Electricity!

For the pond water to flow, the pump needs electricity. The lights, the UV sterilizer, the bug zapper and anything else will need as well.

Running cables and pond lighting is not a difficult project, however, if you are not adept at wiring, it’s best to spend a few bucks and hire a pro.

I know enough to work around the house, but I hired a pro anyway. He suggested installing a No.12 cable that would be perfect to handle up to 30 Amp.

The National Electrical Code requires him to match the rating of a circuit to the size of the wire. A wire that is too small for its load can heat dangerously without tripping the breaker.

To save a little money, I installed everything need to be connected and ran a cable from the house main circuit breaker panel to the side of the house.

Than I drilled a hole through the wall, installed a conduit and passed the wire through. Lastly, I attached a small sub-panel to the side of the house.

Contractor installed a 30 Amp circuit breaker on main panel, another 30 Amp on the outside sub-panel and connected everything. It would provide enough electricity to run pumps, all the lights and anything else I would hook up.

Now I was ready to bury the cable, but I didn’t use any power equipment and dug the trench by hand. Believe me, it was hard.

The cable I bought is rated UF (underground feeder) and sheathed in a tough, moisture proof plastic. To keep it hidden out of the way and, to protect it from any damage, I had to dig a trench at least 12 inches deep.(Check your local code)

The distance from the back of the house to the pond is about 85 feet, but the safest area for the cable would be the edge of the property. Unfortunately for me, the digging distance just got increased to about 130 feet. A few hours later the cable was in the ground.

I left a couple feet of it uncovered at each end. The local code requires cable portion above the ground cable to be covered with conduit. The main purpose of the conduit is to protect the cable from spading tools used in the yard.

Next, I ran conduit from the outside breaker box down the conduit, to the weatherproof elbow where it bends, about 12" below ground.

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