Cost to add 220v circuit?

I think it was about $150 a couple of years ago for an electrician to convert one of my 110v outlets to 220v and to add another 220v next to an existing one. Not nearly as much as I thought it might be. It didn’t require any rewiring inside the walls.

I ended up doing it myself and let me clarify that I am not, by any means, a competent or trained electrician. Was it easy to do? Yes but make sure the main power is shut off because nasty stuff can happen. I don’t think I spent more than $40 for all the parts. Originally, i had an electrician come out to quote doing that and a couple of other non-related services… I think he wanted to charge about $100 for just the 220 (about an hour of work) in the garage (also where my shop is.) This also included adding a dropdown outlet over my TS which was really just running about 25’ of cable up the wall and across the ceiling. Very easy to do if the garage isnt finished (meaning no drywall in the way.)

I did the whole job myself in about 15 minutes. I find it more difficult to change my table saw blade than add a 220… Just saying.

-- JC Garcia, Concord, CA : "It's easier to ask forgiveness than permission..."

You probably already thought of this, but if you have a 220V dryer outlet in your garage, you can wire it up for your table saw. I got a unisaw about a month ago and was really worried about wiring it up. Turned out to be pretty easy though. I just bought a male plug that fit the dryer receptacle and spliced it onto a female plug that fit my table saw. I just made sure I got extra large wire, so I didn’t have any overheating problems. I figured it would be a lot harder, but it really wasn’t too bad… famous last words.

I am no electrician, but this process wasn’t too bad and was pretty idiot proof. This may not help in your situation, but I just though I’d throw it out there.

-- The Wood Is Your Oyster

Find a friend capable of doing it for you. Cost of materials and a beverage. I do my own I find it very easy.

I have no idea what an electrician might charge, but the more you can do yourself the lower the price will be. See if you can find one that will do the critical stuff and guide you through the grunt work.

-- Happiness is like wetting your pants...everyone can see it, but only you can feel the warmth....

If it was me id save the money. Run to the local box store, spend about $25 give or take based on where u want it located adds to the wire cost.

I was looking to buy a hybrid table saw to stay in the 110 range, but at peak draw it was almost maxing out my 15amp service in the garage. So not have any experience in wiring, i figured id do it myself. I installed a subpanel to my garage since the mainline is in the house. Plus ran 3×220 outlets in my garage. And let me say, man im glad i didnt waste the money paying someone else to do it. Overall i spent maybe $250 in materials.

For you id run the line to where you need it the outlet. Install a box there. Remember to staple the line within 6” of the box. Connect the ground to ground. White to one side and black to the other. (it should be red not white but if u get like 12/2 wire there will only be white/black/ground). Wrap around the outlet with black tape, for safety reasons if u go to pull out the outlet u grab on to the tape not wires. Go back to the box with power OFF! open the box up. Pop in a 220v breaker that matches ur brand of breaker(ie seimens, homeline etc). Run the wire into the box. Run the white to one pole of the breaker. Black to the other pole. Ground to either bar of the neutral or ground, doesnt matter in a mainline box. If its a subpanel run it to the ground bar not the neutral. Button everything up. Flip the power. Test the outlet to get 110 on either side and 220 combined. Plug the saw in, make some sawdust.

Just remember to match the amps to the current draw of the saw. My 3hp saw is running on a 220v 20amp breaker running thru 12ga wire. Also something that continuous draw of the max amp load should be downgraded by 80% (ie. max continuous load on a 20amp breaker shouldnt be more than 16amps, if needed that many amps upgrade to a 30amp breaker/wire combo)

In the end if u want someone to come do it. Save yourself some money and at least run the wire and put up the outlets, let them do the connection part. That will boil down to basically the service call and maybe an hour labor not 3-4 to run wire and whatnot.

ADD: Did a quick YouTube search, heres a quick and easy show on what i pretty much just say http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMgwZDtR4tw

I had 2 220 circuits installed for about $225. My panel was full, so my electrician also had to install 4 tandem breakers. The job was actually a little more complicated than I would have thought because apparently in these SquareD Homeline panels, tandem breakers can only be installed in certain slots, so he had to do a little rearranging.

