Electrical Upgrades

Brent Dowell

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Reno NV
I'm including this in the C&C area, because it's actually going to involve an important upgrade to my shop.

So, I'm getting some upgrades to the houses electrical system. The work we are having done includes:
  • New Main Panel
  • Transfer Switch for Generator
  • Subpanel for garage
  • Subpanel at other end of house for pool (Also potentially for a RV power supply)
  • Hook up Swamp Cooler (There was some weirdness going on up there I didn't like, so want a pro to handle it)
  • Add a box and swap a switch to control some dining room lights
  • Fix a few other 'weirdnesses' the Previous owner had done
  • Figure out why a couple of outlets and switch quit working.

So, Today was day one of the work and wow what a difference. Got the main panel swapped out and cable was run for the shop subpanel.

Wow, What an amazing difference.

MainPanel Before.jpgMainPanel After.jpg

They are coming back to do the transfer switch and subpanels.

I just like that one of the guys was super skinny and was able to crawl around the attic and crawlspace and it wasn't ME!
 
  • Add a box and swap a switch to control some dining room light

(this is just begging for me to say something but I ain't gonna do it, no I ain't gonna say anything, not me I am gonna be good and not say a word about why do you need dinning room lights. nope not gonna say a word not me.)

Upgrades look good should be a vast improvement.
 
Now I get to figure out what kind of plugs to standardize on for the 220 lines

I can either go with the standard dryer type, or the L6-20 locking plugs. I've got some of both on hand. Would be nice to go with all L6-20's though.
 
Now I get to figure out what kind of plugs to standardize on for the 220 lines

I can either go with the standard dryer type, or the L6-20 locking plugs. I've got some of both on hand. Would be nice to go with all L6-20's though.


I like just straight NEMA 6-20 the most - my plugs never come out of the wall and i'm more annoyed by the locking than not when i want to move a plug sometimes :p :p
 
Six of one... the L6 isn't really meant to be plugged and unplugged a huge amount although no problems yet I expect it will eventually wear the outlet.. I kind of wish I'd put a disconnect switch before a couple of them like the lathe so it would be easy to physically disconnect it before leaving town or when there is a thunder storm looming.
 
Got another subpanel on the other end of the house to feed the pool. I was going to go with just a plain old junction box, but then thought, why not.
 
Looking great, Brent. :thumb:

In my last shop, I standardized on twist-lock plugs for the 240v tools partially because two of my main 240v outlets were on the ceiling, and also because I found a good deal on them on eBay. (In fact, I went with 4-conductor plugs and outlets, even though one of the contacts wasn't used. I normally wouldn't do it that way, but the price was very low -- it cost about the same as the non-locking plugs and outlets.) In the current shop, I'll probably stick with twist-locks because I'm again planning to have some overhead outlets.
 
I am cheap and go with the normal flat pin type with the offset rotated flat pin. Never had an issue for jointer which is my highest rated motor i have to deal with.

Busy doing my own temporary power in this home we renting. What a song and dance to get power out of a 70's fuse type panel. Have to use sub panel to a subpanel. Long story , what u got going is nice and clean. But at least soon i will have a shop with welding power and space. Lol
 
It will be very nice to have some 220 outlets in the garage for the welder and compressor.

I've been using a 10 gauge extension cord from the dryer outlet. I had actually drilled a hole through the wall to run the cord. Kind of embarassing to tell the electricians to ignore the extension cord running through the wall... :rofl:

I already took that down. Now I just need to run to home depot and get some romex and breakers and I'll be in business!
 
Inspector came by today. I had avoided adding any of my own outlets circuits until he came by.

We were chatting about the old panel and he called the old one the 'House burner'. So..., That makes me feel really good about getting all of the work done. That and the fact the guys fixed everything.

I don't feel bad about the Swamp cooler hook up as it took the two of them over an hour of crawling in the attic and farting around to figure out what was going on, and they fixed it right.

So, I popped in a 20amp 120 connection for the DC today and a generic 30amp 220 circuit to run my stuff. Got too many other projects to really do much, but it's so nice to have everything all set and ready to go.
 
That's awesome news and bet it does feel great to have all those taken care of. Check with your insurance company to see if they will give you a discount for having it all updated, usually can get 5% to 10% discount.
 
That's awesome news and bet it does feel great to have all those taken care of. Check with your insurance company to see if they will give you a discount for having it all updated, usually can get 5% to 10% discount.

We will definitely be doing that....
 
...I've been using a 10 gauge extension cord from the dryer outlet. I had actually drilled a hole through the wall to run the cord. Kind of embarassing to tell the electricians to ignore the extension cord running through the wall... :rofl:...

Who among us hasn't done some hinky things with electrical hookup on one or more occasions? :whistling:

Looking at a brand-new box, ready for a few breakers and circuits, is a very satisfying thing. :thumb: Soon you'll wonder how you ever got by without it.
 
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