I need some electrical advise on my garage

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I need some electrical advice on my garage

I just moved and my new house has a bigger garage than I have had. Which should give me the opportunity to upgrade from 10 to 25+ games.

There is only 1 outlet in the center of the garage, and I want to create at least 2 more, possibly more.

If someone could tell me how they have done this, or how it should be done, or point me to an easy to read book, I would appreciate it.


Is it as simple as running the necessary wire to a now outlet and hooking it up? Are there some upgrades I need to do so I don't blow my house up or throw breakers everytime?
 
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I have used a blue paperback (20 page or so) book I picked up at a hardware store on basic wiring. They also had them for plumbing etc. Very useful and after you do it once very easy to run outlets, switches etc.
 
Basically add circuits to your breaker box, run romex, outlets, etc... I did it, but can't recommend anyone do it, as if you f it up, you could burn your house down
 
I'd probably drop a sub panel in the garage..then run a bunch of 20amp circuits from there unless of course you have super easy access to your panel...and the room
 
I'd probably drop a sub panel in the garage..then run a bunch of 20amp circuits from there unless of course you have super easy access to your panel...and the room

+1 on the Sub Panel idea. Get an Electrician to help you. Or buy an Electrician friend a case of beer.

sounds like the way to go. I will look into it. thanks gentlemen
 
ok I called a guy, they certainly sound like a great company but I can hear the cash register ringing.

I guess I want to try to do this myself, so I had better research it a bit.

Does anyone have a good website or link that show what my needs are?

Again, figure I would want the ability to run 30 games . (though I may never make it there)
 
If I was planning setting up a spot to house 25-30 games, I'd leave it to "sparky."

As stated above!

Either way, first you need to check your main panel and see what the total amperage rating is and how many empty spaces you have before going any further.

If maxed out or below 200 amp, you'll need to upgrade your service ($$$$$$$$).
 
If your breaker has room you should add (at least) 2 more 20AMP circuits.

I put 25-30 games on 2 20amp circuits with no issue. Ran 4 quad outlet boxes (2 on each wall) and another 2 outlet in the ceiling.

You have to run all the wiring to the breaker box which I _highly_ highly recommend you have an electrician come in and connect.

Fortunately, I have a friend who is one and he did the dangerous stuff for me (i.e. running new wire into the panel and hooking it up.)

If you have room in your existing panel for 2 or 4 20 amp circuits I say go for it. Subpanel isn't necessary in my opinion.

If money is no object and you're working on a nice rennovation budget - then by all means - do everything to the max. But, if you're like me and was on a >$1500 budget - do what works (safely.)

Book wise, go to Home Depot (or Amazon) and pickup some of the Black-and-Decker DIY books on wiring (or whatever books they have that explain what you need.)
 
Even if no slots are empty in the main panel you may add a subpanel by taking a breaker or two out of the main panel, putting a large breaker into their place, then moving the breakers that were taken out of the main panel to the new subpanel.

The total amperage of all the breakers and subpanels / breakers may exceed the available service. Not everything will be on at once. Just make sure the circuits and expected load are within the ability of each breaker and realize that if you turn everything on at once the main breaker will throw. 200 amp service should handle the arcade and existing needs fine in most cases.
 
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Sub panel would be safest bet if your primary circuit panel is loaded to the gills.

Your check list should be as follows.

1)What would your max amt of games be realistically?
2)How many amps does each of those games pull at one time?
3)Each circuit breaker in your new sub panel can handle how many amps?
4)Do you have a straight shot of pulling wire through the walls, or will you have many obstructions, unknowns?
5)What gauge wire will you need?
6)Will the way you wire, and install outlets be safe, and up to code should you decide to sell the house? In otherwords would your wiring be safe enough not to fail inspection?

Now for example, if one of your games pulls 5 amps, and the circuit breaker is rated for 20 amps, that means you can put as many games as you want on that circuit line up to 20 amps max (should they all be on at once). Although the closer you are to that 20amp max threshold, the more likely you are to trip a circuit (it happens due to small spikes, surges, etc).
Don't forget the gauge wire needs to be large/thick enough (thicker wire has smaller number rating ex:"0" gauge is thickest). Your gauge of wire should be determined by the length of wire being run, and by the amt of amps you intend to put on each circuit. If the wire is not thick enough (especially in longer runs) it can heat up considerably under heavy loads and become unstable.

Or you can just buy an Electricity for Dummies like someone mentioned before. It would give a great 101 lesson.
 
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