bogydave
01-23-2008, 10:16 AM
Have been helping a buddy connect his new shop electrical for the past 2 days Well some bs-ing & beer made it take 2 days). It's been 40 degrees so we caught a break with the weather.
When he was preparing the foundation we burried 2" PVC conduit, the gas line & added two - 1" PVC (extra for phone , tv, cat5 ???) conduit runs while the ditch was open stubbed up at the corner of the shop & capped for future use.
We made a 2" foam torpedo with a wire thru it & a loop on one end. Tied a string to the loop, connected a shop vac to one end of the conduit & sucked it thru. This also cleans the conduit inside. Connected a 1/4" polly wire pulling rope to the string, marked the string ends & pulled the rope thru. Measured the string to get the length of the wire to the connection points. 132 feet, so we cut the wire (#4 copper) to four 140 feet lengths.
Add about 6 to 10 feet to the length(very hard to stretch), cut the wire, Marked 3 of the wires (both ends) , one with green tape (Ground) one with white tape, (Common) one with blue tape & the other nothing (2 hot wires). Squirted in some wire lube & pulled them all thru with ease. If the run had been longer than 200' we would have used steel conduit "sweeping Ls" undergound (the rope will start cutting thru the plastic conduit on the inside of the 90s as you pull, if it cuts thru, you're stuck, well the wire is, I got the "T" shirt)
He got a 20 circuit 125 Amp panel & mounted it on the insided wall. We connected it per NEC & Local codes, added a ground rod (above our codes), he had installed prior to the foundation pour, stubbed up just inside the wall. He's going to run conduit around the walls after the sheetrock is up, so I put in 2 temporary four - outlet boxes, 20 amp beaker on each.
Added a new 100Amp breaker next to the house main. (tip: add a union in the conduit near the house connection, we didn't & fought it).
Connected the 4 wires, switched on the breaker & like always, I'm amazed, the light stand we had plugged in the shop outlet came on, it worked.
While at the Elect supply, we saw a demonstration of the new 6 bulb "T-5" light fixture. Replaces a 1000W Merc-vapor at 1/3 the electriciy use (big shop & bay lighting).
They make a 4 bulb unit that's better than a 400 watts merc vapor at 1/2 the power use.
FYI: Found out the old T-12 is to be phased out in the next few years. The 4' 40W cool white tubes will be expensive. You can use the old fixtures by replacing the ballast with the newer "T-8" ballast & the "T-8" bulbs fit the old fixtures, the pin spacing is the same so you don't have to replace the tombstones.
Dave, Alaska
When he was preparing the foundation we burried 2" PVC conduit, the gas line & added two - 1" PVC (extra for phone , tv, cat5 ???) conduit runs while the ditch was open stubbed up at the corner of the shop & capped for future use.
We made a 2" foam torpedo with a wire thru it & a loop on one end. Tied a string to the loop, connected a shop vac to one end of the conduit & sucked it thru. This also cleans the conduit inside. Connected a 1/4" polly wire pulling rope to the string, marked the string ends & pulled the rope thru. Measured the string to get the length of the wire to the connection points. 132 feet, so we cut the wire (#4 copper) to four 140 feet lengths.
Add about 6 to 10 feet to the length(very hard to stretch), cut the wire, Marked 3 of the wires (both ends) , one with green tape (Ground) one with white tape, (Common) one with blue tape & the other nothing (2 hot wires). Squirted in some wire lube & pulled them all thru with ease. If the run had been longer than 200' we would have used steel conduit "sweeping Ls" undergound (the rope will start cutting thru the plastic conduit on the inside of the 90s as you pull, if it cuts thru, you're stuck, well the wire is, I got the "T" shirt)
He got a 20 circuit 125 Amp panel & mounted it on the insided wall. We connected it per NEC & Local codes, added a ground rod (above our codes), he had installed prior to the foundation pour, stubbed up just inside the wall. He's going to run conduit around the walls after the sheetrock is up, so I put in 2 temporary four - outlet boxes, 20 amp beaker on each.
Added a new 100Amp breaker next to the house main. (tip: add a union in the conduit near the house connection, we didn't & fought it).
Connected the 4 wires, switched on the breaker & like always, I'm amazed, the light stand we had plugged in the shop outlet came on, it worked.
While at the Elect supply, we saw a demonstration of the new 6 bulb "T-5" light fixture. Replaces a 1000W Merc-vapor at 1/3 the electriciy use (big shop & bay lighting).
They make a 4 bulb unit that's better than a 400 watts merc vapor at 1/2 the power use.
FYI: Found out the old T-12 is to be phased out in the next few years. The 4' 40W cool white tubes will be expensive. You can use the old fixtures by replacing the ballast with the newer "T-8" ballast & the "T-8" bulbs fit the old fixtures, the pin spacing is the same so you don't have to replace the tombstones.
Dave, Alaska