'lecturkil servix

[John Moorhead]

Folks -

We're getting ready to get ready to install magic smoke-in-a-tube in the....covered patio... and I've been reading electrical books like I was drinkin' for my SATS... Still having some hesitation at the number of circuits, cable routing/layout.... general juju...

We want to install a 100 amp subpanel in the patio, and we have 200 amp service to the house. We removed electric baseboard heaters a couple of years ago and they were on 3, 20 amp 220 circuits, so that frees up some capacity.

The patio is 24 x 36, and at 3 watts a SF, I've figured that would take about 30, dual tube 4' florescent lamps, plus detail lighting. This would work on two 15a circuits, by my numbers, but was hoping for three - two for the general shop lighting, and another for the studio and finishing room - roughly 1/3 of the area.

On 220 v, I have the 3hp TS, a 1.5hp jointer, an air compressor and a dust collector - The work ahead may (I hope) justify a shop - bot, and their website says that it takes 15a at 230. The heaviest load I would run at the same time would be the DC and the 'bot... I also have a 220 v wall heater - so I'm at 2 circuits here, anyway, no?

I was thinking of 3 additional circuits for power - 1 20 and a pair of 15's (wired for 20), and an isolated 15a electronics circuit, then two additional

15a (wired 20a) circuits - one for power outside the patio, and another for heat/fan/whatever...

By my count, here's what I have:

110 3 15a lights 1 20a power 5 15a misc

140a ttl

220

2 20a tools/heater

40a total

HELP! I'm going circuit crazy! How much power do I need for a 1-2 person shop? I guess we could look at separate electrical service, but we've done well with the local building department and don't want to run into a hornets nest either....

Talk about overbuilding.....

TIA

John

[Robert Bonomi]

No real need for 3 circuits here. You'll want to have the overhead lighting in 'banks' (each with its own switch) anyway, so that you can turn on 'some' of it, without necessarily turning on everything. Split the lighting in each area, across the two circuits, and you're not 'in the dark' anywhere with a single circuit failure.

You need 3, probably 4, here. heater needs its own. air comp can/will kick on at the most inopportune time, depending on size it may call for it's own circuit. TS and jointer can share a circuit. Shop-bot should be on its own circuit.

You _want_ *lots* of circuits.

"service" to the panel does _not_ match the total possible load of all the circuits. It is less. often *considerably* less.

I'd do: 4 240V 20A circuits 2 120V 15A light circuits 5+ 120V 20A 'utility' circuits. (minimum 2 for the studio/finishing area, minimum 3 for the main area)

Next, look at 'worst case' use, what all _might_ be running at once: circa 25A of 120V lighting. (equiv 12.5A @240) heater 18A @240 (max allowed on a 20A circuit) shop bot 15A @240 DC 12A @240 (assumes moderate size) air comp 12A @240 (assumes moderate size)

misc. 10A @120 (clock, radio, coffee-maker, fans, etc.)

You're looking at about 75A max draw. (85A with 'biggish' DC and air. comp.) Well _under_ the capacity of a 100A sub-panel/distribution. The fact that when you 'total' the breakers, it comes up to 145A @ 240 is not important. Now, if the air comp is something that you power up only when you're using it. that drops out. if the DC is 'small', and the shop-bot doesn't draw a full 15A, and you have limited 'misc', you could probably get by with

60a distribution to the sub-panel. But, I wouldn't recommend going that way.

Note: I'd run all the 'utility' circuits as 20A, simply because that means that you can plug a 'power hog' device into a circuit that has "something else" already on it. While it's unlikely that you'll have anything with a tail that needs more than 15A, the ability to use, say, a 9A device on the same circuit with an 8A one _is_ handy.

Corollary: put in *lots* of outlets. Figure out what you think you might need, and then "double it". Then interleave the circuits, so that multiple circuits are 'convenient' to any given location. I tend to favor 'quad' boxes, with each of the two duplex outlets on a separate circuit.

[Robatoy]

If you have the ceiling height, consider metal halides. NOT mercury vapour, halogen or sodium.

In my old shop I converted from 28- 8' tubes to 6- 400watt halides. There are 75 watt halides which will give you the same light as 4- 8' tubes. Fluorescents use about 2.5 times more power and the light is much more balanced to daylight than fluorescent ..(which is why pot-growers like them) The reflectors come in different patterns, so do a bit of homework. You'd be amazed at how much better your sanding job suddenly becomes.

The initial outlay is a bit more, but most bulbs last 25,000 hours.

[ATP*]

Current flourescent technology is actually more efficient than metal halide, has a better color rendition index, and distributes the light better. Compare lumens/watt for metal halide and flourescent. Only the very advanced ceramic metal halide lamps are close to T5 flourescents. As far as lamp life, flourescents last longer if you replace the MH before the output and color goes to hell. Metal Halides use to be the lighting of choice for gymnasiums, etc., but flourescents are taking over as a more energy efficient alternative. Only drawback is more lamps to change.

[Robatoy]

That is really interesting. I must admit, I made those changes

10+ years ago and haven't followed any further developments in fluorescent lights. You got me curious now. Special ballasts? Any of them retro-fit?

[ATP*]

Retrofits involve the ballast and the sockets, so it's rarely worth it unless the fixtures are built-in to a special ceiling or hard to replace for some other reason. T8 is probably the most economical way to go for home use. Fluorescents have been recommended for ceilings under 15 feet for quite a while, the only change has been the development of T5 High Output lamps which have made it possible to put together fixtures that can put out enough light to compete with metal halide on a practical basis in high ceilings. T8 lamps are available in similar fixtures, it just takes a few more. Check out the following report, for our purposes compare the lpw (lumens per watt) of T8 to metal halide.

look at the lumen maintenance and CRI. I was a big metal halide believer until I looked into the new fluorescent fixtures. BTW, for either lighting system, programmed replacement of all the bulbs/lamps at the same time will maintain the lighting quality and output. It is more critical with the metal halide, however.

[Mike M]

[ATP*]

That's true, unheated shops present a special case. MH might be the way to go in the winter.

[Mike M]

We've done well using the T8 lamps with the HO electronic ballast, especially if the height is under 25' MikeM

[Robatoy]

When I made that conversion to halides, The two things I noticed that my electric bill went down and I could see more. The shop had 14' ceilings and 1/2 of 5000 sq ft was properly lit, the rest being storage. In winter, I had the overnight temp down to 40 F, turning on the 80,000 BTU natural gas forced-air furnace on in the morning.... the Fluorescent lights would flicker for the first half hour...the Halides stopped that. The other justification was that I bought 8 (used 6) halide 400 watt units for 20 dollars apiece with a box of about a dozen new bulbs thrown in. The local YMCA had a garage sale. All I had to do was change the taps so they would run on 220.

Being a point-source, the halides did show sanding marks extremely well, I know this, because the solid surface section was all fluorescent and the light was more spread out favouring a bad sanding job.