Installed a subpanel!

[Ignoramus27473]

A few days ago I asked a few questions about installing a subpanel in my garage. I am done with this job. I used 8 gauge THHN wires, 3/4" conduit, little corner thingys, and ready made bent elbows.

The subpanel is HomeLine. I used a HomeLine 60A breaker on the main panel (which has all other breakers by Gould), and have the following breakers on the subpanel:

50A 220V (this is 30A now because I bought 30A by mistake, but I will replace it with a 50A asap). 20A 220V 20A 110V 20A 110V

I have not yet installed the outlets.

I had a father of my friend visit today, he is a professional electrician. He okayed my work.

I am going to return my kerosene heater to HD and install a 220V 4.5 kW heater in my garage.

Also, one of the reasons why I did all this is that I have a 2.2HP compressor (harbr freight), which tripped the breaker when it ran with other tools. Now it will have its own circuit.

I might install an air line from the garage toi the basement, to have air in my basement workshop. It should not be difficult.

i

[zxcvbob]

With a 60A breaker, your hot wires should be 6 gauge, not 8. You said previously that you had already bought the #6 wire, so hopefully you just mistyped it above.

Other than that, it sounds OK.

I like using 1/2" copper pipe for compressed air, although galvanized is traditional. Don't use PVC for compressed air.

Best regards, Bob

[Ignoramus27473]

Yes, I bought number six wires, I made a typo due to being quite tired.

Thanks.

Thanks, if you say so, I will indeed use copper for the permanent tubing. It makes sense. Will make a couple of outlets in the basement. I have not thought much about that yet.

i

[Ross Mac]

Good advice Bob on not using PVC for air! I have seen that done in an industrial setting many times and when I questioned it the maintenance dept. they would point to the pressure rating on the pipe and claim it to be OK. What they fail to realize is their are surges in air that make it rise substantially. Also, compressors tend to pass oil, not to mention the warmth from compression, which degrades the pipe. I saw a few of them blow, scattering plastic everywhere. Not to mention the holes in the wall. I saw another situation where there was a plastic coupling at the compressor. A maintenance worker backed into it and it broke. The air force him into some metal framework where he took 90 or so stitches in his head!!!

[Ignoramus13229]

Thanks for some good stories. I will not use PVC.

My main question now is, is there "plumbing" for permanent air lines comparable to electrical equipment. Like permanent air outlet boxes, conduit (to enclose lines), that sort of stuff. My objective is to not have it look like it is all jury rigged, be reliable and safe etc. I have a kid who likes to hang around my workshop, so, I want air lines to be as safe as electrical.

i

[Ross Mac]

How you go about this would certainly depend upon your budget, the distance you have to plumb the air lines, the climate you live in and whether you have a crawl space to run your lines (have no idea of your homes layout). If you go the copper route (the best way short of stainless) you will have to solder all you joints. If you go the galvanized rout you might have to do some threading, unless you can find the proper sizes pre-threaded (probably not). I'm not sure how far you have to go or what pressure drop and CFM you can live with at the other end, but a guess would be 3/4 inch pipe as adequate (using 1" sure wouldn't hurt if you have a real long run). If you google around there are some formulas for figuring pipe size. You may also want to filter the water out of the compressed air. This will not work with a filter alone. The slick setup is to put a solenoid drain on the air tank, then run a line to a dryer with another solenoid drain and finally a coalescing filter with a float drain to catch the final drops of water at the source of use. You will want to plumb all your drains with hose to an outside location or drain. This way you should never get that irritating spray of water out of your air gun or water leaking out of your air tools! And remember, water will fall to the lowest level.....Hey, good luck on your project.....Ross

[willshak]

On 1/10/2005 9:45 AM US(ET), Ignoramus13229 took fingers to keys, and typed the following:

Sure there is. Service stations have piped connections for compressors located elsewhere. (air pumps at the gas pumps, on the wall, etc. I don't know if it is special piping or just plain metal piping.

[Ignoramus13229]

Well, I dunno, say $100 for this project. My crawlspace is adjacent to the garage and leads into the workshop. The total run of the piping would be say 10 feet, unless I want to have a "distribution system" in the workshop, 10x10 feet.

NE Illinois.

No problem with soldering. Then I would attach water style fittings, right?

Thanks. Figure 10 feet of plumbing to workshop, 10 feet from compressor to plumbing (worst case), and 20 feet inside the workhshop. 3 CFM. I guess that 1/2" would be plenty.

Thanks. Imight just do a little downward pointing fitting someplace that I would drain with a ball valve every time Istart something.

i

[John Hines]

Just put in some quick release connectors, so that you can plug in the air hose, where you need it. There is two styles of connectors, be sure to get all the same, or you will be driven nuts with in-compatibilities. For copper pipe, you'll just need some copper to threaded coupling things, so the connectors can screw in.

With compressed air, going larger in size on the piping is good, since it adds to the volume of the air tank. With metal pipes, you don't need conduit or any other covering, except for decorative purposes.

Be sure to allow for drainage in the air pipes, don't create any areas that can allow water to puddle inside the lines.

[SQLit]

---cut----

Just before Christmas I went to a tire shop and all of their air lines were schedule 40 PVC. This system is pressurized during working hours only. I remarked on the installation to the owner and he said that it was put in just for temporary

4 years ago. Now he fails to see why he should change it. This was the first installation of pvc for air that I have ever seen. They were running 90 psi and all 3/4 pipe

[larrybud2002]

maintenance dept.

I can't imagine standing next to 1/2" PVC or larger at 120 PSI when it let go.

I had a 1/8" ID plastic tube let go about 2 feet from my head when testing a valve years ago. My left ear was ringing for 2 days because of the sound of the break.

[Ignoramus13229]

Makes perfect sense to me. I will need copper to threaded, and 1/2" to

1/4" adaptors, and that's all. Doable in a couple of hours.

i would rather wait for and buy an extra air tank.

I can always decorate with Christmas ornaments instead. :)

Yes, I completely agree, thanks.

i

[zxcvbob]

There is a lot of energy stored in the air in that pipe when it is pressurized (unlike a pipe that is pressurized with water.) UV rays will embrittle the plastic over time unless he used gray schedule 80 pipe, and someday some unfortunate idiot will bump that air line on a cold morning and it will explode into hundreds of sharp jagged pieces.

It will fail eventually, and the failure mode is rather dramatic.

Regards, Bob