Any electricians in the house?

[KK]

I need to run some power out to a shed that's 70-100 feet from the breaker box at the house. I'd like to run 220 out to it to run an A/C unit and also some lights and whatever else I need. Would 8 gauge be too much or too little? How many amp breaker would be needed at the house? Does 220 require 4 wire cable? Will I need to place a grounding rod at the shed?
Someone here has to know the answers to these questions, after all where else would one go to ask question about anything. 🙂

KK

 

[feralkid]

Originally posted by: KK
I need to run some power out to a shed that's 70-100 feet from the breaker box at the house. I'd like to run 220 out to it to run an A/C unit and also some lights and whatever else I need. Would 8 gauge be too much or too little? How many amp breaker would be needed at the house? Does 220 require 4 wire cable? Will I need to place a grounding rod at the shed?
Someone here has to know the answers to these questions, after all where else would one go to ask question about anything. 🙂

KK

Varies by location...but guage needed depends on how many Amps you'll be drawing. Roughly speaking, 8 guage is o.k. for up to 50 Amps, but probably not at 100 feet. 4 wire cable is not "generally" required for 240, but you'd want that 4th wire (neutral) so you could have 120 circuits as well. Also, some localities require that 4th wire and have you run it all the way back to the service entrance ground. A new grounding rod by the shed is also a maybe. I'm just being very general here, as I said "varies by location". Good Luck.

 

[HappyPuppy]

I don't know, but you could go to your city or county code enforcement office and ask them. Codes can be unique to different places. Better yet, go to Home Depot and find someone knowledgeable there. They employ a lot of tradespeople.

Good luck.

 

[KK]

Originally posted by: feralkid

Originally posted by: KK
I need to run some power out to a shed that's 70-100 feet from the breaker box at the house. I'd like to run 220 out to it to run an A/C unit and also some lights and whatever else I need. Would 8 gauge be too much or too little? How many amp breaker would be needed at the house? Does 220 require 4 wire cable? Will I need to place a grounding rod at the shed?
Someone here has to know the answers to these questions, after all where else would one go to ask question about anything. 🙂

KK

Varies by location...but guage needed depends on how many Amps you'll be drawing. Roughly speaking, 8 guage is o.k. for up to 50 Amps, but probably not at 100 feet. 4 wire cable is not "generally" required for 240, but you'd want that 4th wire (neutral) so you could have 120 circuits as well. Also, some localities require that 4th wire and have you run it all the way back to the service entrance ground. A new grounding rod by the shed is also a maybe. I'm just being very general here, as I said "varies by location". Good Luck.

Let me see if I got this straight as far as wires goes. Coming into the main breaker panel at the house, I got a ground, and two thick wires. There is a spot for another thick wire but it isn't occupied. Anyways, I'm guessing that this is common input to a breaker box for 240. Now in the box all the 120V breakers are single slot breaker, therefore would the wire coming off of the breaker be the hot wire, and then you have the netrual wire coming off the common neutral? Then the is also a common ground wire that goes with the hot and neutral. On the 240 that is run to the A/C unit and the dryer, there is a double slot throw breaker that has two wire coming off of it. Would these be the two hot wires and the you pair it up with a neutral and ground?

Am I close with this reasoning?

KK

 

[Bleep]

Well if you use the main breaker box at the house intrance you only need 3 wires one wire (the white one) is the common or ground the other 2 (black ones) are the hot or 220 leads.
so if you put a voltmeter across the 2 black ones you will see 220V if you put the voltmeter across the black and white you will see 110 V so what you have is a 220 volt line with a center tap giving 2 110 volt circuits. Just get a double 40 amp breaker and wire that into the bottom of your 100 amp primary circuit breakers. run the wire overhead using strain straps at each end and put a small breaker box in the garage with 3 30 amp breakers. I run a 10" lathe a large Milling machine and several welders. it dont take much because you only use one thing at a time.

Bleep

 

[OZEE]

With this many basic questions - you'd better hire a real electrician so you don't burn something down or kill yourself.

 

[teckmaster]

with wanting to run that much in your shed at that distance, it would be better to have your power company come out and run a 200AMP line out to the shad and the shed would have its own breaker box. Like others have said, ask your local authorities as to what you can and cannot do.