do you actually NEED to bury UF cable?

[TOOL FANATIK]

i ran 12/2 uf cable, about 450' of it, from the garage to my sons' clubhouse. i did not bury most of it. i have stakes pounded in the ground about every 20' or so, and stapled down to each one, a good 8 inches above ground. the route i ran was alongside my property where i do not weed whack or mow; or do anything for that matter. i feel like not counting human interfernce, the cable exposed is healthier for the cable, long term, than having it buried anyway. what's code say for uf? im sure what i did is frowned upon, any opinions?

BTW the boys love having the tv and lights in there now!

 

[sberry]

Its not legal, what more you want to know? It would last longer in the ground. I did lots of that kind of stuff when I was a kid, not so much anymore. Hook it to a gfci circuit.

 

[bczygan]

Code wants to protect you from every stupid thing that humans have done to kill themselves.

In fact, that is how code gets written. When enough deaths occur, for a particular cause, code gets written to prevent that danger. In effect, code is written in blood.

So there is no way that code would allow that. People would find many ways to hurt themselves, with conductors exposed to damage above ground.

Will it work for you for a time? Sure. Don't know if the insulation will degrade from UV exposure.
Is it routed where someone can trip over it and pull conductors loose, exposing them and leaving them where people could contact them?

 

[pattenp]

Definitely not to code, but as said at least feed it from the source from a GFCI outlet or breaker.

 

[rockwithjason]

sunlight will eat it up over time. if you put a gfi at the source it will not be stupidly dangerous.

 

[TOOL FANATIK]

Its not legal, what more you want to know? It would last longer in the ground. I did lots of that kind of stuff when I was a kid, not so much anymore. Hook it to a gfci circuit.

just wanted everyone's take on it. i dont like doing choppy work, so i dont. sometimes the reasoning for the way something gets done is " because it's the right thing to do", and thats all i need for reason. the good thing about NOT burying it is, i can still bury it lol my first job like this, next one ill prep the ground, and bury it.

 

[TOOL FANATIK]

sunlight will eat it up over time. if you put a gfi at the source it will not be stupidly dangerous.

thats what my only real concern was, but i betted they were uv coated, ill check that. and yea its fed from a gfci breaker in the garage.

 

[TOOL FANATIK]

Code wants to protect you from every stupid thing that humans have done to kill themselves.

In fact, that is how code gets written. When enough deaths occur, for a particular cause, code gets written to prevent that danger. In effect, code is written in blood.

So there is no way that code would allow that. People would find many ways to hurt themselves, with conductors exposed to damage above ground.

Will it work for you for a time? Sure. Don't know if the insulation will degrade from UV exposure.
Is it routed where someone can trip over it and pull conductors loose, exposing them and leaving them where people could contact them?

technically yes theres always the chance someone could trip over it, even though its totally out of the way. and another member also mentioned uv exposure...ill check if its rated for that....after reading these responses, its a no brainer to me now to just bury the dam thing.

 

[TOOL FANATIK]

just in, i checked the print on the sheath; it's UF-B...is this a slight gamechanger??? and its uv RESISTANT....hmm.

 

[Stuart in MN]

Critters may chew on it...squirrels seem to like the taste of vinyl. Also, a 450' run means your son better be only running things with low current requirements, like a single light bulb or maybe a radio - voltage drop over that distance will be considerable.

Edit: the 'B' in UF-B means it has 90 degree C insulation, the old UF had 60 degree insulation. UV resistant is a typical statement, I don't know if any wire is going to be labeled as UV proof,

 

[TOOL FANATIK]

good to know Stuart, thx.


i have 2 outlets and a pot light. i ran my saw up there yesterday and no sighn of loss of power...i used to have extension cordsstretched to this distance and had the voltage drop problem, couldnt run my saws.

 

[justsam]

You are going to see about a 6% voltage drop, assuming the load is about 5AMPS. For a playhouse I would not be too concerned about the drop.

I assume you have connected the ground conductor at both ends of the 12/2.

If you are going to the trouble to bury it, it may be worth the extra effort and expense to put it in some PVC conduit especially if this is on some property line that may be subjected to a future fence install or?

 

[TOOL FANATIK]

I got about that, 7% using southwires calculator. I checked the outlet with the multimeter and got 120.5; with nothing plugged, dropped to about only 110 with an electric heater running...

-clubhouse

and yea i guess i should do that huh?; ill probably wait til after the winter's passed and ill do it the right way, as you suggested. cant really justify to the fiance spending any more money on my projects.

 

[Syberia]

Voltage drop is dependent on load, so you'll get no drop with no load. Assuming the heater is the largest load you'll be running in there, and you get 110 volts, you should be ok.

My compressor (15 amps, probably much larger startup draw) is the only thing I've ever had voltage drop issues with.

 

[TOOL FANATIK]

thx syberia, in addition to the heater, the tv/dvd/game console + light could all be running simultaneously... i'll keep a close eye on things.

 

[Syberia]

Most electronic devices don't care about the voltage, I think most of the ones now a days will run on anything from 100-250 volts input (you can confirm this by looking at the sticker either on the power supply or somewhere on the device). The light bulb similarly will not care.

 

[Mustang51js]

Squirrels and mice like to chew on wires

 

[TractorJeff]

Porcupines will chew it up right the wire! If they like the taste of the copper, they will chew through it! Used to see it a lot where a guy would run the wire up the side of an electrical pole for an outdoor light.

 

[CNGsaves]

Would be a LOT safer, and semblance of "legal" if you buried within continuous roll of plastic conduit. Heck, you surely have local sprinkler system contractors, or cable company subs who have vibratory plow that could bury that plastic conduit in couple hours. These are little Toro or Ditch Witch or Vermeer machines that cut/vibrate slot into ground and simultaneously put the conduit into the ground.

May get between 12 and 18 inches deep using this method.

At bare minimum, I'd be turning OFF that breaker EVERY time it is not in use.

Better be darn careful / observant as any fire / electrocuted neighbor kid who plays with your kid in clubhouse WILL have parents ready to sue you.

 

[G_P]

Other than animals the only thing you really have to worry about is somone seeing all that wire and stealing it for scrap. Around here 450' of exposed wire would get stolen pretty quickly.

 

[alfredeneuman]

I think most of the ones now a days will run on anything from 100-250 volts input (you can confirm this by looking at the sticker either on the power supply or somewhere on the device). The light bulb similarly will not care.

A light bulb running on 100V will be a little dimmer, and last much longer.
A light bulb running on 250V will be much brighter, and last less than a minute.

 

[Syberia]

A light bulb running on 100V will be a little dimmer, and last much longer.
A light bulb running on 250V will be much brighter, and last less than a minute.

I was referring to electronic devices such as computers, TVs, etc with switching power supplies. The light bulb, as you stated, will not care about dropping a few volts.

 

[TOOL FANATIK]

Would be a LOT safer, and semblance of "legal" if you buried within continuous roll of plastic conduit. Heck, you surely have local sprinkler system contractors, or cable company subs who have vibratory plow that could bury that plastic conduit in couple hours. These are little Toro or Ditch Witch or Vermeer machines that cut/vibrate slot into ground and simultaneously put the conduit into the ground.

May get between 12 and 18 inches deep using this method.

At bare minimum, I'd be turning OFF that breaker EVERY time it is not in use.

Better be darn careful / observant as any fire / electrocuted neighbor kid who plays with your kid in clubhouse WILL have parents ready to sue you.

several valid points- i am using a gfci breaker, but even so i have turned off that breaker several times after being done with it. for power consumption more than anything...but as i type this, the breaker's on, and not being used so im not very consistant.