Hey guys - I'm upgrading table saws and thinking of getting one that would require a 240v outlet in my garage. Right now, every outlet in there is 120v. There are 2 panels and each appear to have room to add a 240v (I'll try to remember to get pics when I get home).

I don't need the outlet run across the garage or anything - just wondering what it would cost to have an electrician add an outlet below the panel (or wherever is easiest). I want to make sure everything is done to code and all, but beyond that there aren't really any requirements i have.

Should I be anticipating a few hundred $$? More? Too many variables to say?

Additionally, anyone know who I should talk to in the Dallas area about this? I could just call one of the big names like Milestone, but if somebody knows a good electrician that comes to NE Dallas (Rockwall) I always prefer those.

Guesstimate is $200-$300.
How big is your current service panel ? 200 amp ?

If your panel is surface mounted and you just want a conduit and box dropped right out of the panel you might get it for $150-$200. If it is recessed mount and you want to run it a bit further I would think $300 would be a fair price to pay. However, if you are capable of doing it yourself, a simple plug and circuit are not hard to install yourself.

I'll try and get that info when I get home today JP - not sure.

Depending on where you live you may also have to pay for an Electrical permit.

87IE said:

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Depending on where you live you may also have to pay for an Electrical permit.

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Is there a way I can find this out easily without having somebody come out? I'm in Rockwall (city of, and county)

You could ask the electrical contractor when you call them.

A good buddy of mine owns SS Electric in Rockwall. Call John at 469-474-1749. He'll answer your questions and give you some ballpark pricing over the phone. He's a good guy and completely fair/honest.

Cool - I actually e-mail the permit folks online and it turns out I will need one, but doesn't sound too expensive as long as the job doesn't cost too much, and they issue on the spot.

IFeelLikeLarryDavid - I'll give him a call and see what he thinks.

Thanks!

Just got a chance to look at the panels. Looks like the main panel is 200 (has a switch at the top that says "200" on it at least).

Looks like it has 2 remaining slots (bottom 2 on the right side). The 2 above those go to the subpanel which is right next to the main panel. That panel also has the bottom 2 on the right side open.

Here are 3 pics -

The tallest one is the main panel, the shorter one is the subpanel and the switch is the one at the top of the main service panel.

I'd be looking to drop a 240v outlet pretty much directly below all of this. I don't have a personal preference as to how the outlet is mounted, though I suppose it would likely be in the wall given all the wires are run in the wall.

Pictures aren't coming through.

Dang. Let me check them out real fast.

Let's see if these work better:

I know that you are technically required to get that work permitted. But that is about as simple as it gets as far as electrical work. I would do it myself. If you do have to pay someone, I have no idea how much they'd charge but its about 15-20 minutes of work and is very straight forward.

Corps_Ag12 said:

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Man, whoever labeled your panel sure was a spelling superstar.

I wonder what got whited out where your blank spaces are.

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lol - no doubt. But it has served me and my famili well so far (no, I didn't label it)

I agree with this.

Basically, you will need to unscrew the breaker cover panel, punch out one of the knockouts in the bottom or side of the panel, cut a new hole in the sheetrock for the outlet in close proximity to where you punched the knock out, feed your wires through to the panel, snap in your new breaker, and land the ground and neutral.

If you are even remotely comfortable with working in your panel after shutting off the main and can watch a few YouTube videos/read some electric forums, you can do this job with ease.

hodgesco said:

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I agree with this.

Basically, you will need to TURN OFF THE POWER FIRSTunscrew the breaker cover panel, punch out one of the knockouts in the bottom or side of the panel, cut a new hole in the sheetrock for the outlet in close proximity to where you punched the knock out, feed your wires through to the panel, snap in your new breaker, and land the ground and neutral.

If you are even remotely comfortable with working in your panel after shutting off the main and can watch a few YouTube videos/read some electric forums, you can do this job with ease.

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Considering you're talking to someone who hasn't done this before.. you forgot an important step.

Thanks guys - this isn't a pressing need, so I'll educate myself some before deciding what route to go. I appreciate all the info - I mainly wanted to make sure I wasn't missing some horribly expensive part of the process.

Getting a bit closer to getting this done and it seems like nobody that I contact wants to pull a permit, which Rockwall does require. I wouldn't care, but of course I have an irrational fear of something going wrong and my insurance company refusing to pay if the work wasn't permitted. Had a few questions I thought I'd throw out -

- If I do the work, can I just pull a permit? Is that all it takes? I'm comfortable doing it, but again - don't want to have something unrelated go wrong and this come back to bite me in the ass later. Probably an irrational fear, I know.
- If a contract comes and does it, can I pull the permit for the work? The one that has told me he'd permit it wants to charge almost $100 for the "touble" along with passing the cost of the actual permit on to me. I'm fine paying for the permit, but $100 to go to the city building and get one that is issued on the spot?


Also - IFeelLikeLarryDavid - tell your friend to clean out his voice mailbox - it's full and won't let me leave a message

Pretty sure a master electrician will have to pull the permit.

Try again. He cleared out some of the messages.

Thanks - I'll probably call him a bit later today.

Good news is that I found out Rockwall will let me pull my own permit for doing the work, so I should be able to do the work and have all the proper boxes checked for pretty cheap if none of the estimates work. Still shocked that so many professional electricians said they wouldn't pull a permit.

It's not just going to get the permit, it's calling for the inspection, the (usually) small risk of an inspector nit picking something, waiting for the inspector, etc. On larger projects, right or wrong, the inspection time per item decreases. Here, there is one thing to look at. Larger projects also usually have more overhead included to deal with permits.

Whether they will admit it out loud or not, some areas are so swamped with construction that inspectors have that aww 5hit response when they have to go out for one outlet, especially when it's a licensed electrician that's doing it.

I'm convinced that most cities say and do the right things publicly, but privately acknowledge many things go unchecked. Consider how many HD and Lowe's stores there are, and the volume of pipe and wire they sell. In many areas, every breaker, roll of wire, load center, etc would require a permit to install. Now consider the city resources that would consume.