Wiring a Shed -opinions needed

chaajoad

Hi Folks -

I have a 10x16 shed I intend to use as an office/studio. It has 4 wall outlets, a ceiling fan and one wall light. There is an outside pig tail at one corner. The guy who delivered the building said that for the time being, I could connect a plug on the pig tail and just use an extension cord from an outside house outlet. Is that true? The hot/neutral/ground wires are each thick copper and look a bit too thick for a standard 3 prong plug.

I'm inexperienced with electricity and doubt my ability to hook up the shed myself bu $$ is very tight and I don't want to waste it. So here's another question. There's hot tub service at the side of the house nearest the shed. Can power for the shed be tapped from that? If not, it will be hundreds of feet to run underground cable from the main break box in the garage.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

jlmran

If the shed is wired to receive power at the pigtail, then yes, an extension cord will power the shed.

Whether that's the best decision for your scenario and your safety and your laws, is more difficult to answer.

Maybe the best thing is to have someone (pro) locally look at it.

biggles

the light and fan on an extension cord is nothing but watch the outlets loads,yes you could tape off the hot tub 115V run into the shed more to code.

rrolleston

Since it's just like an office shed sounds like a good idea to hook into the hot tub feed. Just make sure you use the correct size wire and breaker go deep enough (24") in the ground should be fine with direct burrial wire. Will you be running a heater or air conditioner out here?

chaajoad

At this time there won't be an AC unit and only a small space heater - the building is well insulated, even the floor. I'm using it primarily to record voice audio so some electric gear (computer/mixing board/etc) and a few lights. The hot tub breaker is most likely 30 amp, correct? I don't think I'm competent enough to tap into that box but if I can put a three wire plug on the pig tail, I can avoid running the extension cord through the door, allowing me to shut it tightly.

So - it looks like the consensus is that the pigtail with three solid copper wires will work with a three wire plug on the pigtail and the hot tub breaker box can eventually be used as a power source for the building, correct? I think I was overcharged but running the line for the hot tub from the main breaker box in the garage was nearly $1000. Money is a much bigger issue now and I need to do this as economically as possible. Any final thoughts/comments? Thanks ....

AllanJ

HOw far is the shed from the hot tub receptacle?

How far is the shed from your main breaker panel?

__________________
The average homeowner who lost his house in the Oklahoma tornadoes should move for good and not rebuild. Too much complexity watchdogging the contractor. Too much a chance to be defrauded.

chaajoad

Hi Allan -

I can be more precise tomorrow (daylight) but the shed is under 100 feet from the hot tub breaker box - maybe 75 feet. From the main breaker in the garage is tough to estimate. It's on the other side - the far side - of the house in the garage. The shortest route would have to run around the garage, past the front of the house and then another 20-30 feet my guess total might be 200 feet. Rough guesses ...