Running UF-B cable outside?

[Wow]

I need to run power for some new lights outside my shop. I would like to use 14/2 UF-B "outdoor electircal wire". Does this type of wire need to be run in a conduit? I was hoping to run it about 30' along the bottom of my gutters, if I can. Alternatively, can this wire be buried without a conduit? If so, how deep must it be?

As a different option, I might run THHN in conduit PVC conduit. Is that allowed?

It will all be on a GFCI breaker, if that makes any difference...

 

[nate379]

UF-B is direct burial. 18" is pretty standard, though some places have different requirements, 24" being another fairly common one.

I have been told you can't put UF-B in conduit by a few electricians, and also told you can by a few others. I haven't researched it. No reason to put it in conduit if you bury it correctly with "fines" (sand/good soil without rock) surrounding it.


Uh, running wiring in your gutters?

 

[916matt]

THHN is dual rated as also THWN so yes you can put it in an underground conduit.

 

[oleguy]

read the printing on the cable.it should say direct-buiral or direct sunlight.if it says sunlight ,you can run it out side with no conduit.

 

[Wow]

Uh, running wiring in your gutters?

UNDER the gutters. As in a nice straight line that should be relatively dry and allow me to hide a cord without much trouble. (like crhistmas lights) I will of course make sure they are in good condition and not leaking all over the wire.

Digging an 18" x 30' trench does not sound like fun.

 

[Aceman]

I have been told you can't put UF-B in conduit by a few electricians

Then they're idiots. How else would you protect it where it emerges from the ground?

 

[nate379]

No no, I mean on the part in the ground. The thought being that the UF-B is designed to use the ground as a heat sink and when you run it in the conduit it can over heat. Just what I was told... you would figure that someone that went to school and does it for a living would know... but I have come across pro wiring jobs before that had me going "UH.... W....T....F...." before too!

"Then they're idiots. How else would you protect it where it emerges from the ground? "

18" x 30' trench doesn't sound too hard. I did a 36" deep one about 90ft long this summer and it took me a weekend to dig, run my wiring and a conduit for an air line, fill it back and grade it.

Running it along your gutters doesn't make any sense to me. If you need to run it outside, run some Romex in EMT or PVC conduit and attach it properly to the building.

Like my Dad always told me, "If it's worth doing, it's worth doing it right"... in other words, don't half *** it.

 

[walrus]

. If you need to run it outside, run some Romex in EMT or PVC conduit and attach it properly to the building.

Like my Dad always told me, "If it's worth doing, it's worth doing it right"... in other words, don't half *** it.

You can't run romex in conduit outside, its considered a wet location

 

[nate379]

Yeah your right, I meant THWN.