Passing UF Wire Through Shed Wall

[DerbyDad03]

I need to pass UF wire through a 3/8" wooden shed wall. Can I use a LB conduit body to accomplish this?

There will be no conduit inside or outside the shed, just the UF wire. The area where the body will be mounted is protected by a wooden fence with about a 4" gap between the shed and the fence.

The plan would be to bolt the conduit body to the outside 3/8" of the shed wall with the rounded bolt head inside the body and the washer/nut inside the shed. I would use silicon sealant around both the bolt hole and the hole for the LB body. The wire would be pulled up into the body from below.

A quick test shows that the conduit body "sleeve" will extend past the inside surface of the wall material by a small amount.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Code, AFAIK, requires conduit outside where it comes up the wall. Given the 4" opening I'd probably do it the same way. I used the same fitting where my UF comes out of the house and also into the garage. Works well

[gfretwell]

Sure. No problem and like Ed says, protecting the wire going up the outside with a piece of conduit is a good idea too. The code says it "shall be protected where subject to physical damage". What are you doing inside the shed?

[DerbyDad03]

The only thing I am doing inside the shed is picking up power for a "water feature".

SWMBO found a 20 gallon fish tank on the curb, bought a submersible filter and put the tank on a stand in one of her gardens. The goldfish will be forthcoming.

The shed was wired (with your help) a couple of years ago. There is a box mounted on the inside of the shed wall for a motion-activated exterior light. Once the wire is inside the shed, picking up power from that box is an easy task. (Lots of room) The incoming power to the shed is GFCI protected.

As far as protecting the wire, the only way it can be physically damaged would be if an animal chewed through it. There is no access between the shed and the fence, just a 4" space. Enough for me to reach in and mount the body, but that's about all. It'll be about 4' from the ground, so an animal would need to climb the wall/fence to chew on it.

[gfretwell]

Running it through the conduit is also a way to secure the wire. I assume you will be burying it once you get to the ground. I think I would fish the wire through and then mount the conduit body and conduit. Put some duct seal or caulking in the end of the pipe that you bury. Otherwise it will be an ant super highway.

[DerbyDad03]

Well, I wasn't planning on burying it. The fence in my yard is made of 8' sections of board-on-board, similar to this, but with the posts on my side of the fence:

The fish tank will located "2 fence sections" away from the shed and right up against the fence. I was planning on attaching an in-use receptacle to the 4x4 nearest the tank and running the UF wire between the slats so that it lies on top of the lower rail support.

It seems to me that running the wire in between the slats makes it more protected than buried. Is that not true/allowed?

[gfretwell]

It is OK as long as the UF is labeled U/V protected or words to that effect. I think most is these days. I would use conduit but that may just be me. ;-)

[dpb]

On 07/12/2016 12:14 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote: ...

Is this envisioned permanent? If so, I'm like gfretwell, go ahead and string the conduit. Either way, I'd place it on the bottom, not the top of the rail; while not likely, something falling can theoretically still hit it on the top plus it'll be less visible (my primary reason, personally, if it were mine to do).

Wouldn't know that I'd say "more", certainly different possible hazards.

Not positive on Code on this one, inside a living area I _think_ even with the fence slats, if it were on the top side of support it'd need the protection of at least a guard strip as it is (at least as I envision it) still possible for some object to fall on it between the vertical slats. That _may_ not be so; just seems like it would be to my way o' thinkin'...

[DerbyDad03]

My original thought was to use conduit, but I suspect that this may not be a long term arrangement. In addition, to run conduit at this time would assuredly destroy many of SWMBO's plantings since this section of her garden runs from the shed to the tank location, right along the fence. Weaving the wire through the slats is doable with minimal damage.

If the fish tank works out this summer and she plans to keep in place for next year, I may consider redoing the wiring in the fall once her gardens have died back. As long as I'm "safe" with my plan for the summer, I'll move forward and see what happens.

As always, thanks for the advice.

[DerbyDad03]

I addressed the permanence in another post: not sure yet but I can readdress the installation in the fall.

As far as visibility, that's not an issue at this point, at least not on my side of the fence. ;-) SWMBO's plantings completely hide the lower rail of the fence and therefore the wire also. The other side of the fence also has some plantings, but not as many as on my side.

No argument, but whatever guard I might use at this time would need to be as flexible as the wire. Stringing conduit or a rigid guard will require the removal of at least one section of fence to allow for access for anything rigid to be fed between the slats. Removing a section would be better done in the fall when the plantings die back. The same "damage to plantings" holds true for attempting to secure the wire to the underside of the rail.

I'll take my chances for now and readdress the installation in the fall when we'll probably move the tank inside.

[dpb]

On 07/12/2016 1:52 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote: ...

I've no disagreement with that; it's not a real hazard in the short term certainly and certainly wasn't intending to imply it was (which I think you recognized as well). _Might_ get 1/2" plastic conduit thru but just sayin', not that you need go do it now...

[DerbyDad03]

No problem. I didn't take it as if you were implying a dangerous situation. We're on the same page.

As far as getting anything in between the slats as the fence is currently i nstalled, nothing other than something as flexible as the wire will go through. Even that required some feed, pull, feed, pull, etc. The rails are only 3/4? so everyt hing is really tight. Nothing rigid is going in there unless a section is removed and it can be fed throu gh in a straight line.

Well, I guess I could remove all the slats on one side and just lay the con duit on the rail, but that's going to happen either. :-)

[Dean Hoffman]

A bunch snipped.

Lots more snipped.

Squirrels and mice would be my concern. I've had to repair cable squirrels have damaged by chewing on it. Shielded cable. I've had to repair damage mice have caused after getting into an electrical box through a 1/2" conduit hole. This isn't the same but close enough for a town this size: Bing image

Mice got into the box mounted on the horizontal beam that is about 4' below the pipeline. There were 3 pieces of coax like wire running through the1/2" conduit hole. Someone got careless and didn't install the cord retainer.