2 electrical question re: deck renovation

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ironspider

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Greetings all,

My wife and I are having our deck "expanded" right now. Basically the deck was pretty useless before when we bought the house from the previous owners so we're bringing it out to a respectable size but that's left me with an operation question about the power out there and a "futureproofing" question as well!

Okay, just beyond where the deck ended previously, there was a light in teh ground (like a 2' lamp pole actually) where the stairs wound down to a lower deck. The location of this lamp will now be under the new deck so I'd like to tap into the power that exists there, create a junction box, and then run a couple of wires to other locations on the deck to power things like a stereo or lights or things like that. So my first question is: Once I create a watertight junction there and have determined where I want to run electrical to, what type of wire do I use and does it have to be in some form of conduit? The wiring will always be beneath the deck and passes from a small storage room (that is part of the house) right to the location where the lamp post is.

So another way to put it would be if I had the Junction Box and I want to run a wire from the junction box to "receptacle 1" 10 feet down the deck, what type of wire (UF-B? THWN? single conductors in conduit?) do I use to go from the Junction Box to the receptacle? And can I just staple it to the underside of the deck joists or do I need to somehow run a conduit (and what would the conduit be? Sched 40? Sched 80? EMT?) underneath the deck and fasten that to the underside (or alongside) the joists? Or, is it like a basement and I have to drill small holes through the deck joists and run the wire through those?

Okay, and for the "futureproofing" part, we are pretty sure that once we finish this side of the deck we'll expand it later down the other side of the house and eventually put a hot tub in there. Now I've been reading that hot tubs require some real electrical juice so I'm leaving that to a pro! But, I will be bringing some data and coax to the deck from the basement and using some conduit to do that so I'm wonder if I should run some additional conduit to make it so the electricians can just pull through their wire instead of tearing the deck up! If that sounds like a good idea wheat conduit do I use for that?

I'll try to draw a simple diagram explaining this better. (Trust me, this diagram looked ALOT better before I busted out the paintbrush tool to indicate the flow of things :) )

deck-wiring.jpg
 

hj

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Anything to do before, or while, the deck is being installed will simplify things later, assuming they are done properly in the first place. Use conduit with thhn, or similar, wires, NOT Romex.
 

Jadnashua

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When running wires through conduit, you have to account for the gauge and quantity of wires to be run in the conduit - there are some specific rules. Then, unless it is a straight run, when you change directions, you'd need to install a pulling box. You may also want to insert a pulling string while assembling the conduit
 

ironspider

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When running wires through conduit, you have to account for the gauge and quantity of wires to be run in the conduit - there are some specific rules. Then, unless it is a straight run, when you change directions, you'd need to install a pulling box. You may also want to insert a pulling string while assembling the conduit

Thanks Jim, so I assume that for your standard hot tub deal the electrician will probably use 4 #6 conductors at most? If so, what's the smallest grey PVC pipe I can run to hold that quantity? The conduit would be a straight shot from the basement to where the hot tub is so I won't have any bends but I hear you loud and clear that it will make the electrician happy to have that pull wire in there.
 

hj

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quote; Then, unless it is a straight run, when you change directions, you'd need to install a pulling box.

Have you never heard of "conduit benders" to make turns? If he needs a "pulling string" for the distance he would be running the conduit, either he has too many turns or an undersized conduit.
 
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Hey, wait a minute.

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