adding outdoor outlet under deck

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DanMc

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Hello,

I have a deck on the back of my house. The ground slopes such that if you are under the deck near the house at one end there is about 3 feet from the ground to the deck joists. As you crawl/walk along the edge of the house towards the other end of the deck the ground slopes down until there is maybe 7 or 8 feet of clearance.

I want to add an outside outlet on the edge of the deck away from the house partially so I can plug in stuff like a radio in the summer but more importantly for a low voltage lighting transformer.

There is an outside outlet on the exterior wall of the house above the deck. The path the wire takes is to go down in the wall, and it comes out in the basement and from there I can follow it a good ways. There is an easy spot in the basement where I could drill a hole to get out under the deck, in between two of the deck joists. It would be easy inside to fish some wire up to the junction box that has the existing outlet and tap in there. It would also be easy to add a junction box in the basement to tap in.

My questions then are:

- What is the appropriate way to get through from the basement to outside? Is there a particular sort of box that should be mounted on either side? This would need to be a surface mount box as it is 2x10 on both the exterior side and the interior side. Should some sort of conduit be passed through the hole I drill?

- Once I get the wires outside, do they need to be in some sort of conduit or is it ok to just run UF-B cable under the deck stapled to the side of one of the joists? If I do need conduit, what sort should I use?

My city uses the 2002 NEC code.

Thanks
-Dan
 

Scuba_Dave

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Outside wire needs to be rated for outdoor use
Box must alos be rated for outside use, wet location
In use wet cover must be used
GFCI protection required, must be WR outlet if installed outside

I have used a short section of conduit as a sleeve, my box was mounted on the outside wall of the house
 

Cacher_Chick

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I would run THWN in EMT at least from the inside junction to the outlet. You would need to know what else is on the existing circuit to determine if it can/should be added to.

As previously stated, it will need to be protected by a GFCI, either from the inside or at the outlet itself.

998015492_am.jpg
 
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DanMc

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the circuit I hoped to tap into is a 15 amp circuit and as near as I can tell it consists of 1 outlet in each of 3 bathrooms, one outlet on the front porch, and one outlet on the outside of the house by the back door that opens onto the deck for a total of 5 outlets.

They are all protected by a single GFCI.

With the EMT, is there a particular grade or anything for use outside? Also what specific hardware (junction box, etc) would need to go on the interior and exterior side of the wall I drill through?

Thanks
-Dan
 

Cacher_Chick

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My understanding of the current NEC is that the bathroom circuit is not to be shared.

Assuming you have room to add another circuit in your panel, a new circuit for the deck would be recommended.
EMT is bent using a bender, and is a skill in itself. The EMT can be routed through a hole over the sill plate with no need for junction boxes.
You will need EMT compression couplings for any joints in the EMT and fittings to terminate each end of the run.
 
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Frenchie

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Depending where you are, you could use PVC conduit instead of EMT.

Also depending where you are, the only place you probably need conduit, is going through the wall, and maybe near the receptacle. Conduit is only needed where there's a risk of damage to the wire - as long as it's outdoor rated, stapled to the side of a joist is fine in most places. Here in NYC, it's EMT the second you're outdoors - but in Long Island,they use plastic conduit, and only above the deck, below the deck is just stapled.

You don't have to have a box where it goes through, unless you're doing a junction, switching from indoor wire to outdoor or something like that. Just run the wire through the conduit where it risks being damaged.

The fact that you outdoor outlet is on the bathroom circuit, though... that's not okay. Bathroom circuit should not be shared with anything. AFAIK, it wasn't okay in 2002, either.
 

DanMc

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yuck. the sharing of bathroom circuit and outdoor outlets was done by the original builder of the house which is 20-25 years old. Then again, I assume that's who used that stupid "jam the wire in the back instead of using the screw terminals" wiring which seems to fail.

unfortunately the panel is full and so is the expansion panel which was there when I moved in.
 

Scuba_Dave

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You can't use the bathroom circuit to feed an outdoor outlet
Violation of NEC code
Find another circuit to feed the outlet - not one of the kitchen dedicated circuits
 
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