Forum Discussion
DrewE
Aug 09, 2016Explorer II
MEXICOWANDERER wrote:joebedford wrote:DutchmenSport wrote:I'm no electrician, but as I understand the code, wires within a conduit MUST be single wires. So, I could be wrong, but I think yours doesn't meet code.
I think I did a bit of over kill, because all the wire was inserted into grey plastic conduit, as everything in my garage was in conduit.
I had an electrician actually do the connection at the fuse box and the receptacle. He told me I did an over kill feeding the wire through the conduit. Conduit was only required for non-insulated single stranded wire. The wires that are insulated with 3 wires don't need the conduit.
SINGLE WIRE inside metal or plastic! This is universal code and it relates directly to dissipation of heat. My environment is normally 30 degrees celsius so I choose #8 wiring for a 30-amp receptacle and 6 AWG for a 50-ampere receptacle.
I like EMT because any fault is shunted to earth ground.
I'm also no electrician; however, from all I've seen, the NEC actually does permit (multiconductor) cables in conduit, though the fill factor calculations are somewhat modified. I don't know offhand if the ampacity of the wire must be derated; but I suspect the code does not specify that.
It's certainly possible some jurisdictions prohibit the practice with local rules.
At any rate, it's not all that commonly done because it's more costly to put cable in conduit than to not put it in conduit, and also because Romex and similar sorts of cabling are far from the easiest wires to pull through conduit.
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