Cover deck - wiring options

Question

I want to install fans in a covered deck. The room is timber beams and trying to hide wiring best I can.

What options do I have, if I use UF-B can I cover with wiremold raceway (which would be merely cosmetic b/c I believe UF-B does not need to be in raceway/conduit.

If I use THWN, I don’t think wiremold would be adequate, and I think it can only be used in dry locations.

Any options for a low profile approved conduit for damp locations? Or is UF-B in wiremold a good option. I would like to cover the raceway with trim.

Also I assume regardless of wire/conduit option, I need weather proof fan boxes? If not using conduit what type of fitting do you use on the weather proof box?

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

You're in a gray area - some inspectors will consider the area under the roof a damp area, some will consider it a dry area. I think anyone would agree that the exposed part from the ground up is wet.

I think wiremold will not give you a good result. I've never tried pulling UF into wiremold but I bet it's a pain. Bends that are not right angles are a pain with wiremold.

I think neatly stapled exposed UF would look fine. If you stapled as much as possible to the top of the beams you'll hardly see it. The other option would be to do it in conduit, but again with the bends involved you probably can't use ready-made bends, so unless you can bend conduit I don't think it will come out like you want.

Now from the top of the posts down it's either UF in a sleeve / stub to protect from physical damage, or conduit - PVC or EMT - but it might be all straight runs, so it's much easier to work with conduit.

Answer 2

THWN wire is suitable for wet locations, that's what the W is for.

It works just fine in surface conduit, where you don't "pull" so much as snap the conduit covers over it. You might leave the covers on for the straights, and remove the covers at all the turns and corners.