc2. I have done more research and I feel like I have a decent grasp of what needs to be done and I will be sure to ask questions. If the guy is shady I will certainly tell him no thank you. It looks pretty straight forward though but we'll see.

Now I need to figure out if this motor will last running on 50hz instead of 60. I am moving to Sicily in November and will need to make this thing work there. I suppose the worst case scenario is that I'll have to get a 50hz motor for it if the 60 burns itself out on 50 hz?

 

[turbo nasty]

ANother option is to make a ext cord with the appropriate plugs and just plug into the rectp. And just unplug the dryer when using teh compr...the ole lady probably wouldnt let that fly tho LOL

 

[aminga]

Don't forget a good distribution system http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/how-tos/273674-how-get-clean-dry-shop-air.html

 

[Pablo]

TurboNasty, all of the appliances are gas so I couldn't do that if I wanted to

Aminga, that is a bad ass system you have there. I will have to set something like that up when I get overseas. Thanks for the link.

So the electrician was legit but after I saw how it was done I feel a little ripped off. It was unbelievably simple. I did not realize there were some extra access holes at the bottom of the box that could be used. All he did was punch out one of the covers, cut a hole in the dry wall on the inside, and ran 12 ga right through to the other side with these blue plastic bits to hold the wire which I am guessing are the bushings. He put in a box that just clamped to the inside of the dry wall, and added a double pole 15 amp breaker.
I then showed him a 30 amp socket I had which in retrospect was a mistake. I also made the mistake of casually telling him that I was leaving soon in the context of going from 60hz to 50hz. When he got to the time to wire in the socket he went to his truck and dug around it for awhile and then came back and told me he didn't have any 15 amp sockets, only 30 amp. He told me we could use the 30 amp socket but when I leave to remove it and just put a cover on the hole. I said ok. So he wired it up. He also hooked me up with a cable for the compressor but he said he didn't have the plug for it. So all I need now is a plug at the store.

Anyway he charged me 170 for this which I didn't argue over. I'm wondering if he decided he didn't have the 15 amp socket after he saw mine and heard I was leaving soon (stupid me). I guess at the time I figured these parts were only a couple of bucks but now I am wondering if they are more than that because in reality I think for what I paid he should have given me a 15 amp socket. I'll have to see how much they cost when I go to the store. If they are more than a few bucks I think I will be a little pissed off but oh well, live and learn. I was also tired from not sleeping last night and hungry which makes the CPU in my head slow way down. So I wasn't really thinking.