I have a garage which was wired up by an electrician to be my workshop. There are several runs of electrical cable (including one 60A, 220V circuit) running along the ceiling of the garage. They are not in conduit.
Now, I'd like to add some fluorescent lights to the ceiling. I'm planning on using conduit lighting/fixtures to use an existing 15A circuit and convert an outlet to a conduit box for this. This circuit will not be used for anything other than the lighting. In total, we're talking about 4x fluorescent lighting fixtures which would hold 2x 40W bulbs each.
My question is, can I run conduit at perpendicular angles to the cable already in place? Or, will I need to figure out a path so that the conduit does not cross the cables in place?
Futher, since I already have cable running in the garage not in conduits, and this seemed to be fine, can I just run the lighting without the need for conduits?
If it makes any difference, I am located in Colorado.
Best Answer
To answer your main question, having the wiring cross is not in itself a problem. However it sounds like you may just have romex / NM strapped to the underside of the ceiling, that isn't likely up to code. In a workshop, I might err towards caution and pipe it all up. This is not as much trouble or expense as you might think in a single open room. In a workshop I can picture a long piece of material getting away from you and hitting the ceiling, much better to have the wiring protected if that happens.