Replies

1. 
   norml | Aug 27, 2001 02:19am | #1

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   Curious as to why you think it's incorrect and needs to be replaced. To properly answer your question, I would need more information. How far from the house is the garage? Is the existing wire directly buried or in conduit? Is the existing light controlled from the house and the garage?

1. 
   Eric_Svendson | Aug 27, 2001 03:03am | #2

   *What makes you think it was done incorrectly?Make your 1st outlet GFCI and let everything flow from there. You could put a light on the outside of the garage and control it from inside the house via relay.

1. 
   Lone_Wolf | Aug 27, 2001 03:26am | #3

   *The old wiring is definitely questionable. It is old 12/2 withOUT ground, it runs out and up the outside of the house(no conduit), across a sidewalk between the house and garage about 6 ft. above the ground, connects to a spliced extention cord to an outlet and light via a switch. The garage is about 50 feet from the access panel and 4 ft. from the house. I will put the new wire in conduit underground. There are two outside lights controlled from a switch in the house and also a light inside the garage controlled from the garage.

1. 
   The_Tennis_Court_Builder_...on_t | Aug 27, 2001 02:26pm | #4

   *Mr Howell, You are on the right track...use 12-3 for any 3-way switch circuits you would like, add a 12-2 for power at the garage, send all thru conduit and you'll be looking just fine.near the e streams,aj

1. 
   Joe_Hennessey | Aug 27, 2001 06:59pm | #5

   *"Questionable" is just the right word. Joe H

2. 
   IBEW_Barry | Aug 29, 2001 05:05am | #6

   *Hi Lone Wolf, Something to remember if you want to follow the National Electric Code with your work: Usually every building or structure is required to have a ground rod (around here two), but there is an exception that says if the building is served by only ONE circuit, and an equipment grounding conductor is carried with it, you don't have to install the ground rod. So, to be righteous, you can't take 220(two 110 circuits)out to the garage, or ,a 110v circuit for the garage plus a switched leg from a house lighting circuit without driving an 8 foot ground (using a sledge hammer, if you're not used to doing them, a real pain). And if you're going to use PVC conduit between buildings make some effort to protect the stub-ups next to the buildings from damage from lawn mowers and weed wackers; convert to metal conduit or pour a little concrete curb around them. Nothing's easy but it sounds like your existing wiring REALLY needs replaced.

3. 
   Cliff_Popejoy | Aug 29, 2001 06:17am | #7

   *Lone Wolf,Run sched 80 PVC conduit above ground, sched 40 below. Or simplify life & go sched 80 all the way. Bury it 18" deep.Half-inch trade size is plenty big enuf for the one circuit you want to install now...but do yourself or the future owner a big favor and put another conduit, a one inch, in the trench as well. Cap off the bigger one above ground. One day you may be glad you ran it.I suggest you run three conductors in the 1/2" Sched 80--a hot (black), a neutral (white), and an insulated ground (green). Use THHW, either 12 or 10 gage. Be advised that many conductors have dual rated insulation, THHN/THHW. The "W" means the insulation is OK for wet locations. Any underground conduit is considered a wet location. Don't run NM in couduit (you'd have to run UF anyway, cause of the water.)If you want to do it quick and dirty, you could run UF cable, no pipe. I wouldn't. Requires almost as much trenching, and sopmething (a gopher, a shovel) will eventually get the unprotected cable.Run the couduit into the garage and put in a 4S junction box, then wire from there with method of your choosing. Don't GFI-protect the light unless you want to find yourself in the dark some day when the GFI trips.Have fun. Oh, and if you can think of any other trenching you have to do (lawn sprinklers?), you could probably justify renting a ditch-witch or similar. Talk to the neighbors...maybe a few of you could keep one busy for a morning.

2. 
   Lone_Wolf | Aug 29, 2001 06:17am | #8

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   I want to remove the old(which I think was done incorrectly) run to the garage and replace with a new run. what needs to be done? Can I just run a 12/2 on a 20 amp breaker? It will only be 2 or 3 outlets and some lighting. It's just an old 1 car garage that's mainly used for storage.