Approximately how much does it cost to provide 240V service to a house? I'm looking to wire up my detached garage so I can install a knife grinder and kiln for blade tempering. Thanks.

Rob

Need more info . Separate meter ? Sub panel fed from the house ? Distance from the source ? Underground or overhead ? What size service ?

How far away from the house is the garage and how many amps are you thinking of pulling between the kiln and the sharpener (plus lights and whatever else you may add)?

The reason I ask is the two ways to skin the cat that come to mind are: a) a subpanel pulled from the house service, and b) a whole new separate service.

Either *should* have permits, inspections, etc. The whole separate service is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to “just” do. Most utilities won’t set the new meter and hookup power without a signed off permit. A whole lot of electricians have no problem with setting and wiring a subpanel and letting the homeowner “take care of any permitting”.

I’ve seen 60 amp services, but they are pretty uncommon. You’d likely be putting in a minimum of a 100 amp service, and depending on potential for future heavier use, if you are going new service, I’d look into the cost difference between 100 amp and 200 amp services. Someday a big service might be valuable to a potential buyer with one or more electric cars and if the difference in cost at install time isn’t that much bigger might make sense.

If you’re just pulling a subpanel, you’ll need to add the appropriate breaker to your existing panel, run conduit to the garage, set the subpanel and wire between them. If you think you want thirty amps and you have enough breathing room in your main panel, it might be worth going with heavy enough wire for a fifty amp subpanel. Legally, this should be permitted and inspected, but in a lot of places that requirement is most often honored in the breach. The important thing is that it is done to code.

In either case, getting a trusted electrician to look at what you have, listen to what you want, and advise you the best way to get there is a good idea.

The kilns requires 15A, and I'm going to guesstimate that the grinder will probably not need more than 10A. I think I would just have these on the 240V circuit. Lights and plugs would remain on the 120V circuit already in the garage.

The garage is no more than 40 feet (roughly) from where my panel is, but the panel is in the basement, to there's the challenge of how I run that from below grade to the garage above grade. I have one of those dumb carriage houses with a tiny two car garage separate from the main house. I guess in this case maybe that's a good thing if I set my garage on fire accidentally.

I'm thinking maybe just a subpanel off my current service as opposed to having a complete new panel...mainly because I think it will cost less.

The other option would be just buying versions that run off 120V, but I think the circuit to the garage is pretty wimpy - I don't think I could run both things simultaneously.

I'm in Maine, so I do not know what your permits are in VA.

I ran a 50a 240v line from my house to my garage to replace a failed 30a line.

The failed line was a direct buried aluminium cable, and the neutral was compromised at some point.
I replaced it with a copper 6ga wire in a flexible conduit buried with the help of a Ditch Witch trench digger.
Total cost from main panel to garage sub-panel was under $500 for the Conduit, wire, and rental.

If you need to add the panel in the garage, that will add another 100$ or so fro the panel, breakers, and wire to outlets.

Add in the cost of an electrician if you are not comfortable doing this work, I'd budget $750-$1000 for the complete job.

We had a 220V pulled to our garage for a Tesla charger. Think is was $1100-1200. Highly recommend these guys; they're normal electricians who specialize in EV stuff but they were great to deal with and also pulled a new circuit for me at the same time so plug in my dual cylinder compressor.

https://www.havepower.com/

We serve N. VA, but don't do any work requiring trenching. At my last company it was $20 per for for trenching and cable, the a couple hundred for panel install.

Sight unseen I'd do a 60a subpanel fed from house service (if capacity allows).. Getting a second service is a pain in the ass just so you know. I'd expect to pay $1,200-$1,500.

Thanks for the recco PGT.

Jesse, would you recommend your old company? I will definitely need to do some trenching.

Rob

quote:

Originally posted by RobLew:
Thanks for the recco PGT.

Jesse, would you recommend your old company? I will definitely need to do some trenching.

Rob

I can't, they suck. Owner went to some seminar and learned he needs to charge triple market rates to make money.

Shoot me an email and I can refer someone to you.

I am also looking for a good electrician, but I would like a good one and not too expensive.

Hey Rob,

For wiring 240V service to your detached garage, you're probably looking at costs between $1,000 and $3,000. It depends on factors like the distance from your main panel to the garage, trenching requirements, and whether your panel can handle the additional load. Last year, I had some issues at home and needed an electrician to rewire part of my basement. The job involved adding a new sub-panel and updating some old wiring, and it cost around $2,200.

A friend recommended a reliable company with electricians who are always available, no matter the time of day or night or what day of the year. They did excellent work, and their availability was a huge plus. You can find out more information here about electrician . Good luck with your garage project!

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