Shop Build - Winding River Workshop

I bit the bullet and purchased the cable and dug the trench. Hard work! I had to do the entire trench by hand as I was not sure where any underground wiring might be. Good thing I did as I discovered a couple of runs I had no idea existed and the current supply to the shop was not where I expected. There might have been a lamp post or something in the front of the house at one time. Might need to do a bit more research. Turns out the current feed to the garage is buried only 6" down! I checked around and 18" is the minimum, so I went 20" just to be sure. I protected the cable from the bottom of the trench to where it enters the building with 2" PVC conduit.

This pic shows the old and new service cables.
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I purchased direct bury mobile home feed cable and the cost was reasonable, less than $100. Rob, I thought about running cat6 but the wireless signal to the shop is strong so decided not to. As for smoke alarms, we are installing a security system in the house that is totally wireless. I'll be installing a door sensor and motion detector in the shop as well as a smoke detector.

The soil around here has a lot of stones, most the size of potatoes, that make digging a bit of a chore. Took two days to do the digging and lay the cable. Going out later this morning to finish filling in the trench.

Next step is to firm up the connection date with the electrician. He'll be installing a breaker panel just below the meter with two 100a breakers, one feeding the house, one for the shop. Once I have the date I'll know when I have to install the panel in the shop. Has to be done within a day of each other as the sewage pump runs off a breaker in the shop. Why they did that I am not sure, but I don't want it to be down too long.

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That's something you won't regret doing Rennie. It's nice to have everything out of sight and properly done.
Someone gave me some good advice many years ago and I started taking some triangulated measurements and did up some simple drawings of where things are buried and keeping them in a file folder. It's saved us a few times.
Your shop project's coming along great. An inspiration!
 
That's something you won't regret doing Rennie. It's nice to have everything out of sight and properly done.
Someone gave me some good advice many years ago and I started taking some triangulated measurements and did up some simple drawings of where things are buried and keeping them in a file folder. It's saved us a few times.
Your shop project's coming along great. An inspiration!

That is a great idea. I'll work on my map this weekend.
 
Rennie i tip my hat to you sir. I don't think i could have done that myself. Well done on the conduit but more importantly that hole.
Funny thing is i did exactly the same in my past and dug to 20" our code was/is also 18"
Dont think you will regret any of it. Comes a time in life when peace of mind is priceless. Sleep well.
 
One more of the "big" jobs out of the way. Been putting this one off because I knew I would have to undo everything the previous owner did and that would just add to the workload and aggravation level. None the less, it had to be done.

I had a friend in Idaho who was an electrician and I had the pleasure to work along side him during the expansions to our church. He taught me a lot. Some years ago he began suffering from early onset Alzheimer's. I miss him a great deal and whenever I do any electrical work I always try to be neat and safe. Would never want to disappoint him.

Out with the old,
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In with the new.
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Next"big" job is blowing insulation into the attic. Thinking of tackling that later this week.
 
Thanks gentlemen.

I hooked up the old 30a supply to the panel temporarily and ran a full test on everything last night and everything seems to work as it should. Today comes the clean up (I tend to get very sloppy as I work) picking up lots of bits of wire, sheathing, etc. My electrician is a busy guy and all I know is he should be able to install the outdoor panel below the meter to feed the garage by Christmas.

Once the cleanup is done I need to push all the machines to the perimeter to make room for the next task, attic insulation. We're going to blow in cellulose. My calcs show a minimum of 18 bales, but Home Depot will let you use the blower for one full day for free if you buy 20. HD's price is a dollar more per bale than Menard's but Menards gets $25 for a 4 hour rental of the blower. So, HD is $30 cheaper overall.

The insulation will help a great deal in keeping the shop warm as we're under a winter storm warning later this week and next week's temps will be in the teens! :eek: I also have my HVAC guy scheduled to come in this week to fine tune the unit heater. It's a 30,000 btu unit and my cals show I need 29,000 for my space so I am running the absolute minimum. The heater needs to be running at optimum to do its job.

I agree with Tom, very tidy, nice work! :thumb:

Nice neat clean job Rennie:thumb: don't think your friend would be disappointed:)
 
So are you abandoning the 30 amp all together or will the new panel be in addition to it?

Abandoning. The current feed is a 10-2 line coming off a 30a dual pole breaker on the main panel in the house. This will be abandoned and an exterior box will be mounted below the meter on the outside of the house containing 2 100a breakers. One breaker will feed the interior panel and one will feed the sub panel in the shop. This is, according to my electrician, the easiest way to split the feed from the pole. No need to replace the interior panel or add a feed from that panel to the shop. We have 200a service from the street even though we only have a 100a panel in the house. So, we simply come off the meter and break it into two separate feeds.
 
"We're going to blow in cellulose. My calcs show a minimum of 18 bales, but Home Depot will let you use the blower for one full day for free if you buy 20. HD's price is a dollar more per bale than Menard's but Menards gets $25 for a 4 hour rental of the blower. So, HD is $30 cheaper overall."

Rennie

Are you aware that cellulose does not retain it's fire retardant ability much past 5 years. Most real responsible insulation co. will ask you to sign a release relieving them of responsibility if they don't they are not aware or they are just not telling the whole story. My cousin used to own the largest insulation co. in south west Washington. He had a vacuum truck to remove it from any building. You could take the cellulose right from the vacuum truck & light it whoosh gone in a heart beat. The cellulose sales men would make their rounds & try & sell my cousin on cellulose...he would demonstrate for them how quick that it would light off. They would never argue with him just get in their car & leave. Hopefully things have changed. But I am not willing to take the chance.
 
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Are you aware that cellulose does not retain it's fire retardant ability much past 5 years. Most real responsible insulation co. will ask you to sign a release relieving them of responsibility if they don't they are not aware or they are just not telling the whole story. My cousin used to own the largest insulation co. in south west Washington. He had a vacuum truck to remove it from any building. You could take the cellulose right from the vacuum truck & light it whoosh gone in a heart beat. The cellulose sales men would make their rounds & try & sell my cousin on cellulose...he would demonstrate for them how quick that it would light off. They would never argue with him just get in their car & leave. Hopefully things have changed. But I am not willing to take the chance.

I had heard rumors to that effect. A concern to be sure. I did look into the ratings on the insulation I am looking at and this is what I found

Listing Agency Standards: Class 1/A Fire Rating, Class 1/A Fire Rated, Federal Regulation 16 CFR 1209, Federal Regulation 16 CFR 1404, Federal Regulation 16 CFR 460, ASTM C-739, ASTM E-84, Smoke Developed Index <450, ICC-ES ESR-1996 Report, UL ListedSpecial Features: Formaldehyde-Free, Made in the USA, No Itch, 85% Recycled, Low Dust, Reduces Noise, Energy Efficient, Dry Application, Loose Fill or Dense Pack

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I know we installed rock wool blown in with just a little fiberglass added to help keep it from compacting. About 1/2 bale of fiberglass to 5 bales of rock wool + a large cup of water to help cut the dust even though we wore dust masks & goggles.
 
Moved a few wires and added lighting to the attic over the shop today. All ready for insulation! In removing the old light fixture in the attic I got rid of the last electrical connection left over from the previous owner. I think it might be the worst I've uncovered.

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Depending on the weather, we're expecting 3-6" by tomorrow this time, I'll blow in the insulation tomorrow. If I'm busy with the snowblower it might have to wait till Monday.
 
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