Running Wire to Detached Garage


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Old 04-13-06, 12:57 PM
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Question Running Wire to Detached Garage

Hi everyone,

I need to run electricity to my detached 2 car garage. I thought running a 10g direct bury line would support all of my electrical needs. I will also be running a separate 14g line that will operate a light on the garage from the house.

Unless there is something already wrong with the above setup, my question is about how to run the line. I'm assuming "direct bury" cable can be run without conduit. Only problem is, there is a stone driveway between my house and the garage. So this line will constantly be indirectly driven on. Is this ok? If not, what type of conduit should I use? And, how deep do I need to bury the 2 lines?

Thanks for your help!
 
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Old 04-13-06, 01:09 PM
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How far is the garage from the panel (as the wire will run)?

What do you plan on powering with the 10 gage wire run? Are you talking about a sub panel in the garage, or just a circuit? I would at least make it a multi wire circuit. Plan on at least twice as much power as you think you'll need.

Regardless of what you want to do, I would run conduit. Conduit will allow you to make changes in the future. I would actually run two sections of conduit.

In the first section of conduit I would run all my electric cables. That is the three 14 gage wires for the light and the 10 or whatever gage wires for the power circuit.

In the second section of conduit I would run any and all low voltage cables, such as for telephone, television, etc. Even if you don't plan on the now, run the conduit
 
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Old 04-13-06, 02:22 PM
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Be careful how you wire this up. By code, you are permitted to have only one feeder to the garage. What this means is that the light must be powered from the garage end. You are permitted to run wires or a cable back to the house to switch the garage light but they must not be tied to anything else in the house.

If the driveway is private (single residence only) the minimum burial depth of either direct burial cable or conduit will be 18 inches.

I agree that the installation should be in conduit. Future expansion and any repairs will be a lot easier.
 
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Old 04-14-06, 07:54 AM
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Thanks guys.. I had no idea I had to power the switch from the garage end. That seems easy enough to do now that I know!

I plan on having a subpanel in the garage. I just think it makes the most sense in case a circuit trips. From the entrance into the garage to the main circuit panel, the run will be around 100ft. I think the largest item I will be running is a portable air compressor. The one I have requires a 20 amp line. If I was running that, I wouldn't be running anything else (other than a few lights) at the same time.

I guess it is possible that I might someday run a welder and I bet the 10g line is not enough for that. Problem is, I already bought the 10g cable and ran it through the house portion. I guess I could do it again, but the 10g direct bury cable already cost a fortune. I think 8 or 6g will probably cost $250 for the amount I would need!
 
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Old 04-14-06, 09:59 AM
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If you feed the garage with anything other than one branch circuit, you must provide a grounding electrode in accordance with 250.32(A).

Chris
 
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Old 04-14-06, 12:19 PM
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Originally Posted by itsunclebill
Be careful how you wire this up. By code, you are permitted to have only one feeder to the garage. What this means is that the light must be powered from the garage end. You are permitted to run wires or a cable back to the house to switch the garage light but they must not be tied to anything else in the house.


Section 225.30 generally prohibits more than one feeder or branch circuit to buildings or structures.

There are exceptions, 225.30(D) says, “Additional feeders or branch circuits shall be permitted for different voltages, frequencies, or phases or for different uses, such as control of outside lighting from multiple locations.”

I don’t see where it says which building the additional circuit must originate.

If you had 3 or more buildings or structures, each with a feeder or branch circuit, and you wanted to have outdoor lighting switched from a single or multiple locations at each one, would it matter where the circuit originates?
 
 

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