I’m not very smart...running conduit in a 130 year old house

[thepatriot2705]

65510

This house I bought is a nightmare. Basically a complete gut and rebuild.
As I’m doing plaster, I never want to have to tear up the plaster for something like a rewire. So my brilliant solution? Run conduit!(first time messing with conduit)

[SteyrAUG]

Better than burning it down. When you make 90 degree turns have the romex theaded all the way through before you glue/secure the elbow joints. I don't envy you.

[eightmillimeter]

Given what you’ve stated I don’t see any issues. Nice choice of load center too.

[eightmillimeter]

Better than burning it down. When you make 90 degree turns have the romex theaded all the way through before you glue/secure the elbow joints. I don't envy you.

You don’t/can’t use romex in conduit. You have to pull individual wires like THHN

[thepatriot2705]

Given what you’ve stated I don’t see any issues. Nice choice of load center too.
My supply house has a good deal on them and the AFCI s were reasonable. Still ****ing absurd I’m going to spend roughly $1000 on 20 breakers. (NEC is about safety but it seems it’s more about manufacturers profits)

You don’t/can’t use romex in conduit. You have to pull individual wires like THHN

Yep. I’m pulling a rainbow of 12ga thhn. Designating each phase as red/black (still pissed poco won’t give me 120/240 3 phase high leg delta). Pink for switch leg. Orange for fan leg (my own term). Purple for travelers. White for neutral and green for ground

[CRAMBONE]

Looks good to me. I feel your pain. We own a 70ish year old house and it is a pain most of the time. I need to do a lot of wiring also. There is still a lot of wire with braided insulation in the attic.

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

Just a random thought. Power in your roof eaves/soffits for Xmas lights, security cameras and lights.

I guess wifi and 5G+ will kill off any need to run computer cable.

[SteyrAUG]

You don’t/can’t use romex in conduit. You have to pull individual wires like THHN

Seriously? Wouldn't romex be safer?

[matemike]

Been there, done that. I ran 3/4" conduit and pulled wire all by myself in my 40x40 open metal building when it was first built. I only had 6 120V plugs, 1 240V plug and 24 light fixtures on 4 switches. I could not imagine working around old/existing construction. I probably would have just ran all new romex or that spiral metal armored thhn. Probably same ball park costs as the wire, conduit, bends, couplers, and time all added up.

[matemike]

Seriously? Wouldn't romex be safer?

Romex gets HOT. It cannot be in closed conduit. There are exceptions in NEC code that says if it the romex will pass through an exposed area, like a vertical section going from a gang box going up to the ceiling rafters then it can be inside conduit for that short vertical section but the conduit must be open ended at the top. That's the gist.

Also, you can't cut conduit with a grinder or cut off wheel. You can only use a hack saw, sawzall or pipe cutter. Using a rotary saw gives too much potential to leave sharp blade edges inside the condit opening and can cut wires when pulling.

[AKDoug]

Romex gets HOT. It cannot be in closed conduit. There are exceptions in NEC code that says if it the romex will pass through an exposed area, like a vertical section going from a gang box going up to the ceiling rafters then it can be inside conduit for that short vertical section but the conduit must be open ended at the top. That's the gist.

Also, you can't cut conduit with a grinder or cut off wheel. You can only use a hack saw, sawzall or pipe cutter. Using a rotary saw gives too much potential to leave sharp blade edges inside the condit opening and can cut wires when pulling.

Agree with all.. but I always de-burr regardless of what type of instrument I use to cut it. I use a portable bandsaw to cut mine.

[SteyrAUG]

Romex gets HOT. It cannot be in closed conduit. There are exceptions in NEC code that says if it the romex will pass through an exposed area, like a vertical section going from a gang box going up to the ceiling rafters then it can be inside conduit for that short vertical section but the conduit must be open ended at the top. That's the gist.

Also, you can't cut conduit with a grinder or cut off wheel. You can only use a hack saw, sawzall or pipe cutter. Using a rotary saw gives too much potential to leave sharp blade edges inside the condit opening and can cut wires when pulling.

So when I said conduit, I was talking about the plastic electrical pipe stuff when you generally use when running exterior electrical. Any drawbacks or safety concerns to using that and romex inside?

