Any house electricians aboard?

[Barnacle_Bill]

I have to have a new septic field installed and they require 2 circuits for the pump. The pumps calls for 12-2 wire and the alarm 14-2. I will be coming out of my breaker box, thru the attic, then out the eaves into a piece of conduit. Can I use just regular romex for this or should I use wire rated for outdoors use?

 

[arks]

Re: Any house electricians aboard?

Use the outdoor stuff. It called UF cable and it's sheathing is grey.

 

[Barnacle_Bill]

Re: Any house electricians aboard?

Thats what I was going to use if no one knew. Thanks for the reply.

 

[Bigprairie1]

Re: Any house electricians aboard?

The wiring is the easy part and it looks like you are getting good advice here. The tough part is what the local code specifies for burying the cable. How far away is your pump/field connection? Do you have a buried box? or above ground?
Around here code requires a bury depth of 18" w/ mechanical protection above the wire and a sand base below. This 18" depth is if the area is NOT a vehicle area. If it is a vehicle area (ie: driveway)...then the depth is 24" plus the other stuff.
This is a lot of digging....believe me. So plan on renting equipment to do it.
Good luck and keep us posted.
BP

 

[heyttown]

Re: Any house electricians aboard?

If you run pipe from under your eaves down into the ground and hook up to the Junction boxes on the pumps( i have yet to work on these pumps so dont know what they look like) But if you set a Junction box outside under your eave and run conduit all the way continous to the pumps, I would run seperate conductors, cheaper and it doesnt have to be UF (underground) rated....whenever possible I try and run pvc in the ground...Its cheap and lets say 5 yrs down the road when something happens to the feeds for the pump, its just un hooking them and pulling new wire in...If you run UF cable and then get problems then you are going to have to re dig it all up....
If you run pipe, Just a single 3/4 will work, or if you need to seperate pipes...I wouldnt run anything smaller then 3/4, but I like to have extra room in the pipe.
I would run romex in the house into a Junction box in the eaves and single conductors from there.

 

[joed]

Re: Any house electricians aboard?

Does need to be wet rated. It should be THWN rated. Most single conductors are dual rated THHN/THWN.
If you are running conduit the full way outside I would use the single conductors as well. Easier to pull and smaller conduit can be used. 1/2 inch will be suitable for single conductors.

 

[Barnacle_Bill]

Re: Any house electricians aboard?

Does need to be wet rated. It should be THWN rated. Most single conductors are dual rated THHN/THWN.
If you are running conduit the full way outside I would use the single conductors as well. Easier to pull and smaller conduit can be used. 1/2 inch will be suitable for single conductors.

There will be only about 6ft of conduit on the outside of the house. The rest will be in the attic.

 

[jameskb2]

Re: Any house electricians aboard?

You can run regular romex from the panel (load center / breaker box) to a junction box as stated. The junction box MUST be accessible for service. This can be done in the attic. Place it near your exit point to the eve. I'd use a 4" square box 3" or deeper there. Then connect the UF or strand there through your conduit. You'll put a blank cover on the box.

PVC conduit is cheaper and easy to use. I too would use 3/4" minimum. There are codes for wire size, maximum conductors and lengths. Check them.

There will need to be switching or an access panel above the pump or pumps. The alarm box might be a "kit" that includes these things. Check with the septic guy, he'll know and also tell you how far his end of the job goes. Some install them and let sparky hook them up, some don't.

Communication and code checks are very important to any installation like this. You'll need an electrical permit. Get a drawing, get advice and then FOLLOW it, you'll be fine then. Nothing worse than doing the job only to find out it's not compliant or won't work.

This is why contractors cost so much. There's a lot of legwork and knowledge involved.

 

[Rogue427]

Re: Any house electricians aboard?

Run a etra wire or string in your PVC If you ever have to pull a new wire you'll be glad you did. JMHO:redface:

 

[Barnacle_Bill]

Re: Any house electricians aboard?

Run a etra wire or string in your PVC If you ever have to pull a new wire you'll be glad you did. JMHO:redface:

Being a retired telephone tech I am very familiar with that. Even do it in my boat.

 

[joed]

Re: Any house electricians aboard?

There will be only about 6ft of conduit on the outside of the house. The rest will be in the attic.

It doesn't how much there is it will buried and that is a wet location.

 

[Barnacle_Bill]

Re: Any house electricians aboard?

It doesn't how much there is it will buried and that is a wet location.

No, none of it will be buried. It will come out of the eaves 6 ft down to a box. Its the septic contractors job from the box out.

 

[joed]

Re: Any house electricians aboard?

Now I understand what you are doing. I believe you might be able get this as a not wet location. The conduit in this case would be considered a sleeve for protection.

 

[jameskb2]

Re: Any house electricians aboard?

No, none of it will be buried. It will come out of the eaves 6 ft down to a box. Its the septic contractors job from the box out.

Oh, I see. I think we all assumed that you had to bury the wire. So all "your end" is to a panel mounted on the exterior of the house.

Here, according to code, you could run your 12/2 and 14/2 using romex through the attic into the conduit and into that panel. No need for the attic splice point. I might put it in anyway to make the job easier to service, but it's not required. Use grounded wire not just two strand. They'll want it grounded. The typical "12/2 with ground" romex.

 

[Barnacle_Bill]

Re: Any house electricians aboard?

Oh, I see. I think we all assumed that you had to bury the wire. So all "your end" is to a panel mounted on the exterior of the house.

Here, according to code, you could run your 12/2 and 14/2 using romex through the attic into the conduit and into that panel. No need for the attic splice point. I might put it in anyway to make the job easier to service, but it's not required. Use grounded wire not just two strand. They'll want it grounded. The typical "12/2 with ground" romex.

I agree. I wouldn't even consider running it without a ground.

 

[tommays]

Re: Any house electricians aboard?

IMHP what the local inspector will require is SO different with things like this youi really need local advise