Detached garage lost power. It's not the breaker

[JEDI]

My dad's house in NY has a detached garage. He said several weeks ago it lost power. He's been using the manual key to open the garage door. he bought the house 10yrs ago.

I checked the breaker box. Breaker is on.
With a voltage tester, I checked the junction box in the house that leads to the garage. There's power to it.

here's the thing:
The wires from the house junction box to the garage are Black and brown. (Brown = neutral.)

But in jbox in the garage, the wires are black and white. there's no power.
that probably means somewhere between the jbox in the house and the jbox in the garage, there's a splice since the wire color changed.

it's concrete between the house and the garage so digging up the wire isnt an option.

I'm thinking of running a wire from the house jbox, go along the fence, underneath the garage door and into the garage jbox. if this is possible, what type of wire should I buy? Romex isnt going to cut it for outside/exposed use.

And if that isnt the best option, then what is?

 

[lxskllr]

I'd bury it if possible, and use pvc conduit.

 

[wischeez]

Kill the power and try pulling the brown wire back through to the house. I assume that the wire runs through something under the concrete?

 

[JEDI]

Kill the power and try pulling the brown wire back through to the house. I assume that the wire runs through something under the concrete?

dont know. i assume so, but who knows. the garage was built after the house was built. and that was 2 owners ago.

from the house jbox, it's mc cable towards the garage. in mc cable, the wires are intertwined. and even if it wasmt, it's probably spliced to some other wire since the color changed. thus pulling it back would probably be imposible

 

[wischeez]

How about running type UF cable through a small PVC pipe out to the garage? You can bury the PVC with the UF inside. Type UF is good for outdoor runs, and the PVC will protect it more. Type UF is covered by heavy plastic sheathing. The cable is designed for placement in the ground without being encased in protective metal conduit.

 

[Ichinisan]

Is this your garage?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKZUFu97vus


source

 

[PowerEngineer]

It's hard for me to imagine why there'd be an underground junction. Are there any other outdoor power outlets (or equipment like a well pump) that might be fed along the way from the house junction box? Any chance there's a GFI that tripped?

 

[BoomerD]

It's hard for me to imagine why there'd be an underground junction. Are there any other outdoor power outlets (or equipment like a well pump) that might be fed along the way from the house junction box? Any chance there's a GFI that tripped?

If it was homeowner installed, perhaps the guy had to splice the cable in order to make it reach...(bought a 50' roll, not long enough, bought a 25' roll and spliced it) Not proper, but homeowners do some fucked up things...

I THOUGHT this topic was familiar...

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2168084

 

[marvdmartian]

Could also have been there used to be something out in the yard that had power (light, etc), that they took out, and then used those wires to splice another piece on, to go to the garage.

Really scary, sometimes, what you find for "home grown" electrical in previously owned houses. D:

 

[wischeez]

If it was homeowner installed, perhaps the guy had to splice the cable in order to make it reach...(bought a 50' roll, not long enough, bought a 25' roll and spliced it) Not proper, but homeowners do some fucked up things...

I THOUGHT this topic was familiar...

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2168084

Does he ever answer again? 1 post in that thread, 2 posts in this one.

 

[SooperDave]

SO, SJO or similiar. Home Depot sells it. Great for outdoor exposed. AWG and # of conductors you have to figure out tho. The rubber will crack after 4 or 5 years in the sun so occasional replacement is needed.

 

[SooperDave]

Also, anywhere and everywhere I can think of what you plan isn't code. I'd call this a temporary solution while you save up to do it right.

 

[classy]

Call an eletrician?

 

[Red Squirrel]

Hopefully they used conduit. If you can confirm the conduit has power to it from the panel then it most likely is a splice inside (against code) that came loose. pull the wire out, use a vacuum to suck a string from one end to the other, then use string to pull new wire. 2 hots, 1 neutral, 2 ground assuming there's a sub panel at the garage. Ensure you use the right size for the amperage.

 

[JEDI]

Call an eletrician?

yeah, he's going to do that. there are other problems i saw. see below

Hopefully they used conduit. If you can confirm the conduit has power to it from the panel then it most likely is a splice inside (against code) that came loose. pull the wire out, use a vacuum to suck a string from one end to the other, then use string to pull new wire. 2 hots, 1 neutral, 2 ground assuming there's a sub panel at the garage. Ensure you use the right size for the amperage.

no idea if its conduit under the concrete.
it goes from junction box in the house to mc cable down the wall, and i cant see after that.

another problem is that the house junction box doesnt have a ground. the box isnt grounded
it's only 2 wires going to the garage jbox.

but in the garage, there's 3 wires (hot, neutral, and ground) from the pipe coming up from the floor into the jbox. Where in the heck did this 3rd wire come from?! and the ground wire is thinner than the other 2 wires.

Told dad to hire an electrician to sort everything out.

 

[Iron Woode]

yeah, he's going to do that. there are other problems i saw. see below



no idea if its conduit under the concrete.
it goes from junction box in the house to mc cable down the wall, and i cant see after that.

another problem is that the house junction box doesnt have a ground. the box isnt grounded
it's only 2 wires going to the garage jbox.

but in the garage, there's 3 wires (hot, neutral, and ground) from the pipe coming up from the floor into the jbox. Where in the heck did this 3rd wire come from?! and the ground wire is thinner than the other 2 wires.

Told dad to hire an electrician to sort everything out.

that sounds seriously messed up.

the best way to fix this is to dig it up and do it right.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Yeah I would redo this run completely, it seems really sketchy.

While you are there run a 4 wire so you can have 240v in there too.