matching up electrical ampacity

[Bond R. Milton]

I have a similar question involving 30 A circuits for a workshop shed.

I have a surplus 30 A circuit breaker and some

3 wire (red, black, white, bare ground) 30 A wire also surplus. I want to add a heavy duty pair of circuits for power tools in a shed in my back yard. I will be adding a subpanel to the shed and would like to have an edison circuit(s) to supply the recepticles. The recepticles would be 20 A type, all wiring would be 30 A and I would install a second 30 A breaker next to the first in the subpanel.

If this is not allowed what could 30 A 120 V circuit in a workshop be used for?

I realize that this is sort of change of topic in this thread but the people answering seem well informed. I don't trust my local "electrical inspector" to follow the electrical code. His day job is an electrical contractor and he did some bad work for me.

[HorneTD]

You need to take the time to learn the basic wiring techniques and materials as well as the rules that govern the installations in your area.

What type of wire do you have?

Is the thirty amp breaker double or single pole?

A thirty amp branch circuit may only supply thirty ampere receptacles. If you use the thirty ampere circuit as a feeder to supply a panel in your shed then you could have two twenty ampere receptacle circuits, a fifteen ampere lighting circuit, and a fifteen ampere heat cool receptacle for a heater or air conditioner in that panel. You will need to build a grounding electrode system in the shed to connect the Equipment Grounding Conductors to earth at that end of the circuit.

-- Tom H

-- Tom H

[John Hines]

Install a 4 breaker sub-panel in the garage, fed from the 30amp circuit breaker in the house.

Now you can install 15 or 20 amp breakers as needed for the garage, and not have to run inside to the house to reset them, unless you overloaded the whole thing.

Two advantages, not as far to go to reset a breaker, and the ability to put lights on separate circuits, so they don't go off with an outlet that trips a breaker.

[Doug Miller]

Code violation. 20A-rated receptacles are not permitted on a 30A circuit. May be a second violation, too, depending on whether your receptacles are listed for use with 10ga wire.

30A-rated tools?

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?