elec question RE 220V outlets

VA_Joe · Aug 19, 2005

I have been using propane in my shop because of its efficiency and (comparable) lower cost. In a garage/shop - what you really need is to have enough heating capacity to bring the temp up to a minimum of 50 degrees on a cold day. Bringing the temp up to 50 or so lets you work with a light jacket and without gloves (and have full hand/finger mobility). If the garage/shop is well insulated - the size of a system to meet these needs will be much smaller than that required to heat it to 70-80 degrees.

Also - because of the operating costs - I would take a second look at propane. The only time I would worry about propane (or natural gas) is if you were doing a wood shop work that generated a lot of fine saw dust (air and fine saw dust is an explosive combination). If you are only doing this work occasionally - then the easy way to avoid problems is to turn off the propane until the dust collector/vacuum catches up to the task

BTW - as long as the wire, circuit breaker, and outlet are correctly matched - there is nothing wrong with plugging a stove or dryer or welder or compressor into any outlet of your garage/shop. The point in the earlier discussion with Inspector is that it might be a good idea to check before plugging in (personally - for outlets - I always make sure that the three match as the potential savings is not worth the risk of a very bad mishap).

Joe

GaryBDavis · Aug 19, 2005

DTCOOPER,

Can you give me more information about the Polaris connectors and where I can get them? I have dual 50 amp outlets (for the welder and plasma cutter) on a single feed where I branch spliced 6AWG wire in a separate box just above my outlets. I used splice connectors covered with very thick grade heat shrink, but these Polaris connectors sound pretty cool. I'm interested in 8 through 4AWG sizes.

BTW, I'm in the Dallas area.

Thanks.

Farwell · Aug 19, 2005

I heat a portion of my small barn with a 2000 watt infrared tube wall heater without a fan. The room is 18'x18' and is very well insulated. This is where I do most of my wood work. I usually warm the room up about a 1/2 hour before I go to work. I also have a couple of 150 watt reflector bulbs over my equipment areas and this adds to the warmth. Living in Mid-Michigan in the Winter time gets mighty cold at times and the only problem I have with my heating system is the metal does not really get warm enough to keep in your hand for any length of time with out causing your fingers to get a little numb. My pole barn is heated with natural gas and has a 10 foot ceiling and I heat it with a 75,000 BTU Hot Dawg ceiling mount heater. I keep this at 47 degrees 24 hours a day during the cold weather. The metal still hurts my hands when I touch it. From all that I have read and heard, with the heater being that high off of the ground it is safe from fuel fumes but I am not sure about other flammable liquids so I use them in a non heated area if I need to use them.