OK, I've read through a bunch of posts the past few days and learned a lot, but still have some questions/concerns on what I need to do:
Current Situation:
Honolulu, HI (82 degrees and sunny today
The back house in a two house property has a "temporary" (10+ year) service cable (~140 ft) running along the top of a border rock wall from the meter to the connection panel (under the house), then wired under the house across to the opposite side to the main 100A panel with breakers.
They have been told this is not up to code and needs to be corrected.
I just looked at it again, and it's a two-wire (prob 2 gauge) metal-strand-shielded cable carrying the hots, and two separate black wires (probably the two "old" black wires below), 2 awg (i assume) for neutral, and 4 awg for ground (both are connected via the panel in the panel).
There is a 2-3" metal underground conduit (~70ft) running from the meter past the front house up to the ground level on the side of the garage (between the two houses).
They have laying around:
approx 90 ft of AL 2AWG 3-conductor intertwined cable Alcan r 2 awg al 600v hmwpe/hdpe alguard (r) 2004
approx 80 ft of AL unmarked 2-insulated/1-uninsulated cable, approx 4AWG?
approx 60 ft of old 2-2-2-4 al type se cable type xhhw cdrs 300v to ground e11134 (ul)
approx 150 ft of old 4 type thhn or thwn 600v oil resistant ii mtw a.i.w. Corp awm (ul) black
approx 150 ft of old black s hatfield hatvinol 2 awg thw 600v (ul)
approx 150 ft of old white 2 awg triangle trioseal 160 type tw 600v oil resistant
a bunch of 8 ft sections of PVC sch 40, inside diameter approx 2"
(old is over 10 years old, maybe over 20 years old)
What I want to do:
1. Install PVC conduit from the ground up and along the side of the garage (under the eave).
(~50 ft of pvc conduit).
2. Pull a service cable(s) through the conduit (probably both directions from the midpoint (garage)).
3. Replace the current service cables.
Questions:
1. How much of this can I do myself? I think all of it. I'm not an electrician, but have done electrical
work several times before...but not exactly familiar with the code.
2. Does this need to be approved before/inspected after?
3. Should I run one long cable from meter to connection panel, or split/splice at the garage
since I'm switching from underground conduit to overground conduit.
4. What size & type of cable should I use for the underground and overground portions, or
can/should I use one long cable for the entire run?
5. Are the wires available (listed above) useable?
6. I'm assuming I need to run 4 conductors (2 hots, neutral, & ground)? Can I use 4 individual cables?
Or what about a 3-conductor cable, and a separate lone ground conductor?
7. I think it would be easiest to run 4 separate wires the full 150 length. Any problem(s) with this
approach?
8. If I reconnect cables in the garage ... what should I do it in? junction box? small panel box? other?
9. There is about 15 ft between the garage and the house, I'm assuming I can just run the
cable(s) unprotected between them. Garage height under eave is approx 8 ft... so maybe I need to install
a "riser" to get it to 10ft? House already has a riser entry conduit that is used that is above 10 ft.
10. Any other advice, suggestions, caveats?
Hopefully I didn't leave anything important out...
I can take pictures if anyone needs to see the situation.
Mahalo & Aloha!
Dan
Current Situation:
Honolulu, HI (82 degrees and sunny today
The back house in a two house property has a "temporary" (10+ year) service cable (~140 ft) running along the top of a border rock wall from the meter to the connection panel (under the house), then wired under the house across to the opposite side to the main 100A panel with breakers.
They have been told this is not up to code and needs to be corrected.
I just looked at it again, and it's a two-wire (prob 2 gauge) metal-strand-shielded cable carrying the hots, and two separate black wires (probably the two "old" black wires below), 2 awg (i assume) for neutral, and 4 awg for ground (both are connected via the panel in the panel).
There is a 2-3" metal underground conduit (~70ft) running from the meter past the front house up to the ground level on the side of the garage (between the two houses).
They have laying around:
approx 90 ft of AL 2AWG 3-conductor intertwined cable Alcan r 2 awg al 600v hmwpe/hdpe alguard (r) 2004
approx 80 ft of AL unmarked 2-insulated/1-uninsulated cable, approx 4AWG?
approx 60 ft of old 2-2-2-4 al type se cable type xhhw cdrs 300v to ground e11134 (ul)
approx 150 ft of old 4 type thhn or thwn 600v oil resistant ii mtw a.i.w. Corp awm (ul) black
approx 150 ft of old black s hatfield hatvinol 2 awg thw 600v (ul)
approx 150 ft of old white 2 awg triangle trioseal 160 type tw 600v oil resistant
a bunch of 8 ft sections of PVC sch 40, inside diameter approx 2"
(old is over 10 years old, maybe over 20 years old)
What I want to do:
1. Install PVC conduit from the ground up and along the side of the garage (under the eave).
(~50 ft of pvc conduit).
2. Pull a service cable(s) through the conduit (probably both directions from the midpoint (garage)).
3. Replace the current service cables.
Questions:
1. How much of this can I do myself? I think all of it. I'm not an electrician, but have done electrical
work several times before...but not exactly familiar with the code.
2. Does this need to be approved before/inspected after?
3. Should I run one long cable from meter to connection panel, or split/splice at the garage
since I'm switching from underground conduit to overground conduit.
4. What size & type of cable should I use for the underground and overground portions, or
can/should I use one long cable for the entire run?
5. Are the wires available (listed above) useable?
6. I'm assuming I need to run 4 conductors (2 hots, neutral, & ground)? Can I use 4 individual cables?
Or what about a 3-conductor cable, and a separate lone ground conductor?
7. I think it would be easiest to run 4 separate wires the full 150 length. Any problem(s) with this
approach?
8. If I reconnect cables in the garage ... what should I do it in? junction box? small panel box? other?
9. There is about 15 ft between the garage and the house, I'm assuming I can just run the
cable(s) unprotected between them. Garage height under eave is approx 8 ft... so maybe I need to install
a "riser" to get it to 10ft? House already has a riser entry conduit that is used that is above 10 ft.
10. Any other advice, suggestions, caveats?
Hopefully I didn't leave anything important out...
I can take pictures if anyone needs to see the situation.
Mahalo & Aloha!
Dan
