Workshop Soon to Spring to Life

It is a momentous day. I found out I have 250V power in my workshop.

As an annoying side note, I have decided to write “250V” from now on. It seems like no one can settle on 220V, 230V, 240V, or 250V. It causes problems when you search for things online. Well, guess what? Manufacturers put “250V” on their products, and from now on, that’s good enough for me. It’s also accurate. The voltage here is about 250, and it was also 250 in Miami. I’m also going to say “125V” instead of “110V” or “115V”.

Anyway, I got an electrician to check the workshop out a long time ago, and it looks like he was really inept. He said I had 50 amps of 125V (HA!) service out there, and that was all. I never checked to see. He did some other things that were not bright.

He said that because he couldn’t see where the power for the workshop left the house, he was going to have to dig a new trench for new lines. That would have cost thousands, for some reason he didn’t explain. I don’t understand why it costs more than $200 to dig a short slit. Here’s the thing; no matter where you live, you can call 811, and someone will come out and locate your underground power lines…free of charge. You can look it up online. How could this guy not know that?

I’m assuming he didn’t know it. Maybe he did, and he was just a crook.

This free service is provided in order to prevent unskilled people from ripping out power, gas, and water lines while planting trees or whatever.

He also failed to give me the estimates I needed. I told him I had two jobs, and I wanted two estimates. He combined them. I told him I needed him to break the estimate into two parts. He said he would get right on it, and then he disappeared. He was looking at work worth something like $6000, and he just let it go.

Maybe he was dishonest, and he realized he was taking a risk by trying to fool me. I asked a lot of questions. Maybe that scared him.

Anyway, today I checked the workshop electrical panel and found out I have 50 amps of 250V service. It’s not much, but you can do a lot with it. I can run all three of my welders, my band saw, my drill press, and my big table saw. The only thing that probably won’t work is my plasma cutter. Actually, it probably would work on 90% of the jobs I would throw at it. Most jobs would involve thin metal, and the thinner the metal, the less power you need.

While my dad was declining and dying, I really crawled into a hole. I let things back up. I didn’t do things I should have done. I should never have let the power problem go.

Now I have a plan. I’m going to get some #8 wire, some conduit, three or four receptacles, a junction box, and a box for a 20-amp breaker, and I’m going to wire up the workshop. This will give me back everything except the big machine tools and the big compressor. I’ll install two 50-amp receptacles, and I’ll have a 20-amp breaker that goes to two 20-amp receptacles.

I don’t think I really need a separate breaker for the smaller receptacles. The theory is that if something goes wrong, the 50-amp circuit could send 50 amps through a 20-amp cord without one, but we all have 20-amp circuits connected to multiple items that have cords that are only safe for 13 amps. You have things like that in your house right now, and the fire chief isn’t pounding on your door, waiting to give you a citation.

I don’t know. I may put the breaker in just to feel smug.

I’ll probably pay less than $250 for materials, and once I get started, it will take a day or less.

I could also put a couple of lines in my garage, for my mill and lathe. There is room on the main panel.

I’ve really missed the drill press, the table saw, the band saw, and welding with 250V input.

The belt grinder! I just realized I’ll be able to use the 3HP belt grinder! That thing is MURDEROUS. It will do things to metal you would not believe.

I think I should also go ahead and get an anvil. The mashed grill for my John Deere garden tractor will cost almost $800 to replace, which is ridiculous. The tractor doesn’t even need a grill. It does nothing to filter out dirt. Stuff goes right through and gets trapped on an internal screen. I can beat the old grill back into pretty good shape, but without an anvil, it would be pretty unpleasant work. This gives me a great rationalization I can use: I’m spending $600 instead of $800. I’m actually SAVING money.

Yeah. Saving.

That grill is going to sit around the shop and make me crazy until I do something with it.

I feel like I’m about to come back to life again. The only thing that would be better than 250V juice would be a garage air conditioner.

It could happen.