Wiring a Shed

Sep 19, 2011 27 Replies

My dad was an electrician - and the requirement (at least locally in Waterloo area) was the disconnect had to be reachable without entering the outbuilding. My recommendation was to bring the conduit up just inside the door, to switch height- using the disconnect box (switch box) as the conduit terminus and as the junction box to the lights and outdoor receptacle (outlet).

Yes, with 1/2", pulling in "romex" would not be a simple job.

You have it backwards, you want romex UF for the feed THEN transition to plain wire (or stay romex) in the shed, not plain wire for the feed going to romex. I'd use UF (undergound feeder) cable instead of plain wires in conduit. Eventually the conduit will leak and you'll have wires not designed for burial getting wet either entirely or condensation in the conduit. UF is made for underground, cant get wet at all. A ground rod bonded to your ground (green) feeder wire at the shed entry point may not be a bad idea either, just dont rebond the neutral to ground again in the shed breaker box (if you use a breaker box). This way if your ground wire fails somewhere in the feed you will still have the shed locally grounded. I really hate the idea of burying plain wire in conduit ever myself, when something like UF is so foolproof for leaks.

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Good point :)

Harry K

Yes that will work. Readily accessible is generally defined as 6' 6" or less from the finished floor.

I am not sure what Clare is talking about but he has a Canadian address so that could be a Canadian thing. They do have different rules about things.

Thank you! That solved a puzzle for me. Over 30 years ago I laid my 'twin lead' antenna wire in conduit frm pole to house. Could not figure out how moisture was getting into the conduit (dripping out of the basement end). I had constructed the perfect conditions for condensation. Conduit sloped up from basement to pole terminating about 10ft higher than the basement end. I probably could have measured a draft emanating from the pole end :)

Harry K

Thank you! That solved a puzzle for me. Over 30 years ago I laid my 'twin lead' (may have been coax, long time ago and long ago done away with) antenna wire in conduit frm pole to house. Could not figure out how moisture was getting into the conduit (dripping out of the basement end). I had constructed the perfect conditions for condensation. Conduit sloped up from basement to pole terminating about 10ft higher than the basement end. I probably could have measured a draft emanating from the pole end :)

Harry K

Individual conductors are used correctly in underground conduit all the time. The wire just has to be THWN rated, the W indicating that it's suitable for wet locations. In fact, many places only stock one wire now that is both THHN and THWN rated.

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