TL;DR
Direct burial cable is wiring whose jacket is rated for placement in earth with no conduit, UF-B for line-voltage branch circuits and jacketed low-voltage cable for landscape lighting being the residential staples. Burial depth follows the NEC: UF-B at 120 volts with GFCI protection typically requires 12 inches, 24 inches without, while low-voltage lighting cable needs only 6.
What it means
Direct burial cable is wiring whose jacket is rated for placement in earth with no conduit, UF-B for line-voltage branch circuits and jacketed low-voltage cable for landscape lighting being the residential staples. Burial depth follows the NEC: UF-B at 120 volts with GFCI protection typically requires 12 inches, 24 inches without, while low-voltage lighting cable needs only 6. The jacket resists moisture and soil chemistry, but not shovels, which is why an 811 locate and a run of warning tape above the cable are part of a careful installation.
Where it sits in the glossary
Direct burial cable is part of the Trade jargon group inside the ProFix Directory glossary. Browse every term in this category from the glossary index.
Why Ohio homeowners should know it
This is a term Ohio homeowners encounter when reading contractor quotes, hiring paperwork, or inspection reports. Understanding it well enough to ask one good follow-up question is usually all the protection a homeowner needs.
ProFix Directory keeps definitions short on the index page and saves the longer context — Ohio-specific rules, where the term comes from, and which ProFix tools touch it — for these per-term pages so the term is easy to cite and easy to share.
ProFix tools that touch this term
See also
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