Hi, I am building a greenhouse in my backyard and had a few questions as to how i should wire it. The appliances I will have in the greenhouse include.A 400 watt light.a 115 volt pump, an oscillating fanand a ventilation fanI can't remember the wattage of the two fans. But my question is will I need to run more than one wire out to my greenhouse? The wire I have says its max voltage is 600. any tips and advice would be nice.
Lights and fans don't take a lot of juice - just get some 12-2 wire with ground - you can get stuff you can bury in a trench if you want. Wire this into a 20 amp breaker in your house and run it out to your green house. Come up through the ground in a piece of conduit - and hook this to a big double box - something you can screw securely inside your green house. Make sure you get all your grounds connected nice. And put in two plugins. You can also put in a GFI plugin - and wire the other plugin to it - so that if the circuit blows, it kills the other plugin. That should do it and protect you pretty well.
Many extension cords particularly are not rated for out of doors exposure. you're able to get away with it, yet a bigger way could be to purchase some form UF romex. probably 14-2 with floor would be ok for what you're doing. placed a plug on each and every end and Voila! you have an out of doors twine.
That sounds ok to me,as a diy approach.If in doubt,get the local sparky out to check when you have finished,as he will have an R.C.D/earth fault loop impedance tester and can test that it (a)has a decent earth loop at the furthest point of the circuit,and (b) check that the R.C.D will function under certain fault parameters.Better to be safe than sorryshould only cost you 50 Quidish.
One circuit should suffice for your load requirements. However, it would be advisable to run a 3 conductor cable, and this way you will have two circuits for any future power needs, even if you only utilize one circuit right now. If your green house is less than 100 feet from your electrical panel (not just the closest side of your house), then 12 gauge conductors on a 20 amp breaker will suffice. However, if the distance is larger than 100 feet, I would strongly recommend 10 gauge conductors to compensate for any potential voltage drop. Also, please keep in mind to have all of your devices rated the same as whatever your breaker is. E.g., install 20 amp receptacles and light switches. Make sure you ground everything properly, and your receptacles should all be GFI devices given the amount of water present in a greenhouse. I would also recommend that if you have more than just one GFI plug, for example a light switch, to have that powered from the load side of the GFI plug. This will ensure everything is GFI protected. Also, this work should be done with an electrical permit, and inspected. My advice may not adhere to local codes, I live in Ontario. Also, I cannot see your site conditions and am going on a generic approach. The most important thing is to be safe, and never work with live electricity. Good luck.
