I am looking at adding 220 in a detached garage. I have the breaker space in the house panel. The garage does not have a panel. Just a single 110 circuit from the house. The run from the house to the garage is about 75 feet, most of which is underneath concrete and/or asphalt.

What are my options? I'd hate to have to cut the concrete out the entire way.

second meter dropped to the garage

Overhead or underground are your options. I ended up with a second meter and underground line as GCP suggested when I added a detached garage. The downside is that the monthly minimum charge on the meter is more than the charge for the power used. I am willing to pay it for the service line to be underground plus my house service panel wouldn't handle the load. If you want underground and have to cut the pavement anyway, I'd go off the house and keep just the single meter.

Is your house fed underground or overhead with a riser? The conductor would be cheaper by going overhead. How much Load are you looking at in the detached garage ?

House is fed overhead. To run from the same pole would require cutting down a really nice maple, which I'd rather not do. House to garage would maybe be possible, would have to have clearance over driveway for septic trucks to access holding tanks for service. I am looking to power a stick welder, 50A circit. House has 200 amp service.

My house is total electric so when I built my garage I dropped a second service. 20 years later I am building a second garage/shop so I will feed it from my first garage all underground.

You could bore underground so you wouldn’t have to cut much concrete.

I am interested in that, any idea about the cost?

Not anymore, but the last we did I know there was a big difference in price between different people for the same process.

yes, bore underground, cost me 5 thousand to have power run into my house from pole, but that was 2 thousand feet or so,

Given that it is for a welder and not something in continuous service, would it be practical to just have a 220 connection near the house and run a cord to the garage when you need to use the welder? Perhaps run underground as far as you can towards the garage w/o going under pavement and locate the 220 connection there?

I have thought about that also. A 220V, 50 amp cable is about $300 for the length I need. Not sure on weight or size though. I can't imagine that being light. Probably need its own cart.

Feasible to run another feed to garage bypassing house ? I have 3 - 200 amp feeds beneath my meter. I could run 100 or 200 amp service off my existing meter base without entering house. 100amp panel is about $100 bill if you ship. Comes with the 220 breaker.

It depends on the budget. I think I would cut the pavement , or bore. If your house panel has room and capacity. Most times the load in the shop will be low. Except welder or compressor. There are double meter bases and double jaw meter bases available , if you would prefer a separate feed , underground to the shop. I would , do it right once. You will likely be glad you did. old243

You mentioned, that you have a 110 feed from house now. Is it in duct , or pipe large enough to pull the new feed through. Just a thought. might save cutting pavement. old243

No, the current feed is, um, well, not the best. Was done by a previous owner. Some people just don't know when they shouldn't do things.
If I end up running a 220 feed, I will add a new (replacement) 110 feed also.

if you have an overhead service now , even if you want to avoid cutting that nice tree they might be able to drop a pole so that they can go around the tree


that or a gas welder like the mount on welding trucks for what boring would cost

long cord as another option for your occasional use.

If you run a 220 line there it is not necessary to replace the 110 line. Put a breaker panel in your garage and run the 220 line to that then run branch circuits to lights, outlets and/or whatever you're supplying now with the 110.

The breaker box can be small (space for 4-12 breakers) depending on how many circuits you want to run off it.

Thank you for that explanation. I will be hiring the electrical work done, but like to know what is going on and my options.

If you are only doing it to run a welder and I’m assuming that will only be on occasional basis, just buy a generator that produces 220. It’s portable and can provide backup power in case of outage,

Just my .02