Conduit or no conduit

[Donny Lawson]

I've been real busy lately and haven't had time to work on the shop but now I'm ready to start on the lights and outlets.Since everything is going on the outside of the walls should I or shouldn't I run the wire through conduit PVC pipe? I was told at Lowes that either way would work. I know it would make it alot easier not to use conduit but I would like your opinion. I will be working on this in the next few days.It would be stapled to the wall.
Donny

[Mark Bolton]

If all the wire is going to be exposed it needs to be in conduit. You dont want romex stapled to the face of a wall where you can hit it with something, something can fall an cut/pinch it, and so on. I would likely have been easier to put it in the wall but if its too late for that the conduit is the route.

Mark

[Donny Lawson]

You have a good point there.

[Larry Whitlow]

Our local code would not allow exposed romex unless (maybe) it is higher than 8'. From a safety standpoint conduit is the way to go. If you use conduit, pull loose wires.

[Jamie Buxton]

Some jurisdictions still don't allow PVC conduit. They want metal. But like the other folks say, everybody says romex needs protection.

[John Sanford]

Conduit and/or armored cable. The armored cable is more expensive than conduit, but it can be handy in situations where you need to do tight bends and other odd geometries.

[Dave MacArthur]

Metal conduit actually isn't at all hard to run, I didn't find it much harder than just running the wire. It's only a couple bucks a 10ft section of EMT, fittings are cheap, and a bender is like $20. If you're going conduit, go metal instead of PVC, it's just a cheap about.

[Joe A Faulkner]

If you are running conduit, then you should run THHN wire. You should do a little research on this. You will need to buy individual spools of various colors to meet code. You will find lots of arguments against running romex in conduit on the net. The borgs carry the spools.

[Von Bickley]

Donny,

My suggestion would be to run 1/2" EMT, and to use 4" square boxes. The 4" boxes will allow you to install 2 duplex receptacles in each box. The 1/2" EMT is not hard to run and will make a neat job.

[Jarrett Vibert]

If you are running conduit, then you should run THHN wire. You should do a little research on this. You will need to buy individual spools of various colors to meet code. You will find lots of arguments against running romex in conduit on the net. The borgs carry the spools.

^^X2

The THHN (rated at 105c) will also allow you to run right up against your balast when wiring your lights. The standard T90 doesn't allow this flexibility. (I'm assuming you're following code)

[Andrew DiLorenzo]

In my local jurisdiction, thinwall conduit is not allowed in a garage. I used 3/4" pvc and pulled THHN wires into 4" square boxes. A double pole breaker allows me to run two circuits to each box, by running two hots a neutral and a ground.