I'm helping a friend wire their new garage. He wants a 220 plug for a vehicle airlift. What gauge wire do I need to run in order to support the airlift on a 220 plug? It will be connected to a 20 or 30 amp double-pole circuit breaker (depending on which airlift he decides to buy). With the same notion, he wants another 220 plug for an air compressor. What gauge wire and which circuit breaker will work? Thanks so much!

Need to know the horsepower of each motor to determine any wire size.

I can tell you that a 20 amp circuit uses #12 wire and a 30 amp is #10 wire.

He doesn't know what he's getting yet for either equipment. He's not planning on drywalling for a while, so do I need to not run anything until he knows what he wants? How much horsepower can a 12 gauge vs. a 10 gauge wire handle?

Commercial lifts are usually 3/4 to 1 HP, both using #12 wire at 240 volts. An air compressor can be 5-10 HP. 5HP needs #8 and a 10 HP needs #4.

Thank you so much for your answers, this gives me a better idea of what I need to do. One more question, do I still need to use a 20 amp double-pole breaker for the airlift or will a single 20 amp breaker work for the 220 plug with 12-gauge wire? Same question for the air compressor too, but would I need to up the breaker to a 30 amp (single or double-pole)? Thank you again for all your help.

240 volt feeder needs a 2 pole 240 volt rated breaker, with a handle tie on both poles and internal common trip.

I would pull a 2 #10 plus ground, to each. Later it can be on a 20 Amp, 30 Amp, Single pole, or double breaker(120 or 240) If going to be 120, Neutral will need to be identified as white. You can put a #10 on a 20 Amp breaker.

If I were you, I would opt for the #10 wire for 30 amp. When I wired my garage addition for a future lift, I screwed up and put #12 wire under my sheetrock. I have so far found only one lift that requires about 17 amps. That lift is a Mohawk, which costs $4400, whereas other good quality lifts are only $2000-$3000. So I am faced with spending the extra $, or running a new 30 amp circuit. Just another example of poor planning.