Power mains question: wire gauge

Enough to know I detest anything approaching 36 wire. An a appeal to authority? Come on.

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No, simply giving you back some of your "logic".

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Really? Even when they are across the production floor from the main breaker box? I can see you've never worked around a machine shop.

Yawn. He change that to 3 HP but as usual, you just want a pissing match. Yes, you can use a nailer with a tiny compressor if you don't mind it running constantly, and having to work slow because of the recovery time. My dad is a retired cabinet maker, and won't use anything under a 2 HP compressor for his nailers.

"approaching 36 wire"?

I've run into a lot of places where they had a pullsting in with wires. It gets wrapped around the wires as it's pulled in, then srticks to the inside of the conduit if they use pulling lube. Attempting to pull in more wire doesn't work too well if there are any bends in the conduit. The last pullstring I ran into was with some fiber optic cables. I had to pull everything out of the conduit because they were tangled. Then I had to use the fiber to pull in a piece of Cat5 cable which was used to pull the fiber back, with several Cat5 cables.

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No. You never think things through. Then you go on the attack, like Dimbulb, Allison or Sloman. I said I would run AWG 10 for a compressor, OR AWG 6 to a sub panel, if it made sense. Sense is something you frequently lack. When I wired my 30' * 40' garage, it only had lights but I used a 100A 20 circuit breaker box. The big tools will eventually be installed near that box, but if any end up in the opposite corner, I'll run a 1.5" conduit, some AWG 6 and install a sub panel in that corner. There is a concept in wiring buildings called 'Futures' where a few extra breakers are installed in a new panel, and conduit is stubbed from the breaker box up into the ceiling or attic while the walls are open. That allows two things. If a breaker fails, a replacement is available. If a new circuit is needed, the conduit is run to an accessible spot, and doesn't require messy & time consuming work in an occupied building.

More than once I was called to a school when something critical was down and found a failed breaker. I used the spare, and they ordered a replacement. Simple, and cheap insurance.

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Certainly.

Certainly. Almost always.

He actually changed it to "3.1HP", which is pure bullocks. Goody for your dad. It's a total waste to use a 2HP compressor just to drive some tiny nails. Of course any "cabinet maker" would commit suicide before using nails in cabinetry, but...

I didn't get the shift key pressed for the '#', but you knew that.

I guess anything can happen if you don't know what you're doing.

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Yes.

Good God, you're pissy tonight. Take a pain killer and come back tomorrow!

Clueless.

I'd run 12AWG. It's a *lot* cheaper and will handle the load quite well.

It *rarely* does.

Yawn. You clearly overbuild everything, maybe because it's fun. However, it's *NOT* economical. Running a separate service for each tool (which is rarely even needed) is almost always cheaper.

Yawn.

I've not had much success with pulling new conductors in a cable with existing conductors. I found that the pull string doesn't lay nicely along side the conductor when installed, instead threading itself through the conductors. When it comes time to use the pull thread, the new conductors intertwine with the existing ones... a real mess.

Unless there's a trick to this that I've not heard about...

Thanks.

That's been my (limited) experience too.

YES!!

Those things can happen but they have never happened to me if I was the one to run the wire and string.

Sigh. He's RETIRED. He built more than cabinets in his home shop. He has more than a nailer that needs compressed air in his shop. Go hump someone else's leg.

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Hell, we had six breaker boxes on the production floor at Microdyne for outlets for workbenches on a 200' * 190' production area. Then there was a power room with over 200 breakers for the other equipment.

Certainly that you've never worked in a machine shop?

You end up living in Alabama.

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Wrong, of course. There was one panel with a separate drop for each tool.

BTW, did the OP specify a machine shop? I don't remember that part.

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I don't take pain killers. None are prescribed.

I'd run the 10. I have 14, 12 & 10 on hand. I use 14 for light circuits, 12 for most 120V outlets, and 10 for the longer or heavier loads. There is 75 feet of #6 run to the well house.

In your limited experience.

You cut lots of corners and do everything on the edge of failure. Labor cost more than the materials, so the difference in the total build is small.

Of course you yawn. That's a requirement of the initial specs for public buildings, everywhere that I've lived & worked.