# Romex through drywall advice



## Jack E (Mar 22, 2010)

Hopefully this is the right forum for this question - I'm putting up drywall on a wall that has two 10/2 and one 12/2 romex coming out of the wall to power a well and water heater. What is the best way to support the romex when it comes out of the drywall? I suppose I could just drill a hole in the drywall and run it through but that doesn't seem very finished. I thought about running the wires through a junction box but that seems like overkill. What I'd like to find is some type of sleeve that I could pop into the drywall and run the romex through. What do people do? Ideas? Thanks


----------



## ddawg16 (Aug 15, 2011)

The wire has to be protected....so you need conduit. And you can't just shove the conduit into the wall. I know it seems like a pain....but do the box.

For that water heater....you have to connect to it close to the heater....so I would run the 10/2 (I'm assuming it's for the water heater) behind the wall to a location close to the water heater. Then you wire the water heater to the box.

For the well pump...just do the box as close to the pump as you can...then conduit to the pump. Long term it will make your life easier....especially if for some reason the pump needs to move and your wire is no longer long enough. Now you have a box to make connections in.


----------



## Jack E (Mar 22, 2010)

Thanks for the advice. The two 10/2s go to the well switch which is on the pressure tank. The switch will be about 1.5' from the wall. The single 10/2 (not 12/2, sorry) goes to the electric water heater. The romex will be 12"+ from the wall to the heater. It makes sense to have a junction box and connect the wires in the box. Do I need to have the wires in conduit from the wall to the water heater/pump switch?


----------



## jeffnc (Apr 1, 2011)

If this is livable space, you can't just have power cables floating around. They need to be protected, even if it is for 1". The box and conduit only cost a few bucks, it's not really overkill.


----------



## Jack E (Mar 22, 2010)

The space is in a part of the garage that has been partitioned. It's not livable space per plans. I'm going to do the junction boxes and flexible metal conduit to the WH. The conduit to the well pressure switch may be tricky as one 10/2 goes to one side of the switch and the other to the other side. It's a Square D pressure switch, it doesn't seem set-up for conduit connection.:wink:


----------



## jeffnc (Apr 1, 2011)

Well, Romex doesn't need to be "supported" per se, so if you don't need a box, you don't really need anything - at least not for support.


----------



## jimmy21 (Jul 2, 2008)

jeffnc said:


> Well, Romex doesn't need to be "supported" per se, so if you don't need a box, you don't really need anything - at least not for support.


It does need physical protection, unless its above 8'. What I've always done for water heaters, is to mount a 4 square box with a single gang mud ring. Then run the Romex in to the box and leave it long enough to run to the water heater. Once the drywall and water heater are installed, mount some 3/4 flex to a metal single gang blank cover.


----------



## Jack E (Mar 22, 2010)

jimmy21 said:


> It does need physical protection, unless its above 8'. What I've always done for water heaters, is to mount a 4 square box with a single gang mud ring. Then run the Romex in to the box and leave it long enough to run to the water heater. Once the drywall and water heater are installed, mount some 3/4 flex to a metal single gang blank cover.


This sounds like a good plan for my water heater. I'm thinking I could do the same with the two 10/2s going to the well pump switch. Run both through the 4 square box and either use separate flex for each 10/2 to the switch or run them in the same flex.


----------

