Fried my first surge protector

[Stefan Antwarg]

In my shop, I have only 2 outlets which are both in the same location and only 15 amps. I managed to rerout a 20 amp outlet from a different part of the room. Still I have to use extention chords and power strips/surge protectors. Stupidly, I turned on my dust collector(portable) and my table saw. Sparks came flying out of the surge protector and the machines turned off. So now I have some calls in to electricians to get the workshop properly wired. And maybe some decent lighting too! I really wish I knew how to do this myself - but oh well.

Stefan

[Rob Russell]

Stefan,

Doing your own wiring is not difficult - there are just some things you need to learn. Go to Home Depot or Lowe's and buy a little green paperback on Basic Wiring. Adding circuits is also not a difficult thing to do.

People get really cranky about doing wiring. There are rules that you must follow or you can burn your house down - but the rules are simple and there are many people who canhelp.

If you want to give the wiring a try, holler and I or others will give you some directions to get you started.

Rob

[Ted Shrader]

Stefan -

Ditto Rob's comments. Wiring is not difficult. What you may want to consider if it makes you more comfortable - Read up on the codes, then run your own wiring to the receptacles and switches. Let a licensed electrician inspect and then hook them to the panel. Should save some $$$.

Regards,
Ted

[Kevin Arceneaux]

A few things.

1. Make sure the service to your house can handle it. Many older houses do NOT have a 200 amp service.

2. Get a book like the above gentlemen have recommended. Putting in curcuits is not that hard. It DOES require you to take your time and be 100% sure on what you are doing. There is no room for error.

3. Check with the local code people, it should be in the blue pages of your phone book. They can tell you what you can and cannot do on your own. Some places are tighter than others. They will also tell you what or if you need a permit for. They do take a dim view of things at times.

4. If you do it yourself, make sure you buy wire, etc that will meet you load. Manuals that come with your tools should have listed the requirements for each tool. Many also list the guage and length of any extension cords you can use with them.

My Dad (He's an EE) and I wired my shed. One thing we did was add a kill switch at the door. If the switch is off, there is no power to the shed. We also put the wire in conduit and buried it deeper than was required. Just felt more comfortable with both of those things. When I moved onto the property years ago, I had a mobile home. I did all the work by myself, put the pole up, set the meterbase and outside panel, wired everything ( 4/0 wire is a PITA to bend and get it in all the right places) up to the pigtale where the city tied in. My local code folks provided my with drawings and a manual to do it myself. I passed the first time.

[Stefan Antwarg]

I have taken apart plenty of outlets and exchanged them and rewired tools for 240. But I don't know a thing about the main box or how to connect anything to it. My house does have a 200 amp service - so at least I am ok there. As far as the lighting I guess it would be simple enough to replace the existing single bulb fixtures, but I can't figure out why one of them has 3 12 gauge wires going to it and the other has 1 12 gauge wire going to it.

Stefan

[Rob Russell]

As far as the lighting I guess it would be simple enough to replace the existing single bulb fixtures, but I can't figure out why one of them has 3 12 gauge wires going to it and the other has 1 12 gauge wire going to it.



By "wires", I'm assuming that you mean NM cables, aka Romex. The light that has (3) is serving as a junction box - (1) power supply coming in from somewhere and then (2) feeds going out to 2 other lights or receptacles. The light with (1) cable is just the end of the circuit.