NEW QUESTIONS ADDED!! Adding 220v to my garage, can I use outdoor 10/2, and how?

[fredhargis]

I think it's what Mr. Mike said: Romex isn't allowed in conduit, and you do want it out of the way. Your phrase "near the ceiling" makes me think your basement may be finished (?). Near the ceiling is the right place.

[jteneyck]

Anything on the wall has to be inside conduit in my area.  On the ceiling - I'm not sure.  In the wall is OK w/o conduit, obviously.  You could always run it in the wall to a receptacle or two, and then use long cords on your machines to plug into them.  

John

[Mr_Mike]

Excellent, thanks guys. Just one more question:

Should I or is there a requirement for using conduit with this?

I want to do this correct and safe. If I run this at about 5' height, I feel like I probably should use conduit, to protect it from bumps/damage. If I run it near the ceiling, do I need conduit?

NM has to be protected,  but can't be in  conduit. Inside the wall,  through the studs,  presuming wall is not drywalled are find.   Stapled and visible over drywall Is not. Exactly how are you attaching the cable to the wall?

[Gregory of Sherwood Forest]

Okay, that puts me in a pickle.
Getting the cable through the basement from the panel up to the garage entrance is easy. I can go through the joists for that.

Once I get to the stairs coming from the basement (underground basement) up to the attached garage, I can no longer get into the walls without ripping out drywall. I'd rather find a surface mount solution, if possible.

Is there another way to do that? Can I use a pvc-type material? IIRC, the previous owner had 220 running in black pipe along about 15 feet of the wall (he had laundry and a small AC system in the garage), and then had another 10 feet in gray pvc-type pipe. All that got ripped out years ago when I refinished the garage. The previous owner had done LOTS of things that weren't correct, including building walls on top of drains in the basement, completely covering the drains so I had to rip out walls to find them. Mold was horrible.

Anyway, I'd like to surface mount all the runs in the garage. Since I can't do that with metallic conduit, can I do that in some other material?? Or, would I be able to do that if I used different wire?

Thanks again,

-G

[Mr_Mike]

Different wire. Use the UF up to the garage and terminate in a surface mounted 4x4 metal box. Transition to THHN wire in metal conduit or just use drop cords from there. I also agree you should run two circuits.

[blackhat]

If you have it, run 2 lengths of your cable to a surface mount box. Use conduit to go to your 2 new outlets. Much better to have 2 circuits, one for DC and air, one for other.

[jlanciani]

NM has to be protected,  but can't be in  conduit...

2014 NFPA 70 334.15(B) Protection from Physical Damage -  (Type NM) Cable shall be protected from physical damage where necessary by rigid metal conduit, intermediate metal conduit, electrical metallic tubing, Schedule 80 PVC conduit...

334.15( C) - Nonmetallic sheathed cable installed on the wall of an unfinished basement shall be permitted to be installed in a listed conduit or tubing or shall be protected in accordance with 300.4.

So in fact NM cable can, and in some applications must be, installed in conduit. I wish this urban legend would die...

[pprobus]

2014 NFPA 70 334.15(B) Protection from Physical Damage -  (Type NM) Cable shall be protected from physical damage where necessary by rigid metal conduit, intermediate metal conduit, electrical metallic tubing, Schedule 80 PVC conduit...

334.15( C) - Nonmetallic sheathed cable installed on the wall of an unfinished basement shall be permitted to be installed in a listed conduit or tubing or shall be protected in accordance with 300.4.

So in fact NM cable can, and in some applications must be, installed in conduit. I wish this urban legend would die...

Thank you, that's good to know.  I ran a couple of circuits with some leftover NM cable I had in my unattached workshop, in conduit, before I read it was not allowed.  I have not gone back and removed what I already ran, its good to know I won't have to.

On a practical note, however, running NM inside a conduit is not the easiest thing.  I would go one size higher than code says the minimum is because NM cabling is harder to pull through conduit than THHN wires.  Take it from an experienced amateur.  Running THHN inside conduits is much easier and when I use conduit, that is what I use now. 

To the OP:
One concern I have, though, since you were given the cabling and it was used hung from poles to an outbuilding (i.e. exposed to sunlight), are you sure the insulation is still in good shape?  UF is intended to be run underground (i.e. "UF" stands for "Underground Feeder") and not exposed to UV.  How long was it in place?  Does the insulation look to be discolored compared to areas of the cabling that was inside a box/panel?

Paul

[rwe2156]

Depends on the area/where you're running the wire, but personally, I would bury it in conduit, even if it is UF.

I've gotten in trouble with direct burial wire.  Had to replace an entire service to my shop 175' of wire X 4 legs so, never again.

[TDKPE]

2014 NFPA 70 334.15(B) Protection from Physical Damage -  (Type NM) Cable shall be protected from physical damage where necessary by rigid metal conduit, intermediate metal conduit, electrical metallic tubing, Schedule 80 PVC conduit...

334.15( C) - Nonmetallic sheathed cable installed on the wall of an unfinished basement shall be permitted to be installed in a listed conduit or tubing or shall be protected in accordance with 300.4.

So in fact NM cable can, and in some applications must be, installed in conduit. I wish this urban legend would die...

OP: Be aware that you need to size the conduit for the circular area of the [flat in this case] cable assembly based on the largest dimension, which is .518" for oval 10/2 w/g UF-B.  So 10/2 UF-B has an equivalent x-sectional area of .211 in^2 and three conductors (the grounding cond. counts for conduit fill), and with more than 2 conductors, you can use 40% fill, so that's 3/4" EMT (.213 in^2) minimum.  Have to bump it to 1" for PVC, though, as 3/4" sch. 80 is only .164 in^2.

And do not strip the sheath.  It's a listed assembly, and has to stay that way, with 1/4" exposed at each end in the boxes as always.