Help me with some electricle work.

[og dmc]

I have finished walls and the breaker box is located downstairs far away from the main breaker box. Can I run some romex through some conduit along the walls. Is there any reason I should not do this. This piece of shit house has 2 rooms on a 15 amp breaker and it has been fucking me up. Please help me get it done.

 

[DIGITALHIPPY]

indoor?
im not sure if ROMEX will fit in PANDUIT, but it'll work, not to code, but....

home de-pot has plenty of wire-mold and neat wire runners u can use, how many watts? 10/3 should fit, barly, ive used wire-mold but never for elec, usualy com, ive seen it done with the steel/metal wire-mold/panduit in schools when i was working. not sure if thats the cash u want to spend. but some 1/2" conduit wouldnt be too bad.
i have 3/4 on the outside of my pad, but thats outside.

 

[onweed]

Of course you can.

Running conduit and putting wire inside is a great idea.
If the wire would be out of 'harms way' you could run the romex by itself and use wire clips to fasten. Don't clip it too tight.

The conduit would really make it safe.

 

[otherwhitemeat]

It's code to have any exposed (out of the walls) Romex running through conduit. If it has to go behind finished walls, you can notch the studs and just cover them with nailing plates; you'll still have to re-drywall/panel etc.

Since the reason you are running this is pretty much a violation anyway ;-) I wouldn't worry too much about building codes. I bought my house with exposed Romex (no conduit) in my garage servicing some shop lights. As long as you don't plan on selling the house, and don't anticipate any problems with exposed Romex, some rubber covered wires staples will do. You will need to remove any non-code stuff before inspection.

That said, there are reasons for building codes: to protect you from all the shit you never though would happen. Rats chew through wires, water leaks, kids, dogs, etc--things you never even thought of. If you can go with conduit, please do so--it's much safer, and perhaps less obivous than a long run of Romex stapled to the wall.


Think about any time you've been in an old school, dorm, gymnasium, etc--they are always built of cinderblock and have conduit running to junctions, etc. on the walls. That's usually up to code.

Whatever you do, MAKE SURE YOU GROUND THE RECEPTACLES and KEEP THEM OFF THE FLOOR!!!

 

[PharmaCan]

Romex is not made to be run in conduit. As DigitalHippy pointed out, it's also not to code. The reason Romex is not approved for use in conduit is heat build-up. If you want to run the wire inside conduit, use the same kind of wire that is inside the Romex, the individual black/white/bare wires.

PC

 

[cocktail frank]

Romex is not made to be run in conduit. As DigitalHippy pointed out, it's also not to code. The reason Romex is not approved for use in conduit is heat build-up. If you want to run the wire inside conduit, use the same kind of wire that is inside the Romex, the individual black/white/bare wires.

PC

couldnt of said it better myself.

 

[og dmc]

How would you do it frank. I need to get at least 2 maybe 3 dedicated lines in there. I am runing 2 thousand w now but I need to be able to add an ac as I lost almost my entire crop to mold and humidity. I would like to be able to get this done with in three weeks.

 

[otherwhitemeat]

Guys, I may be out of my element here as I am not an electrician so maybe you can help me clarify. The only reason I offered advice is that I had the same question about 8 months ago while rewiring my house.

I rewired my own house with an electrican's technical advice so I am probably a bit more experienced than the average DIYer....My friend who's a 25 year electrican told me that running Romex through rated conduit is fine as long as it's only a single run of Romex and is rated for the correct amperage. His words: 'The NEC doesn't specifically forbid the practice for short runs but they use a 'conduit fill calculation' and this can be based on a number of factors. Local codes vary...' I didn't clarify 'short runs' or 'local codes'

I am wondering if perhaps we are talking about different local or fire codes, or maybe there's a distance limitation? I did pass my electrical permit by running Romex through rated conduit with junctions and the like to service the shop lights in my garage.