UF wire to small garden shed

hartkem

I want to direct bury some 12-2 feeder wire to a small garden shed just for lighting. I have an outside outlet box on the back of my house that I would like to run the power wire to. I plan on running conduit down from the outside recepticle underground about a foot. I could run the power to my fuse box in the basement but I am limited on adding extra breakers. Is it OK to tap into the outside electrical receptical to supply power to my shed?

J. V.

Yes. As long as you follow the correct burial depths. Protecting the cable above ground like you mention is also very important.
Remember. This circuit is limited as to the breaker and wire size existing. You must be certain the outside box contains #12 wire and is fed with a 20 amp breaker to expect a 20 amp circuit. If the wire or the breaker are rated for 15 amp, 15 amp is what you will have including the other loads on this circuit.

TarheelTerp

You don't need pipe. The GP circuit for your shed can be achieved with an underground romex type wire (called "UF"). You'll still have to make a narrow trench though.

Depends on how that receptacle is set up and where it gets power from.
Ideally... it is part of a 20A GFI protected circuit. If so, you're golden.

If not, then you should plan to go to an existing 20A GFI protected circuit...
or back to the panel and start a new one.

hth

hartkem

Thanks guys for you help. I will confirm it is a 20 amp circuit and go from there. What is the minimum depth for 20 amp UF wire.

TarheelTerp

Conveniently for you... that is about the distance from the tip of a pick to where the handle will bind up.

seansy59

You need conduit when it goes above the ground to the box to protect it. Can you put the UF in conduit? Absolutly. There is nothing wrong with a little protection. But you will have a hard time pulling all the way through unless you use like 2" conduit.

HouseHelper

Direct burial cable depth - 24"; in PVC conduit - 18"; 120V 20A or less, protected by a GFCI circuit - 12".

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