Putting garage on it's own circuit

[vonnoisemaker]

I'm currently working on finishing the garage on my mid 70s home as a small shop. One issue that I've battled since moving in is that, currently (pun?), my garage has one outlet and shares a circuit with the kitchen. Basically, anytime the dishwasher is running and I inadvertently turn on any larger tools (drill press, shop vac, etc. nothing 240v), I trip the circuit. I'd like to put the garage on it's own 20 amp breaker and add a couple more outlets.

I'm the picture of a weekend warrior when it comes to electricity but I'm reasonably comfortable working on home electrical and have zapped myself enough times to know what not to do. But I've never messed with breakers and I'm wondering how involved is this project going to be? Can anyone point me in the direction of a good youtube video or a step-by-step breakdown of the process?

Thanks!

Edit to ask: If it's easier to just hire someone to come out and do the work, what's a rough estimate on the cost?

 

[klandingham]

Before I started anything I would definitely check on your local regulations with respect to doing your own wiring. You want to make sure that's allowed by your local municipality AND your home insurance carrier. God forbid you should have a fire and end up not being covered for any losses because you put a couple of outlets in your garage.

 

[Danny_G]

When I moved to the new house my landlord asked the guys who deal with our electricity issues to link up the garage so we can have a plug there as I am using it as a work area rather than parking the car. We could've easily just used an extension lead from the conservator but he decided to actually have it's own circuit so the guys actually wired in a plug straight from the main switchboard panel.

 

[Don Farrell]

Danny, good morning. You mention a "Landlord", is your home a rental property? If so you cannot do any electrical work even if you have the landlord's permission.

If you check with the AHJ I believe they will tell you that you cannot do electrical work on someone else's property. I'm pretty sure they will not let you pull a permit to do the work. Trust me, you do want that permit, along with the permit comes an inspection and an approval certificate.

The dishwasher is most likely being fed (pun intended) by a 20 amp circuit from the garage. The problem description clearly points to "load" problems and most likely just isolating the garage to one 20 amp circuit will not help you. You need to do a load study to determine how much amperage you actually need. You must consider load that will not be on at the same time.

For example you might discover that you actually need 50 amps (arbitrary number). If so it would be wiser to pull the 50 amps from the main panelboard and feed a secondary panelboard just for the garage.

It's complicate and code has specific articles for most of the work. But again I say, if you are renting the home, ask for your Landlords permission to hire a licensed electrican to put the secondary panelboard and additional branch circuits.