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Working on adding electricity to a two car detached garage. The house panel is full, except for one single 30 amp breaker. If I ran 10 gauge wire, from the house panel, out to the garage (75 feet away) to a new 2 or 4 breaker panel, does that give me enough power to run the garage with? There is no welder or any other big juice items in the garage. Basically, its two garage doors, some lights, and half a dozen plug ins.
OR
In the same house panel, can I hook up with a double 30 amp breaker that runs nothing but the Central Air Unit? and then run the 10 gauge wire out to the garage.
Basically, is 30 amps enough juice to power a garage?
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Is this the man cave that will be heated?
30 amps should be plenty to run basic power tools and garage door openers, but a heater will be a big draw on power.
For example a 1500 watt heater uses 12.5 amps (1500 watts/120 voltage = 12.5 amps).
Very few power tools use over 1500 watts. A big TV only uses 200-300
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75 feet of 10 gauge wire might not be enough to carry 30A.
You might need 6 or 8 because of the voltage drop.
Check your local code for guidance.
If it were me, I would absolutely run 220v from the main panel to a sub-panel in the garage. It's easy to free up space for it in the main panel by replacing 2 single pole breakers with 1 tandem breaker, freeing up 1 more space so you can install a two pole breaker for 220v service. It's better to do it all now and have the service available in the future than it is to run additional wiring later to get it done.
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Let me add to JFK's post. If your going to run the wire think about the possibilities if you will ever sell the house? I had a main line ran 100 ft from the house to the garage (now man cave). And, like you, I only had 1 more space in my box. When I told him I just needed 110v because I would only run a refrigerator, microwave and TV's, He asked me if I ever planned to move? I told him I didn't know? He explained the cost of the cable would not be that much difference and that the installation cost would be the same.
After thinking about it a few minutes, my man cave was about 2.5 car garage. If I decided to sell and the next guy is not a football fan but a garage guy and wants to turn it back into a garage that would be a selling point to him. So I ran 220 and the cost difference was less that $50. Plus, if all the sudden I buy a welder, I can use it (lol). As long as I don't burn my carpet. Double lol.
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(08-21-2018, 08:02 PM)HarleyDog Wrote: Let me add to JFK's post. If your going to run the wire think about the possibilities if you will ever sell the house? I had a main line ran 100 ft from the house to the garage (now man cave). And, like you, I only had 1 more space in my box. When I told him I just needed 110v because I would only run a refrigerator, microwave and TV's, He asked me if I ever planned to move? I told him I didn't know? He explained the cost of the cable would not be that much difference and that the installation cost would be the same.
After thinking about it a few minutes, my man cave was about 2.5 car garage. If I decided to sell and the next guy is not a football fan but a garage guy and wants to turn it back into a garage that would be a selling point to him. So I ran 220 and the cost difference was less that $50. Plus, if all the sudden I buy a welder, I can use it (lol). As long as I don't burn my carpet. Double lol.
Excellent advice.
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