Electrical question

[T. Spencer]

I found that my garage wiring has no ground. I'm going to put in a breaker for the outlets only and leave the lights and door opener as is. My question is, will one 20 amp breaker with one 110 line be ok? I'll have the KMG, Paragon, toaster oven, drill press and some other lower amp toys. I won't be powering every thing at once, I just wonder if using the toaster oven and Paragon at the same time will be ok.

[Ed Caffrey]

Probably not. If I remember correctly, a paragon requires a dedicated 20 amp break itself. That means that while it's operating, nothing else can be drawing from that circuit.

The toaster oven is another "amp hog".....I can pretty much bet that if you try to run the paragon and the toaster oven at the same time, off the same circuit, it's just gona trip the breaker, or possibly burn the place down! You also have to consider that IF you go the route you described, and have the paragon running....it's likely that will be the ONLY thing you'll have enough "juice" for.
Let's say you have the paragon running, and decide you need to do a "quick little job" on the KMG.....you flip on the KMG, and the breaker trips......

Based on what you've described, The KMG, Paragon, and toaster oven should each be on it's own 20 amp breaker/circuit......if I advised anything less, I would be setting you up to burn down your shop/garage.

[T. Spencer]

Thanks for the reply Ed. I'll just use the kitchen oven to temper and use the other tools one at a time. There will be plenty other things to do while HTing anyhow. Since I'm looking into buying a place I don't want to put a whole lot into the garage, I just want to get started and be SAFE.

[sdeering]

If you are tinkering around in the panel I would add a ground to it. I don t know what your codes are but you may be able to pound a ground rod in outside your garage and run a ground wire in to the panel. Also check where you panel power is comming from. If it is run from the house panel it probly comes off of a breaker in the house, check to see if it is enough for all your uses as well.

[Larry Peterson]

If I may,

When I built my home I used "Square D" products. They make a thin "2 in 1" breaker where you end up with two circuits in the space naormally filled by one breaker. If the service box is feeding your garage from a 20 amp breaker, you might want to see if you can use the "2 in 1" type to give you two circuits. I purchased the service box and breakers from Home Depot.

Please have an electricutioner double check what I am suggesting so I dont get you toasted! Best wishes,

Larry Peterson

[T. Spencer]

Thanks for the replies. I went to Lowe's and grab what I need to take care of it. I'm just going to run buried conduit and cable the whole 66 inches from the house to the garage from a separate breaker. I am only going to use 1 high amp tool at a time.