[matemike]

So when I said conduit, I was talking about the plastic electrical pipe stuff when you generally use when running exterior electrical. Any drawbacks or safety concerns to using that and romex inside?

Eh, I don't want to be some internet boob who said yes or no. I wouldn't do it though based on the basic "no romex in conduit" code that I've read.
That gray plastic pvc conduit is for exterior apps, not interior. It's preferred for exposed outdoor areas because it won't rust or corrode. At direction from a boss I've ran big 8 ga cable through 150ft x 1" dia of plastic conduit to some dock lights on a bayou, but I don't recall it being "romex." It was round cord with black shielding. It did not have a paper layer around a ground wire like romex does. And I saw the same type of cable, but larger, ran under ground in 2" gray pvc from my house out to my shop. It was ran by a licensed electrician. Perhaps code is different for that black cable vs romex. Like I said, the innards of romex is more complex for sure.

Romex is for interior apps sans conduit. That's the beauty of romex. run it all over the rafters, ceilings, attics, basements, behind walls and through studs. no conduit needed.

[SteyrAUG]

Eh, I don't want to be some internet boob who said yes or no. I wouldn't do it though based on the basic "no romex in conduit" code that I've read.
That gray plastic pvc conduit is for exterior apps, not interior. It's preferred for exposed outdoor areas because it won't rust or corrode. At direction from a boss I've ran big 8 ga cable through 150ft x 1" dia of plastic conduit to some dock lights on a bayou, but I don't recall it being "romex." It was round cord with black shielding. It did not have a paper layer around a ground wire like romex does. And I saw the same type of cable, but larger, ran under ground in 2" gray pvc from my house out to my shop. It was ran by a licensed electrician. Perhaps code is different for that black cable vs romex. Like I said, the innards of romex is more complex for sure.

Romex is for interior apps sans conduit. That's the beauty of romex. run it all over the rafters, ceilings, attics, basements, behind walls and through studs. no conduit needed.

So I was asking because I'm not an expert but was coming up on doing some amateur electrical work in the garage. So if I'm going through open rafters bare romex is preferred to the PVC stuff used outdoors?

Asking because I would have assumed otherwise and thought I was being safer. Again, not an electrician but I can install a light fixture or ceiling fan.

[Esq.]

Good luck with your remodel. Old houses are a PITA sometimes but, you couldn't give me anything built in the last 20 years. Crappy drywall, thrown up overnite by monkeys...no thank you. My house was built in 1952 by a WWII veteran who first built a little house out of concrete block- now our guest house.... He lived in that one while he saved the money to build the "big house". It was built by his own hands, as he could afford it, to last. He raised a family there and stayed in the house until he went to hospice- not a "Flipper" house etc....Yes, there were things about it that needed updating and work but it's a far better house than most, even if the floorplan is dated.

We replaced all the galvanized plumbing with Pex. We cut out all the old gas lines which serviced the original room heaters and replaced the main line. We pulled down or covered and textured over all the wall paper (Wall paper on the ceilings????) and put tile in the bathrooms and kitchen. It's been a 20 year work in progress but it's a comfortable old friend now...

[Adrenaline_6]

So I was asking because I'm not an expert but was coming up on doing some amateur electrical work in the garage. So if I'm going through open rafters bare romex is preferred to the PVC stuff used outdoors?

Asking because I would have assumed otherwise and thought I was being safer. Again, not an electrician but I can install a light fixture or ceiling fan.

If you can run THHN, do it. I just ran conduit in my garage. I asked a friend who has his own electrician business on what to do. He said I could run romex if I want to, but it is harder to pull through conduit and takes up more conduit space and there also is the more heat thing which in the grand scheme of things shouldn't be a problem but...why...if you have choices.

If I was to run it up into the attic from the garage, romex might be a better choice because then you don't have to transition to romex in the attic or run conduit in the attic since THHN has to be in conduit. In my situation, the panel is in the garage and is furred out so I can bring in the external conduit in the garage up from the bottom, through the firred out wood framing, right into the panel (it's just going to take some hole saw drilling to match up with the panel knock out), so it makes more sense to run THHN.

The other factor would be what supply you already have. If you already have the romex, why buy THHN and the reverse is also true. THHN is also cheaper.