I am installing an outide lite on a vinyl siding mounting block. Electricity is available 5 feet away via a duplex outside GFI vinyl siding mounted outlet. Question: Can I run 14/3 under the vinyl siding connecting the source to the lite? If so, what type romex do I need? NM-B? tia
No, by code you cannot. You can run metallic cable under the siding, or NMD romex under the siding with a steel protector over it You can run NMD romex inside the wall cavity.
*Use MC cable. Attach a bonding bushing to the MC connector and put a grounding pigtail on the bushing. You may need to use an angle connector to go into the siding block from behind.
Why do you need a 3 wire?
To ground the outside lite housing. Thanks for the post. Have a nice day....
You don't want 3 wire for that - you want 2 wire with ground. (nmd2)
- it has a black, a white, and a bare.
3 wire has black, white, red and bare.14/2 MC cable comes with a black wire, a white wire and a green wire for grounding.
Also: If that duplex outlet circuit is currently fed from a 20 amp breaker (using 12/2 wire), under many codes that added wire should be also be 12/2 with ground. Not 14/2!
OR change the circuit breaker for that circuit to 15 amp. We did exactly that when we realised that some armoured cable covered by to a nearby shed shed was 'perhaps' AWG14! So; to be sure we changed that breaker to 15 amp.
Reason for mentioning s that many wiring jobs back some years ago used AWG12 (20 amp breaker) for outlet wiring and AWG14 (15 amp breaker) for lighting circuits and did NOT mix outlets and lights on the same circuit. These days am seeing, under codes here, 14AWG, mixed outlets and lights; all from 15 amp breakered circuits.
By using 14/2 tapped onto a 20 amp circuit, the home owner could (depends on local codes?) inadvertently contravene electrical and insurance regulations!
Probably work OK for years! With never a problem! BUT if there was a problem fire investigators and or insurance might decline to say it met codes!!!!!!!
The amount of current taken by an outside light not large and well within capabilities of the wire. But could be legal implications!!!!!
replying to clare, Jeff Garlock wrote: Any recommendation on the "steel protector" referenced above? Is there a specific brand or type? I am doing a similar project.
If you are protecting 5 feet of cable I doubt you are going to find anything off the shelf that works but you might find a strip of 16 gauge galvanized a couple inches wide in the trash at a metal fabricator. I would only use galvanized or stainless to avoid rust. I would still paint the galvanized (edges are not protected)
Home Depot sells small pieces of sheet metal.
They don't have 16 ga galvanized and this is really the kind of thing they away at a metal fabricator. Even if you had do buy it they would only want $5 or something unless they have a minimum shop charge. I have always been able to jest talk them out of things like this. Don't go in the office, just look in the dumpster or scrap pile. You just don't say it is trash. They will correct you ;-)
The other option is a sleeve of EMT (conduit). That is only $3 a stick or something.
He also should be using UF cable, not NM.
I was really just answering the question asked but it does beg the question, is there an extra 6 cu/in left over in the box he wants to hit and is there a chance he can just fish the RX down the inside of the wall. That is a far less invasive solution. There are tricks to do that. The hardest part may be picking the knock out out of the box from inside.
Seems to me they had a bin of various shapes and thickness, including bar stock. That would certainly be thick enough.
and this is really the kind of thing
That's great if you know where there is one, they are willing to talk to you, etc. Some people might want to spend $8 and be done with it.
IGood luck getting that under vinyl siding without a bulge. But I suppose the new poster may have room.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.