Honestly, while watching him do everything, I don’t think it wasn’t anything I couldn’t have done myself, but I think that’s also part of the problem. I think I’m in that funky place where I probably know enough to give it a shot myself, but not enough to know if I did something wrong. With electricity, that just seems dangerous. While the chances were probably small, if I did screw up and happen to burn down my house, insurance company isn’t gonna pay. Figured I’d just bite the bullet and go on the safe side.

That’s probably just me being overly cautious / paranoid, but honestly if you’ve got the slightest bit of doubt in your mind, I’d just hire someone to do it.

Thanks for the input everyone. I haven’t the slightest idea about electricity and do not feel comfortable doing something like this. The last thing I want to do is burn my house down along with my wife and baby girl in it.

That being said, I emailed an electrician I know who did some previous work for me and without being overly specific he said roughly $350 to do it. From the sound of it, it looks like I need to find a new electrician…

-- Matt, Illinois, http://www.reintroducing.com

not necessarily. what’s code in your municipality. if he has to run conduit, that adds to the expense. anything between $200 and 300 is probably appropriate.

-- there's a solution to every problem.......you just have to be willing to find it.

Matt, ask around talk to some people. I bet good money you have someone you know that is an electrician that would be willing to “trade” some time for a project. Who knows they may know someone that needs some simple work done that you can do and there ya go, bartering at its best. I am a Auto Mechanic and several shop owners know they can call me and I will come and look at something for a fair trade. Most of the time I make out extremly good with lumber or hardware supplies. In Iraq I ran a regualr Hogan’s Hero’s operation, my motto was simple, as long at it is legal to have I can get it, now what do you have to trade? (laughing) You would be amazed at the friends I made from all over the world that had lots to trade. Just a thought…

-- Live to tell the stories, they sound better that way.

I take it you don’t feel comfortable doing it yourself. If you can find someone to do it cheap, you should. The materials alone will cost a fortune if you have a long run. Go price 10/4 or 10/3 these days for 100 ft. Add about 40% to the cable, breaker, and outlet for mark up and the electrician fee and you have about a 250$ bill ahead of you.

-- Failure does not stop me, it makes me try harder..... because I'm crazy.

Ok…there is a decision to be made, whether to run it yourself or hire an electrician. The licensed electrician handles any insurance issues. Another is about fishing it through walls which requires some specialized equipment.

The gauge of the wire will affect the voltage drop to the machine. You will probably used 12 gauge (20amp) or 10 gauge (30 amp) for your saw; your 110 is probably 14 gauge and not applicable.

Each leg that comes in alternates in the circuit box. A 110 since on one blade using 110v to neutral; 220v spans both legs and takes 2 blades. It is common to get 110v breakers that have two circuits. 220v breakers are available with 2 220v circuits or a 220v circuit and 2 110v circuits.

Adding a new circuit in the breaker box is not much more complicated than changing a breaker which I believe most of us have done.

Running in walls requires fishing tools and often drill bits/extension for fairly long distances. There is also a need to avoid plumbing, HVAC, and existing electric and not damage the insulation on the wire. Getting to a garage will probably require going through exterior wall insulation (garages are unheated and become exterior spaces from an insulation standpoint.)

In the garage you can probably just run exposed conduit, avoiding a lot of the hassles. The question is then how uncomplicated is the path for the wire(s) from the garage to the breaker box.

If your garage doesn’t have walls up and the studs are exposed, its ridiculously easy to do. If there is sheetrock up and insulation and/or pipes in the walls, not so much. A couple hundred bucks isn’t bad if its going to save you 20-30 hours and give you piece of mind. Stop in at a local electrical supply house to ask about the materials and ask them if they could give you the names of a few guys. At least the places around here are happy to do that.

-- Dave, Colonie, NY

I just had a 220 outlet added with a 20 amp breaker for my jointer. It was $230.00 I guess it is going to depend where you are located.

-- Coach Mancuso

@Coach Mancuso: was it run in the walls? Conduit? How long of a run?

Aside, what do you coach?

-- Matt, Illinois, http://www.reintroducing.com