Electrical Wire

[Kurt Cady]

Anyone know of an inexpensive source for electrical wire? I need about 150-200ft, but thats just as expensive as 500ft. The Borg sells wire for $55/500ft or $0.30 a foot .

I wish I could just buy about 200ft for $0.10-0.15 a foot

[Dave Gaul]

Maybe talk to a local electrical supplier?
Or ask an electrical contractor?
Ask friends if they have friends that do electrical contracting?

[glenn bradley]

Its copper. Its expensive. Reality hurts. I too cringe when I buy electrical supplies some times. Dave may be on to something about finding someone who buys large enough amounts to get a good price and will then will sell you shorter lengths.

I have gone in with neighbors on large quantities and then split it out to all our mutual benefit. I have also gone in with my dad a time or two. This might be a possibility as well. I have never regretted hanging a 100 feet or so hanging in the rafters for that extra add-on 9 months from now either though so buying large is not a bad idea in this area. ;-)

[Matt Meiser]

What are you looking for? Cat5e? Thermostat wire? 1/0 copper?

I just bought some 18/4 security wire. I need about 200' and like you, I found that it was actually cheaper to buy 500'. Lowes was by far the cheapest source by the time I figured shipping online. I also recently bout 200' of outdoor/underground cat5e. I found Ebay to be cheaper because I found someone selling partial rolls. If you are taliking 1/0 copper, shipping would be a killer.

[Kurt Cady]

12 GA THHN wire. In three colors. That's the killer. 200ft of each color.

[Mark Ottenheimer]

What colors? I found some coils in my fathers basement from a job I never did when I worked for an electrician. I can check, but I am not sure of the length. I think I have black,red and green. If not I would suggest making friends with an electrician who does a lot of pipe work and he will peel you of 12 Ga thhn like nothing as he probably goes through a ton of it. PM me if you want me to look for it.

[Steven DeMars]

Watch CRAIGSLIST in the "MATERIALS" section.

Steve

[Ben Franz]

Anyone know of an inexpensive source for electrical wire? I need about 150-200ft, but thats just as expensive as 500ft. The Borg sells wire for $55/500ft or $0.30 a foot .

I wish I could just buy about 200ft for $0.10-0.15 a foot

Not to be a PITA but $55 for 500' is $0.11/foot - maybe a typo? Most BORGs also sell by the foot for slightly more than roll price but usually cheaper than buying a whole spool if you only need half as much. Maybe you've already checked this out. I've found that local electrical supply house prices are better than the BORG, especially if you can use a friend's business name to get trade pricing.

[David Helm]

I'm not quite understanding the problem. $55 is dirt cheap in my opinion. You can probably sell the amount you don't need from the roll.

[Matt Meiser]

When I did my shop I bought rolls of each and over time I've almost used them up. It was a good investment too as the price has gone up considerably!

[David G Baker]

Every time I go to a box store I check the price of copper wire and pipe. When the price drops to an acceptable price for me, I stock up. I try to keep 2 250 foot rolls of #12-2 with ground, 250 feet of #12-3 with ground, 250 feet of #10-2 with ground and 250 feet of #10-3 with ground. Larger sized wire I can generally pick up at garage sales for rock bottom prices. For long under ground runs I generally use aluminum wire.

[Steve Peterson]

I had almost the exact same situation. $55 for a 500 foot roll and about 4X the price to buy it per foot. 150 feet is the grey zone where it is cheaper to buy a 500 foot roll.

I needed 150 feet in 3 different colors to run power in underground conduit to a shed. I ended up buying 500 feet of blue wire and color coding them black, white, and green.

Steve

[Jim Rimmer]

12 GA THHN wire. In three colors. That's the killer. 200ft of each color.

The electrician in a factory I used to work in bought one color of wire and put colored tape on each end where it came out of conduit or where connections were made. Do you need 200ft of each or would a single 500' roll be enough with color coded tape on the ends?

[jeff kratz]

KURT-
what are the specs on what your trying to do?


little electrical trick-

buy 2 rolls of #12 white and 1 roll of #12 green. pull 4 #12 white (leg off 2 sets and reel 2 sets) and 1 #12 green then get a red black and blue sharpie and "paint" the phase 100% code legal- (cant use phase tape anymore 2008 code 210.something) u need the ground to be solid green though this way u are only spending $150 for wire.

If you have run the conduit in 100% steel (EMT, IMC or Rigid no PVC) you also can use the counduit as the bond(ground).

jeff

[Rollie Meyers]

KURT-
what are the specs on what your trying to do?


little electrical trick-

buy 2 rolls of #12 white and 1 roll of #12 green. pull 4 #12 white (leg off 2 sets and reel 2 sets) and 1 #12 green then get a red black and blue sharpie and "paint" the phase 100% code legal- (cant use phase tape anymore 2008 code 210.something) u need the ground to be solid green though this way u are only spending $150 for wire.

If you have run the conduit in 100% steel (EMT, IMC or Rigid no PVC) you also can use the counduit as the bond(ground).

jeff

It is NOT acceptable to re identify white conductors in a conduit, it is OK to do so as part of a cable assembly.