Weekly Tips Nov 07

November 22, 2007

Taking Power Outdoors

Having power outside comes in very handy all year around. In the winter, Christmas lights, small snow blowers, pumps and other appliances can be conveniently plugged in. In the summer, as we spend lots of time outdoors around the house, electrical outlets can offer real convenience.

The easiest and most economical way to get power outdoors is to install an outlet on the opposite side of an interior outlet through the foundation wall. Just follow these simple steps:

1) Make sure that the circuit you will be adding to can handle the extra power requirements.
2) Select an interior outlet on an inside wall and remove the plug from the box.
3) Locate a rear knock out plug and remove it. In some cases, if the outlet is up against the wall, you may need to drill it out.
4) Drill through the exterior wall with a 3/4" drill through the knock out hole. Drill from the inside to the outside.
5) Insert conduit with an anchor collar to the interior box and then attach an exterior box. This can be surface mounted or recessed. Make sure that you use a waterproof exterior grade box. These days these are usually made of plastic.
6) Mount the exterior box and pass a small length of exterior grade wire though the conduit into the new box. Use the same guage of wire as the original circuit.
7) Add a Ground Fault Interrupt socket to the box as well as a waterproof cover.
8) Finally, connect the wires to the original interior socket and replace the socket in the interior box and cover.

That's it! With a minimum amount of materials you can add a number of outlets around your exterior by tapping onto interior outlets mounted on your exterior walls. That last thing to make sure is that all your outlets are at least 24" above grade.