Archive through August 25, 2008

[bbranstetter]

Thanks Jason,

I'm thankful that it's been steady for this many years, close to ten. It's just frustrating that it always seems to come at the holidays. You never know, there may be something great right around the corner.

 

[bbowman]

Brian;
Sometimes one door has to close before another door will open! Goog luck!

 

[bbowman]

I meant to type gooD luck!

 

[aaytay]

Plenty of tractor projects to work on here, but there's either no time, or it's too cold in the garage.

Well, I fixed one of the problems by buying one of these..

It's a 25,000BTU electric space heater. I know what you're thinking...

"Eek! Electric?? That's 'spensive to run!"

That's true, but since the garage I have is an insulated basement/walkout set up, it usually only gets to about 40 degrees in there, even when it's bitter outside. This heater will only be used to "bump" the temp up into the semi comfortable range when I'm working in there, so it will run very rarely.

I'd prefer a wood stove, but the insurance guy says "No!"...

Anyway, the reason I'm posting about this is because I have a question on how I should go about hooking this heater up to 240V power.

Here is a (bad) sketch of how this area of my garage is set up. The <font color="0000ff">"Breaker-Box"</font> and <font color="ff0000">"Welder-Outlet"</font> already exist.

Should I use one of these to "tap" into the side of the breaker box, basically hardwiring the heater to the garage with a "whip"..

..Or should I make up an electrical cord using 10-3 wire and a plug like this, using my welder plug to run the heater?

It seems like a no-brainer.... "Hard-wire it with the whip." you'd say, but the garage is drywalled, so I'm trying to figure out how I'd terminate the whip where it goes into the drywall to get in the breaker box instead of just "punching" a hole through the drywall like a duffus..

<font size="-2">No comments please!</font>

Any opinions here?

 

[kide]

Art:
When I'm welding (and that can be hours at a time), I don't like to be shaking, especially if it's the TIG torch I'm holding.......
I'd surface mount a J-box, attach the whip to one side, punch out one of the back holes, through the drywall and snake the wires to the service box. (actually, I think your supposed to have a shutoff for it any way, so you could surface mount that, etc. etc.......)

 

[bbranstetter]

Art,

Punch a hole in the box and fish the wire under the drywall to an open hole and install a box next to the heater. This will leave your welder plug open. A little more work if you have insulation in the wall but it will leave the welder plug open. jmho

Good luck

 

[digger]

Art,
If it were me I would utilize that welder plug for now, just IN CASE the heater is not in the right spot for ya. I know after you put it up, it might not blow in just the right spot and that way you could adjust it accordingly.
NOW, if you know for a fact that it's in the right spot and will do what you want, hard wire that sucker, but I would still use some sort of disconnecting means close to the heater, just in case.
I have 2 of those style heaters and really like'um, but I always just use the plug and play method, and always have even when I was in the electrical business, cause someone would always want the dang things moved a few feet, or across the room, cause they dint blow in the right direction.

 

[aaytay]

Thanks for the thoughts guys. Unfortunately I realized something last night that pretty much made the decision for me...

The breaker box in this garage only has slots left for two more 110V breakers (or 1 more 220V double-pole breaker) so I'll probably go the "cord and plug" method as Charlie mentions just to preserve that remaining space in the breaker box.

 

[bbranstetter]

Now would be the perfect time to install a bigger box!! What a great excuse.

 

[kide]

Art:
When you unplug the heater to weld, crank that welder up and use 1/4 inch rod......(or go to TIG and just wear a tee shirt, you'll have a sunburn in no time..)