Electrical – Have Shed/Man Cave & Need Unground Power Advice

electricalgaugeshedunderground

I have a shed which is a little less than 100 feet from my home breaker box. I currently am poor-manning it running a 100 foot extension cord out there. I have already purchased a branch electrical box and wired the shed. I am about to rent a trencher to trench for the electrical cable.

I would like to run 240v out there just in case I ever need it so I do not have to redo the job in the future. However, at this point I want 2x 20 amp circuits running out there for saws and things on one breaker & lights, tv, receiver etc on the other. I am going 20 amp vs 15 amp just to have some extra capability. If your opinion on this differs, I would like to know more.

So here is my main question. With a 3% voltage drop in mind, what wire do I need to run out there given the distance (100 ft) to obtain a max 20 amp 240v capability and/or 2x 20 amp 120v capability? Can I go with a smaller gauge electrical wire to achieve this or is 6/3 what I need to go with? I do realize that the most important part of the equation are the breakers installed on the home side. Those must be at or below whatever electrical cable I run out there. Would it be possible to run 1x 10AWG/3 UF-B electrical cable out there with 2x 20 amp breakers in the house?

The online electrical wire calculators are confusing me… I guess what I do not get on the 3 conductor cable is if the cable is capable of supporting 20 amp per hot wire or a total of 20 amp across all 3 conductors.

Is it reasonable to assume that a 100 foot 10AWG/3 Conductor wire is capable of carrying 2x 15 amp loads @ 120v or 1x 30 amp load @ 240v?

I do not plan on welding (due to wood shed/wood shed floor) or anything like that. I can also probably step down to two 120v 15 amp circuits as I can only operate a tool at once. i may want to install an a/c unit out there though at some point. probably 120v. the shed size is 12×20.

This install location is in east north Dallas. Lots of clay and rocks. If i can avoid digging an 18" ditch, I would definitely prefer it. I will not permit the install but do want to follow code and do so with the cheapest trenching method and electrical cable possible.

Best Answer

Sounds like cheap is a motivation, but there's a relationship between depth of dig and cost of materials.

  • At 24" of cover you can use plain cable such as UF.
  • At 18" of cover you can use cheapie PVC conduit or EMT.
  • At 6" of cover you can use Rigid metal conduit.

So as expensive as Rigid might be, it might be significantly cheaper than renting a trencher if you can hand-dig or hydro-dig with a hose to 6".

If you run conduit, you can use THWN-2 single wires instead of expensive, balky cable, and you can go cheap now and add more or larger wires later. If you use metal conduit, you don't need a ground wire.

Also if you are cheap, the first thing to shortcut is the 3% voltage drop thing - that was always an old wives tale, is usually computed wrong anyway, and is simply not needed. Also, 100' distances are within 3% even at statutory max current!

  • For 20A, use 12 AWG UF or THWN in 1/2" conduit.
  • For 30A, 10 AWG " " " 1/2" conduit.
  • For 40A, 8 AWG " " " 3/4" conduit
  • For 60A, 6 AWG copper ... ... 3/4" conduit or 4 AWG Aluminum in 1" conduit.