Found some electrical wiring resonably priced on craigslist but it says -----8 gauge (AWG), 3 wire, direct burry electrical cableDOES THAT MEAN ITS 3/0 WIRE? Because I need 3/0 wire direct burriedI am looking to buy some extra 3/0 wire and found some on craigslist for a reasonable price..
By code, if you use direct burial cable, you'll have to bury the cable deeper than you would if it were in conduit (PVC). There are several different factors that determine how deep you need to go if direct burial is what you're going to stick with. The voltage your supplying, is it covered by soil only, will it be paved over or covered with a concrete surface for any reason, etc. 23 yr journeyman electrician.
8gauge 3 wire means exactly what it says. you will be getting a number 8 cable with 3 wires in it...the best thing to do is dig the trench put the wires in conduit and use 3/0 wire..Will last years longer and you probaly will not have to dig your trench back up in a few years.
3/0 is the gauge of the wire you are looking for. In this case, 3/0 means three zeros, or 000. Smaller numbers for the gauge mean larger wire. After the gauge reaches 0, additional zeros are added to indicate even larger sizes. 2/0 (or 00) is larger than 0, 3/0 is larger than 2/0, etc, so the 8 gauge wire you found is considerably smaller than the 3/0 (or 000) wire you need. Don't confuse this with a designation similar to 8/3. In this case, the 8 would be the gauge and the 3 is the number of insulated conductors in the cable.
I am an electrician an, any time you use direct burial cable you are doing a half *** job. Call an electron use conduit and use conductors with a w listed in there insulation type Using direct burial cable instead of conduit is silly When the cable fails not if(could take years) you will be re-digging the trench
