underground electric

Hmmmm...maybe on the dual rating, I've not really checked much lately, used to be pretty common to not be wet-rated, but high temp (what commonly knew as "appliance wire")....

But doesn't address directly the question of whether "wet location" is synonymous w/ "underground" -- I didn't think it was/is and that should still be U rather than W.

OK, I looked at Southwire site and their designations -- I guess probably in conduit the "W" rating is equivalent and the "U" would be only a real difference for direct burial for the extra protection against physical damage (abrasion, nick, etc.).

Reply to
dpb
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They're not synonymous; however, "underground" is a subset of "wet". All underground locations are by definition wet, but not all wet locations are underground.

"Location, Wet. Installations underground or in concrete slabs or masonry in direct contact with the earth; in locations subject to saturation with water or other liquids, such as vehicle washing areas; and in unprotected locations exposed to weather." [2005 NEC, Article 100]

Reply to
Doug Miller

Thanks, Doug. As noted, it had been drilled into me about underground from sources other than actual code so was reacting from something like 40 years of that... :)

Reply to
dpb

After reading all that information about THHN versus THWN It turns out I will not be using either anyhow. I went to Home Depot last night to buy some trim for a new door and decided to take a closer look at their prices of wire. It turns out that I can buy UF 10/3 for $1.61 a linear foot. Somehow I got it in my head that the price was much higher then that. It is actually cheaper by .03 a foot to run the UF

10/3 then the individual wires. Also after closely examining the width of the cable I understand why it was recommended to me to buy 1.25" conduit. The 10/3 is actually about 3/4" wide if not more, so there would be a lot of resistance to pulling the cable through 1" conduit. Sorry about questioning all the advice earlier I am just a curious person by nature.

Rod M.

Reply to
rodney_morgan

I thought I posted this but it didnt come up so here it goes again. Last night I went to Home Depot to buy casing for a new door and thought I would take a look at their cable pricing. It turned out that UF 10/3 is only $1.61 a foot. Somehow I thought it was $2.50 a foot, so I am much relieved. It is actually cheaper to run UF then THWN by about .03 a foot. Also after examining the UF cable I realized how big it was and now understand why I was encouraged to run it through 1.25" conduit. Thanks all for the help!

Rod M.

Reply to
rodney_morgan

In that case, go with the individual wires.

1) It will be *much* easier to pull four stranded AWG10 THWN wires than one 10-3 UF cable composed of four AWG10 *solid* conductors.

2) Stripping the individual conductors out of UF cable (which you need to do everywhere you make a junction) is a PITA.

IMO it's not worth the hassle of using UF cable just to save three cents a foot.

Reply to
Doug Miller

UF wire doesn't "need" to be installed in conduit at all, it is made for direct burial.

Still conduit is a small expense that would let you easily upgrade the cable to something larger in the future if needed (10/3 wire will only carry 30amps max, less if you have a long distance to run). It also provides an extra layer of protection from shovels and whatnot.

I don't know about UF cable, but generally it's against code to run sheathed cables inside conduit. The concern is heat build-up from the wires being so close together. Individual wires have more airspace to dissipate the heat.

From a practical standpoint, the individual wires will be easier to fish through the conduit, especially if there are any bends along the way. But it probably wouldn't be a big deal to fish UF cable through a straight section of conduit, especially if you have 1.25".

Anthony

Reply to
HerHusband

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