Power to barn

[hydrovane218]

I second scottk's advice. A couple of years ago, I built a 2 1/2 car garage about 20' off to the side of the house. I ran a 60a sub panel in the garage off the house's 200a panel. I ran NMU 6/3 loomex cable(direct buriel rated)and for extra safety/piece of mind, I put it in 3/4 PVC conduit. I ran 3 wire(plus ground) cable since I wanted 230v for my compressor and welder and it worked great.
My 2 cents would be to go the same NMU cable(in your case, 10/2 should be plenty, especially given no major motor loads or a welder) and put it in PVC conduit also.
Good Luck

 

[Inspector507]

If anyone is doing this in an area that is subject to inspections by the local regulatory agency, you need to check what they are looking for. Type NM cable is not permitted to be run outdoors or underground. Not even in any type of conduit.

 

[nhkabotab7800]

i vote for conduit...i ran a new direct bury wire to my pool after the existing wire got hit somewhere while new leach field was being installed....two years later tree between pool and house hit by lighting, and you guessed it wire fried....only now i have a pool deck over the area the wire needs to be run....well it turned out to be a great excusse to but a backhoe and dig a trench and burry conduit.... just my story....in case you were wondering

the backhoe sure is fun though

 

[MikeInEburg]

I Just want to reiterate what Inspector507 said - NM type cable (Romex) is REALLY not appropriate in outdoor applications - even in conduit. The jacket is just not made to be immersed in water - and that is what will happen in many conduits - mostly due to condensation. Saving a couple of dollars today is usually not worth the safety and service life risks.
Mike

 

[Lineman North Florida]

You say you only want to power a few lights and a table saw, that is now, your needs can change drastically in say 10 years. If you went ahead and buried you some inch and a half or better yet 2 inch conduit you could still go with the romex and when your needs change you have the capability to upgrade your wire size to suit your new needs. I can't tell you how many friends I have helped go back and re-do what we could have done right the first time. No matter what you decide conduit is the only way to go, your kid's will thank you for it one day.

 

[Gomez]

I would run #6 copper, (NOT ROMEX, as stated Romex is not rated for underground/outdoor applications) to a 60amp subpanel in the garage.

 

[tglass]

I agree with DTCOOPER, run the double ought wire in conduit. The sting of the extra cost will be easy to get over sleeping good at night, and adding anything like a welder later won't be much of a headache. Whatever you do, don't forget to run lines like telephone, tv cable, remote light switch from the house. Not to admit I did.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

ROMEX TYPE UFB!!! Suitable for direct burial in outdoor applications. as written on manufacters box it came in Colonial cable company, power companies have been doing it for years.

 

[Inspector507]

UF-B is listed for use underground and outdoors. Nothing wrong with that. NM-B aka Romex is not.

 

[Cat_Driver]

The advantage of trenching to your barn is that you can think of other options in the trench.

Example, you can add a security line from the house to barn so if someone breaks in you get a signal in the house. OR, a video cable to add a camera, how about a light switch at the house so you can turn on the outside lights of the barn from the house.

The options are endless when trenching and using conduit rather that just dropping direct burial cable in the dirt.

Take you time, think out many options and always go bigger cable than needed for either future or to keep the cable cooler.

Copper in my opinion is the only way to go.

I ran a 600 ft cable and added a video cable conduit, and a phone cable conduit all at the same time. Years later I was glad I did because I was able to easily add video monitoring because of break ins, and the phone conduit was big enough to add a 25 pair cable for phones, internet, and securoty.

It was cheaper doing it with an open trench than digging another trench while trying to miss the original conduit later on.