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scout · 03-05-2005, 02:43 AM

Lots of good yet pretty damn confusing information in this thread. Poor fella if he wasn't scratching his head before I bet he is for sure by now ..... HAHA. Simplified here goes ....

Set down and think for a bit about what you are gonna be using outside. Think about the most you will ever be using outside at any given time. Will you need 220v or will 110v be sufficient? This will determine how big the circuit should be. Go to Lowes or Menards etc., and buy about 40-45' of the grey wire that can be burried underground[better to have a little more than you need}. What size you buy will be determined by the amout of power you feel you need outside. If your only gonna run a few power tools or a few lights then I would probably buy 10/2 with ground. Next you will want to dig the trench between the house and the first shed. If you never plan on digging in that area then 12"-24" should suffice. Next you will want to make your penetrations in the house and into the first shed and run the wire. If you bring the wire out of the ground where it will be exposed at anytime after you place the dirt back then you will want to place plastic conduit over the wire as most underground wire is not UV rated. Plastic conduit is cheap and easy to work with. You will not need to place conduit over the wire in your basement. Just be sure to seal the small hole you make to get the wire into the basement. You can make this hole into the block with a hammer or drill through the band board. Next go outside and hook everything up out there. You can either run the wire into a sub-panel as suggested in a earlier post or run it straight into the first outlet box. You will need the branch circuit to be GFCI protected {for safety} and this can be accomplished several ways. You can either buy a GFCI rated breaker {expensive} and install that in the main power box or you can simply buy a GFCI outlet {not so expensive} and install it in the first box if you aren't setting a small sub-panel and wire everything out of there. Problem with using one GFCI outlet is anytime you exceed the limit of that one GFCI outlet you will need to push the reset button. Personally, I think I would buy a 30 amp two pole breaker and place that in the house and a sub-panel for the shed then run the wire between the main panel and the sub panel. This will allow you to have 220v outside in the sheds in case you ever need it for whatever reason, to run a small welder or 220v appliance for instance. Next I would purchase two single pole 15 or 20 amp GFCI breakers for the subpanel {one for each shed} and install them. Now you have power outside. Next I would run all my wires in the sheds using 12/2 with ground using conduit to get the wire between the sheds via conduit or buying wire that was uv rated or burying it using the underground wire. Next step is hooking everything up.
Setting a sub panel gives you a couple advantages, one being everything is protected back to the house with the 30 amp breaker. Everything in the sheds is covered by the single pole breakers installed in the sub panel. This will lesson the walks back to the house to reset the breaker. If you do happen to accidently overload the circuit chances are the 20 amp single pole will trip before the 30 back in the main will. Sure cuts down on a lot of walking .... Hope that cleared a little of the confusion up. Good Luck.

03-05-2005, 02:43 AM	#7 (permalink)
scout Psycho	Lots of good yet pretty damn confusing information in this thread. Poor fella if he wasn't scratching his head before I bet he is for sure by now ..... HAHA. Simplified here goes .... Set down and think for a bit about what you are gonna be using outside. Think about the most you will ever be using outside at any given time. Will you need 220v or will 110v be sufficient? This will determine how big the circuit should be. Go to Lowes or Menards etc., and buy about 40-45' of the grey wire that can be burried underground[better to have a little more than you need}. What size you buy will be determined by the amout of power you feel you need outside. If your only gonna run a few power tools or a few lights then I would probably buy 10/2 with ground. Next you will want to dig the trench between the house and the first shed. If you never plan on digging in that area then 12"-24" should suffice. Next you will want to make your penetrations in the house and into the first shed and run the wire. If you bring the wire out of the ground where it will be exposed at anytime after you place the dirt back then you will want to place plastic conduit over the wire as most underground wire is not UV rated. Plastic conduit is cheap and easy to work with. You will not need to place conduit over the wire in your basement. Just be sure to seal the small hole you make to get the wire into the basement. You can make this hole into the block with a hammer or drill through the band board. Next go outside and hook everything up out there. You can either run the wire into a sub-panel as suggested in a earlier post or run it straight into the first outlet box. You will need the branch circuit to be GFCI protected {for safety} and this can be accomplished several ways. You can either buy a GFCI rated breaker {expensive} and install that in the main power box or you can simply buy a GFCI outlet {not so expensive} and install it in the first box if you aren't setting a small sub-panel and wire everything out of there. Problem with using one GFCI outlet is anytime you exceed the limit of that one GFCI outlet you will need to push the reset button. Personally, I think I would buy a 30 amp two pole breaker and place that in the house and a sub-panel for the shed then run the wire between the main panel and the sub panel. This will allow you to have 220v outside in the sheds in case you ever need it for whatever reason, to run a small welder or 220v appliance for instance. Next I would purchase two single pole 15 or 20 amp GFCI breakers for the subpanel {one for each shed} and install them. Now you have power outside. Next I would run all my wires in the sheds using 12/2 with ground using conduit to get the wire between the sheds via conduit or buying wire that was uv rated or burying it using the underground wire. Next step is hooking everything up. Setting a sub panel gives you a couple advantages, one being everything is protected back to the house with the 30 amp breaker. Everything in the sheds is covered by the single pole breakers installed in the sub panel. This will lesson the walks back to the house to reset the breaker. If you do happen to accidently overload the circuit chances are the 20 amp single pole will trip before the 30 back in the main will. Sure cuts down on a lot of walking .... Hope that cleared a little of the confusion up. Good Luck.