3 ms·

Just expose the armoured cable. Hardly an issue, and you know where it is.

jacquesm 5y ago
Not a good idea. The outer layer is plastic, underneath that something that is best described as an oversized shower hose. Burying it will allow you to take vehicles, wheel barrows, lawnmowers etc over it without damaging it. I bought a ton of this stuff surplus from a dam construction, that served me quite well in Canada, some of the outbuildings were quite far away from the main house. It's pretty easy to work with, though stripping it is a bit of an art (you really don't want to damage the inner wires).
- 0xbadcafebee 5y ago
  The author's shed is about 2 feet from the house exterior, so he can wrap the steps around as decking (very tiny decking) and put the cable under the steps.
  - kevin_thibedeau 5y ago
    Then one day someone cuts up that decking with a sawzall and gets an unexpected surprise.
  - jacquesm 5y ago
    That's possible, but you'd need to clearly mark it. For two feet it's overkill, but normally, especially if there is the possibility of going between the two structures, you'd dig down 4', lay down your cable so that it is going down vertically in both structures and is well below the frost line where you bury it horizontally.
- ErrantX 5y ago
  You can get armoured cable specifically with UV rating for this. I'd only ever run it against a wall etc. But it is designed to be above ground.
  - jacquesm 5y ago
    Yes, true. That cable has a special marking and there are even kinds that are solid enough to be driven over with tired vehicles. But those are super expensive, far more expensive than the kind that can be buried, and they are serious work to strip and connect. In a lot of cable that I bought there was one chunk of that stuff, about 2" thick for what looked to be tri phase, 40A+ground (so five wires + the steel cover). Bending radius about a mile :) I'm sure there are thinner more pliable versions of that stuff available as well and I sometimes see the equivalent tie wrapped for temporary industrial applications to cranes and bridges.

Not a good idea. The outer layer is plastic, underneath that something that is best described as an oversized shower hose. Burying it will allow you to take vehicles, wheel barrows, lawnmowers etc over it without damaging it. I bought a ton of this stuff surplus from a dam construction, that served me quite well in Canada, some of the outbuildings were quite far away from the main house. It's pretty easy to work with, though stripping it is a bit of an art (you really don't want to damage the inner wires).

0xbadcafebee 5y ago
The author's shed is about 2 feet from the house exterior, so he can wrap the steps around as decking (very tiny decking) and put the cable under the steps.
- kevin_thibedeau 5y ago
  Then one day someone cuts up that decking with a sawzall and gets an unexpected surprise.
- jacquesm 5y ago
  That's possible, but you'd need to clearly mark it. For two feet it's overkill, but normally, especially if there is the possibility of going between the two structures, you'd dig down 4', lay down your cable so that it is going down vertically in both structures and is well below the frost line where you bury it horizontally.
ErrantX 5y ago
You can get armoured cable specifically with UV rating for this. I'd only ever run it against a wall etc. But it is designed to be above ground.
- jacquesm 5y ago
  Yes, true. That cable has a special marking and there are even kinds that are solid enough to be driven over with tired vehicles. But those are super expensive, far more expensive than the kind that can be buried, and they are serious work to strip and connect. In a lot of cable that I bought there was one chunk of that stuff, about 2" thick for what looked to be tri phase, 40A+ground (so five wires + the steel cover). Bending radius about a mile :) I'm sure there are thinner more pliable versions of that stuff available as well and I sometimes see the equivalent tie wrapped for temporary industrial applications to cranes and bridges.