UF wire without a ground?

[RobA]

I am running about 80 feet of wire underground to 2 motion detector lights that are mounted on a wood pole (total of 4 bulbs, 90 watts each). I noticed most of the UF wire does not come with a ground. Do I need to have a ground wire? Is 14 gauge sufficient?

 

[Inspector507]

I haven't seen any UF in the last 20 years that didn't have ground. Doesn't mean it doesn't exist. But I personally haven't seen it.

 

[RobA]

Never mind! Not sure what I was looking at but there is a ground wire.

Is 14 gauge OK for an 80 foot run powering 400 watts?

 

[GPintheMitten]

Yes you need a ground wire. Four 90 watt bulbs are 360 watts. 360 / 120 volts gives 3 amps. 14 wire is sufficient.

 

[s219]

There seems to be a lot of confusion with labeling at the big-box stores like HD and Lowes, and the staff doesn't always know either. For example, if a wire is 10-2, that generally means a hot, a neutral, and a ground. Some stores/staff would call that 10-3, but it's not. 10-3 would have two hots, a neutral, and a ground.

I frequently see cut-to-length wire mis-labeled and mis-priced at these stores, and the pricing is always unfavorable (for example, labeling 10-2 wire as 10-3 and charging the 10-3 price). Good luck finding someone who can understand and correct that.

 

[kcflhrc]

Do you have to have a ground? Certainly not. Is it code in your area to do so? Probably. If you don't hook up the ground wire to the fixtures, it really doesn't do you any good anyway.

 

[GPintheMitten]

Do you have to have a ground? Certainly not. Is it code in your area to do so? Probably. If you don't hook up the ground wire to the fixtures, it really doesn't do you any good anyway.

I think I understand your point but others could get the wrong idea. When someone says do I need it, I think we are better off interpreting it as does code require it. Also if the fixtures are metal, grounding the fixture is necessary as a safety issue.

So yes he needs the ground wire