Floor electrical outlets

[Thomas Wilson]

I am going to need 110 and 220 power in the middle of my shop floor and I am looking for ideas for outlets. The floor is 3/4 oak flooring over 2 layers of 3/4 plywood. I have a basement for access from below. What solutions have you seen that are good at keeping dust out? Also, I have not found any 220 floor outlets. Should I make a squat little square box and mount conventional wall boxes in the sides? Ideas?

[Jim Becker]

Personally, I'd use a short pylon for this purpose. It would only require a hole for conduit though the floor which means if you need to relocate it in the future, the repair to the floor will be minimal using a tapered plug and glue. A pylon would also allow the receptacles to face horizontally which helps mitigate dust. I wouldn't use any outlets facing vertically in a shop like this...they are hard enough to use in a residential setting when it comes to dirt and debris. A single pylon could easily support both 120v and 240v receptacles.

[Gary Ragatz]

No experience with it, but an outlet in a woodshop floor doesn't sound like a good idea. Could you put an outlet in the ceiling? Or if the ceiling is high, maybe suspend an outlet, using some conduit, to get it to where it would be accessible (but above head-height)? My Dad had something like this in his shop (sorry, no pics - that was years ago).

[Charles Lent]

I would not put any outlets directly in or on a woodworking shop floor because they will fill with saw dust too easily, but a short post with the outlets placed on the sides about 1' above the floor wouldn't have so much of a problem. If you ever decide to move it, the holes left in the floor would be smaller and easier to patch too. Just my opinion.

Charley

[Lyndon Klassen]

No experience with it, but an outlet in a woodshop floor doesn't sound like a good idea.

I have experience and it's a great idea. I have multiple floor outlets. Just mind blowing.

[Tim Bridge]

And the pylon would be a good spot for speakers or a holder for adult beverages.

[Nike Nihiser]

Jim Becker, don't you mean you wouldn't have any outlets facing horizontally, not vertically?

[Tim Bueler]

I have both 240v and 120v conduits coming through the floor at my table saw (and air, too). The 240v outlet is screwed to a very simple plywood L bracket. I built the bracket tall enough to screw a plywood "roof" over the top of the outlet so dust settles on that and not the outlet box. The conduit on the 120v line is long enough to reach the edges of the tablesaw extension. I have 2 outlets under the extension, 1 facing front and 1 facing rear.

I also brought electric and air through the floor into my workbench/assembly table. I placed heavy duty multi outlet strips along each edge under the top and have multiple air outlets. I'm a bit anal that NO cords or hoses lay on the floor unless absolutely necessary.

[Allan Dozier]

My shop with hardwood floor is over a basement. The perimeter machines have dust collection ducts through the floor and all my machines that are out in the middle have dust collection and electrical outlets through the floor. There are no problems at all and I can't imagine going back to cords running all over the floor again.

[Rod Sheridan]

A floor receptacle should use a proper box for that purpose or even better a box mounted vertically with a wet in use cover to protect everything.........Rod.

[Jon Snider]

Personally, I'd use a short pylon for this purpose. It would only require a hole for conduit though the floor which means if you need to relocate it in the future, the repair to the floor will be minimal using a tapered plug and glue. A pylon would also allow the receptacles to face horizontally which helps mitigate dust. I wouldn't use any outlets facing vertically in a shop like this...they are hard enough to use in a residential setting when it comes to dirt and debris. A single pylon could easily support both 120v and 240v receptacles.

Jim, is this the same as a pedestal receptacle?

[Jim Becker]

Jim Becker, don't you mean you wouldn't have any outlets facing horizontally, not vertically?

No, I wouldn't want them vertically because dust and debris can easily fall in them. I'd want them perpendicular to the floor which is what I meant by "horizontally". Sorry for any confusion there...

[Jim Becker]

Jim, is this the same as a pedestal receptacle?

It could be, but for the stated purpose of supporting both 120v and 240v, it's probably easiest to build an appropriately sized pylon/pedestal so both types of circuits could be supported in one place with one floor penetration. That would kinda be a like a tiny, short, narrow wall. I suspect a lot of the commercial pedestal receptacle constructions will not be very generous with wire space as they are often "office focused". I could be wrong about that, however...I've never looked for something like that.

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BTW, Thomas, if/when you run your 240 v circuits, use 10 gage so you can support both 20amp and 30 amp tools. You never know what the future can bring. It may also be a good idea to bring them each out to a generous j-box under the floor and then send the runs to the receptacles from there as that makes changes in the future a whole lot easier...something I learned on the second of several shop changes I made.

[Thomas Wilson]

Thanks guys. I have been traveling from the Mountain Kingdom back to the Cave, (Norris Lake to Atlanta). I have an evening engagement with Janicewhokeepsmehumble. I will get back to the group with some questions. Construction of the HotMK is moving fast. I will post some pics in the morning.

TW

[Thomas Wilson]

Thanks for all the responses. One of the most helpful ones was the one referencing "pedestal" boxes. "Pedestal" is the key search term to find what I am looking for. One has to comb through RV pedestals which is an entirely different thing and apparently the more common searched item to find those floor warts found in open offices.

Here is the thing I thought I wanted to use that I found through everyone's help. It holds two receptacles back to back. Faceplates for standard duplex and single outlets are available. The single hole faceplate only fits a 20 amp 240v receptacle. I will run #10 wire anyway but use a 20 amp breaker to protect the outlet. Let me know what you think.


https://www.hubbell.com/hubbell/en/P...80AL/p/1532023

I would appreciate pictures of some floor installations that people have used or seen. I don't think I want an outlet face that is flat to the floor surface because of dust but am interested in experience. Early in my woodworking career, dust collection was just not available. I usually swept up when it got ankle deep with knee deep drifts. This shop is going to have dust collection so maybe the flush mounted outlets do work despite the shop environment as some people have reported.

My tool layout will probably consist of a central tool area for the tablesaw, planer, and jointer in the middle of the floor where the floor outlets are needed. At least until I am satisfied with the arrangement of these three tools, the 2 HP Oneida portable DC will be in the same cluster and I will have the existing flexible hose to move from tool to tool. Basically that is what I did for the last shop. The rest of the stationary power tools can be distributed around the perimeter with wall outlets. I will just space them around every 4 to 6 feet. This was sufficient In my last shop, I had handy boxes attached to steel post in the middle of the shop and outlets around the perimeter. It was about 13x27 and very crowded. The dust collector, planer, drum sander, track saw, and 6" belt sander lived in the garage.

All of those four central tools require 20 amp or less and the cords are compatible with that style of outlet. When I get the tools in their final resting places, the DC will move to the basement and I will cut holes for duct work through the floor to eliminate visible duct work in the shop. I am interested in people's experience with basement dust collection. I am expecting to have the DC in a basement closet with a grill for a return air. The basement will not be heated. But that closet will have free air exchange with the shop. I am concerned about overfilling the DC drum and not realizing it. The bin sensor on the DC is not reliable or at least I have never gotten it dialed in. I have not used it much since I bought it about 4 years ago.