Electrical advice.

[olds45512]

At my old house my shed was hooked to the house with a heavy extension cord which worked fine cause I was mostly just running lights but I'd like to be able to run a decent compressor and a 110 welder in the future. The shed is about 100ft from the house and I'm not sure what wire I will need. I plan to put it in the ground so I know I will need direct burial cable. The panel in the house only has one open spot so I plan to run that to a second box and then out to the shed with another box in the shed. What size wire should I be looking for? The welder needs 30amp on max settings and I haven't decided on a compressor yet. It's not a big deal if I can only run one at a time.

[twoton]

Couldn't size the wire for you but I would recommend conduit vs direct burial.

[Terry C]

What is the size of the house service?
Maybe you should run a whole new line out there with it’s own panel.
I don’t know PA code, but that’s what I would do.

[olds45512]

Originally Posted by Terry C

What is the size of the house service?
Maybe you should run a whole new line out there with it’s own panel.
I don’t know PA code, but that’s what I would do.

The house is 100 amp but everything in the house runs on natural gas with the exception of the dryer.

[green 4 acres]

Mine is 160' from my house it has 3/8 " wire buried in a pipe
Not sure what the gauge # is , no problems....I bought it this way

[DoubleO7]

Go here for a calculator and fill in your parameters.
https://www.southwire.com/support/vo...calculator.htm

Direct burial is "the norm", but if allowed I would use the gray pvc conduit buried.
Then pull individual wires (not the all-in-one romex).
Reason being, if one wire develops a problem you can pull out and fix or replace just that one wire.

I would also try to run 220 if at all possible then use 110 from the sub panel in the shed. When you can get a super deal on some sort of 220 machine, you will kick yourself for not running 220.

[Terry C]

I assumed we were talking 220.
Definitely run 220. Wires will be smaller too
OO7 is correct on pulling individual wire.
You won’t be sorry you did this Tim.

[cooperino]

Originally Posted by DoubleO7

Go here for a calculator and fill in your parameters.
https://www.southwire.com/support/vo...calculator.htm

Direct burial is "the norm", but if allowed I would use the gray pvc conduit buried.
Then pull individual wires (not the all-in-one romex).
Reason being, if one wire develops a problem you can pull out and fix or replace just that one wire.

I would also try to run 220 if at all possible then use 110 from the sub panel in the shed. When you can get a super deal on some sort of 220 machine, you will kick yourself for not running 220.

Agreed.. Plus you could snake in a couple extra wires if you wanted or future growth,back up circuit, or a 110 circuit off a different breaker in the house for out side lighting around shed.

[Dirty Steve]

Plastic is cheap. Oversize the conduit. Definitely run 220 if at all possible. Idea of leaving a pull wire or string is smart too.

[J-Mech]

I would look to the future if I were you Tim. 100 amp service is small. You might be able to put the shed on 50 amp subfed service, but I would look into upping your service to 200 amp, and just put in a line from the meter loop to the shed, and not tying it to the house. Your going to lose some power in the line to the shop from the house. If you live there long, you'll be glad you went to 200 amp service. If you change out the meter loop, add in a hard disconnect so you can run a generator too. Also be glad you did that.