Wiring – an old shed has wiring

gfciwiring

I just wanted to confirm any safety hazards or possible fixes. I moved into a home that has 12/2 gauge wire going under the house to a shed on the other side of the house, so it's stretching the 12/2 wire about 20 foot and it's ran in some PVC piping. In the shed itself there is a GFCI weatherized receptacle protecting 2 other 20A receptacles and a light switch with fixture.

I guess my question is, is the 12/2 gauge wire going to harm any power tools in the shed that use 15A? This is because it is stretched farther than recommended and ran in PVC pipe.

It also has a 20 amp breaker, I'm concerned about the length of the 12/2 wire and no breaker panel in the shed as a shut off, I guess the GFCI is a shut off, but how dangerous is this , and should I run new 10/2 wire

Best Answer

You haven't said how long the cable is, so you might want to punch your numbers into a voltage drop calculator and see what you get for voltage drop.

Your power tools that have a 15A plug are likely only 12A, so use those numbers. Most likely you are fine.

You are using "Romex" informally to describe all jacketed multiconductor cable. There are a variety of types and some of them are correct for wet locations, and others are not. You need to be using a "wet location rated" type for the section that is outdoors.

It is a fact of life that any conduit installed outdoors will most likely be full of water at least some of the time. That is why to use wet-location cable, it is made for that.