Question on wiring my garage

[smalltown]

Slowly making progress on my garage. Almost completed the insulating except behind my three outside lamps (right, left, and middle) on the front wall of the garage, and one outside outlet that need wiring installed.

I had long since decided to avoid anything exposed to prevent the mice from doing any damage, so all my garage wiring is going to be run inside conduit ontop of my finished wall.

Since these should be the only instances where electrical wiring is inside the wall as it passes throught to the four fixtures I wanted some advice.

If I run conduit over to each of the fixtures is it ok to mount a small metal box on the drywall on the inside of the garage, and simply knockout a hole in back of the box and just run my 12/2 through the 2X6 wall without conduit from there to the fixture?

Hope that makes sense.

 

[Raspy]

All electrical boxes are supposed to have access. But if it's for you and your project, why not? But run romex where it is not in conduit and not just insulated wire, or better yet, run MC cable and never worry about critters.

MC is also pretty cheap. You could even run the MC through conduit and then have it exit with no electrical box if you wish. I've done it in my shop.

 

[murphy1244]

All electrical boxes are supposed to have access. But if it's for you and your project, why not? But run romex where it is not in conduit and not just insulated wire, or better yet, run MC cable and never worry about critters.

MC is also pretty cheap. You could even run the MC through conduit and then have it exit with no electrical box if you wish. I've done it in my shop.

Agree I like MC cable. Even bought the cutter for it,:thumbsup: makes working with the wiring soooo much easier.

 

[smalltown]

Thanks. Yes the boxes will be visable on the finished wall so I can have access if ever needed.

Somehow I always confuse romex with armored cable.
I guess I am using romex already? One hot, one neutral both insulated, and one uninsulated ground all three wrapped in paper then in plastic. 12/2 with ground

I was hoping to run three seperate wires through the conduit to the boxes, then exit each box with romex (held by a wire clamp)for the 7" travel throught the wall. The wall at these points is boxed in with 2x6s so I can't imagine any critter would have any way of getting inside.

 

[Groo]

all connections have to be in a box.

 

[Raspy]

You're talking about wiring in a very standard way. 12-2 romex in the wall and conduit where exposed. But you can also run romex in the conduit or you can strip the plastic sheathing and run the insulated wires in the conduit if you are running out of room. Good for a 20 amp circuit.

It's probably easier to avoid getting spools of wire. Just use the romex. You don't even need to cut it as it passes through the box to go into the wall. Just add a loop in the box so you can splice in a wire or a plug later if you want to.

Then you've avoided splices and different kinds of wire.

Romex comes in lots of different forms, but it's all plastic sheathing over insulated conductors with a bare ground. in 12-2 W/ground it simply means two number 12 insulated conductors and an uninsulated ground, all in a plastic sheath. MC is the aluminum cased flexible wire and (in #12) would be called 12-2 MC, just like the romex designation. It's like romex except with a flexible aluminum cover that can be run exposed, but inside buildings, not outside. Good for wiring florescent lights, circulating pumps and furnaces where the wire must get from the box to the appliance, but still be protected from damage. It's an easy way of running conduit. Then there's flexible conduit that looks like MC but is bigger and hollow. You slip wires through it like you would rigid conduit.

 

[steviep]

yes you can come out of the back of the box with an aproved conector and go into the box for the light fixture. Do not run romex in your conduit because it will use up your conduit fill. I would use type thhn #12 wire for most of your circuits which is good up to 20 amps. I would get 4 rolls , 2 colors ,1 white and 1 green. If you are afraid of the mice though wire your garage with m/c before you cover the wall.