Running power to a gazebo
#1
01-17-22, 05:16 PM
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: USA
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Running power to a gazebo
I'm in the planning stages of installing a gazebo (a permanent structure) in the back yard. I would like to add electrical to the structure and am fuzzy on some details that I need to apply for a permit. (Yeah-- I know! A DIYer pulling a permit! Whodathunkit!?)
The gazebo is made of wooden legs that support an aluminum roof. There are no walls. Though the footprint of the roof does extend past all of the wooden support structures, I'm reasonably confident that this would be considered a 'wet' location, right?
I believe that I can install a 20A GFCI breaker in the panel and bury 12/2 UF [or a 15A breaker and 14/2 cable] at a depth of 12 inches to the concrete slab on which the gazebo will rest without requiring conduit (at least, no conduit once I'm 12" below grade). Right?
I would like to bring the cable up through the slab in conduit when the slab is poured, and then up the hollow wooden leg of the gazebo. Once the wiring is up to the rafters of the gazebo I'd like to install a ceiling fan and a switched outlet for 'Edison lights' hung under the canopy.
The questions I have are:
The gazebo is made of wooden legs that support an aluminum roof. There are no walls. Though the footprint of the roof does extend past all of the wooden support structures, I'm reasonably confident that this would be considered a 'wet' location, right?
I believe that I can install a 20A GFCI breaker in the panel and bury 12/2 UF [or a 15A breaker and 14/2 cable] at a depth of 12 inches to the concrete slab on which the gazebo will rest without requiring conduit (at least, no conduit once I'm 12" below grade). Right?
I would like to bring the cable up through the slab in conduit when the slab is poured, and then up the hollow wooden leg of the gazebo. Once the wiring is up to the rafters of the gazebo I'd like to install a ceiling fan and a switched outlet for 'Edison lights' hung under the canopy.
The questions I have are:
- Does the cable need to be in conduit from the top surface of the slab to the rafters if the cable is run through the hollow wooden leg of the gazebo? (The leg is made of two U-shaped wooden parts that are mated to form a rectangular tube.)
- Does the cable need to be in conduit to run along the rafters to the ceiling fan?
- If the answers are 'no' and 'yes' to the questions above, where and how do I go from having the cable not in conduit to having it in conduit?
- If I mount a weatherproof housing for a light switch on the gazebo leg, and feed the cable into the back of the housing through a hole drilled in the leg to which the housing is mounted, do I need any kind of conduit as the cable passes through the hole in the wooden leg?
Last edited by NogginBoink; 01-17-22 at 05:53 PM.
#3
01-17-22, 10:09 PM
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It sounds like the cable will only be exposed above the switch.
That means it would be pretty much protected.
The only thing that I do that may be a little different is to sleeve the UF thru the concrete.
That means it would be pretty much protected.
The only thing that I do that may be a little different is to sleeve the UF thru the concrete.
#4
01-28-22, 10:47 AM
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Running power to a gazebo and GFCI nuisance trips
I'm getting my ducks in a row to run electrical to a gazebo in my back yard. It appears that I can either run UF cable in a 24" trench with a regular breaker or I can only go down to 18" if I protect the circuit with a GFCI breaker.
The run will be 100-ish feet and since I have a penchant for overdoing things will probably be 12/2 with a 20A breaker. My question is which side of the line do I want to put the GFCI protection on? It's easier to dig 18 inches than 24, but I don't know what the risks of nuisance GFCI trips are if the GFCI protection is on the source side of the line.
Anyone got any thoughts on this?
The run will be 100-ish feet and since I have a penchant for overdoing things will probably be 12/2 with a 20A breaker. My question is which side of the line do I want to put the GFCI protection on? It's easier to dig 18 inches than 24, but I don't know what the risks of nuisance GFCI trips are if the GFCI protection is on the source side of the line.
Anyone got any thoughts on this?
