Electricity supply to shed

[stewart59]

Hi
My new shed is 6m X 2.75m on a concrete slab. It will have the usual array of woodwork equipment, but no welding. I will be getting an electrician to provide power supply. I'd appreciate advice on what to ask for. The questions in my mind are:

• how much power is needed?
• how many power outlets and where to locate them?
• Where should cables run?

Attached is a diagram of the shed drawn with the FWW workshop planner

Thanks

Stewart

[crowie]

G'Day Stewart,
Here's my two bobs worth!!
I'd encourage you to put the biggest power cable you can run from you main switchboard to a sub-board in the new shed.
A light circuit [with lots of fittings], 2 or 3 power circuits, then add GPO's every metre around the shed; this facilitates my personal policy of
'try & run no power leads in the shed area".
I also suggest a couple of weatherproof GPO's on the outside of the shed.
The sparkie will sort out were to run the cabling inside the shed, could even be in conduit.
Cheers, crowie

[hutch]

Hi Stewart also think about hanging some power points especially above bench I have 2 use them all the time regards hutch

[issatree]

Hi Stewart,
My Suggestion would be the same, but Drop Down Power Points are the way to go.
Put them just above your head, & they hang by a bit of Chain.
We have these in Our Mens Shed, & we find them Great.

[robbygard]

i would suggest that you get two 20amp circuits and at least one 15 amp circuit as well as whatever you get in the 10amp range (you will probably end up with one or two 10amp circs and a number of gpos on each of them) ... you can run smaller stuff off them and it gives you flexibility if in the future should you wish to upgrade some of the machinery ... don't place them too close together yet neither too far apart ... think that if you need the capacity of them you will be running a couple of fairly substantial machines and perhaps the dust extractor off the 15 amp that tends to suggest where you might have the other two ... you wouldn't want the machines hard up against each other and you want teh dudst extrctor close to either of them ... i guess it will depend on your sparky but the guy that did mine didn't charge much extra to put the circuits in when he was doing something else for me ... the hardware (RCD?) was the most expensive part and my recollection is that they were only about $40-50 each

regards david

[stewart59]

G'Day Stewart,
Here's my two bobs worth!!
I'd encourage you to put the biggest power cable you can run from you main switchboard to a sub-board in the new shed.
A light circuit [with lots of fittings], 2 or 3 power circuits, then add GPO's every metre around the shed; this facilitates my personal policy of
'try & run no power leads in the shed area".
I also suggest a couple of weatherproof GPO's on the outside of the shed.
The sparkie will sort out were to run the cabling inside the shed, could even be in conduit.
Cheers, crowie

Thanks, Crowie. Sounds great, and, I fear, expensive.
Stewart

[BobL]

I second (or third) the idea of overhead power points (I have 6 of those in my shed).
Also an outside power point for the DC (the switch can still be placed inside) - I have two 15A power points outside (one for the DC and one for the compressor).

I'm not sure if you have laid your slab or not but if not consider inserting some ducting under the floor so that extension cords can be run to the middle of the floor - I have this for my table saw.

[Avery]

All the above is good information and probably good advice.

You may well need a 15amp circuit if you are going to run a big table saw, thicknesser or band saw.

You should certainly put in as many power points as make sense around your shed for convenience .

But really, how many machines will you be running at the same time.

I have a table saw, lathe, mitre saw, grinder, router table, band saw ,planer and a bunch of other power tools in my shed . All together they could draw heaps of power but there is never any chance that they could all run at the same time.

The only chance of two at the same time would be the lathe and the grinder -way less than 10 amps together.

It doesn't matter how many machines you have, just how many you want to run at the same time.

A single 15 amp circuit should be adequate for any home hobby shed.

Why would one man running one machine at a time need more?

[NCArcher]

A single 15 amp circuit should be adequate for any home hobby shed.

Why would one man running one machine at a time need more?

Table saw and dust extractor, thicknesser and dust extractor, Jointer and dust extractor. Lights with all of these and maybe a dust filter as well. Add a lamp from a power point for local lighting and your 15Amps is well and truly used up.
It does depend on the available capacity of your main board though. Your sparky will be able to advise you how much power you have to spare and whether you might need to upgrade the main board as well. Usually not necessarry but you need to check. As others have mentioned, the largest sub mains your system can handle and plenty of GPOs especially hanging ones. I'm an electrician and my hanging points in the shed are extension leads on hooks. I'll get around to rewiring one day but the "hanging points" are the ones I use the most. I've also been putting up with inadequate lighting since I bought this house(4 years ago). I'll fix that soon too.

[A Duke]

You can not have too many power points. If you don't need it just don't plug any thing in, no problem but if you need one and it's not there, FRUSTRATION.
Regards

[BobL]

A single 15 circuit could really struggle.

As NC archer says a much greater probability is a DC and something like a table saw. If the TS and DC are 3HP units then you will need 2 x 15 A.
Even if you only have a smaller DC now, you might as well get the external Powerpoint for the DC made into a 15A in case you want to upgrade.

A third likely machine that might be running simultaneously and also 3HP is a compressor especially if you want to leave it on as can kick in at any time.

A fourth might be for an air con.

All this is why I have a 45A and a 20 A line to my shed.

[MatMann]

Get 3 phase and be done with it.

[A Duke]

Get 3 phase and be done with it.

At least give it consideration especially if you have 3 phase to your premises already.
Regards

[crowie]

Thanks, Crowie. Sounds great, and, I fear, expensive.
Stewart

If you're confident enough or have a mate who is, you could source the fittings & cable yourself from the local electrical wholesaler then do the ROUGH OUT for the sparkie. The sparkie would check everything, do the terminations while you've saved a bucket on the cost of materials & labour. Just a thought.....

[stewart59]

I like the idea of power cords hanging from above. Is anyone aware of methods to have power cords that can be pulled along a track attached to the roof? Or maybe attached to several swing arms attached high on the wall?

Thanks

Stewart