garymd Posted June 1, 2005 Share Posted June 1, 2005 I have an electrician coming tomorrow to "heavy up" our power. Being "electrically challenged," what specifically should I ask him to do to get a dedicated line for my 2-channel rig? The outlet I use is only about 10 feet from the fuse box but I will eventually be remodeling the basement. I figure I should have that one outlet be dedicated and when I remodel, I'll just have to have it moved to a different spot since it won't be too far. Also, should I have him do the same for the upstairs HT/2-channel room? I'm guessing he'll know exactly what I'm talking about but I won't be here. My wife will need to ask the questions. Thanks in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJkizak Posted June 1, 2005 Share Posted June 1, 2005 Have him put in two #10 30 amp circuits. That will cover anything you have. JJK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garymd Posted June 1, 2005 Author Share Posted June 1, 2005 ---------------- On 6/1/2005 6:42:22 PM JJKIZAK wrote: Have him put in two #10 30 amp circuits. That will cover anything you have. JJK ---------------- Thanks for the quick response. I'm guessing additional work may be needed to bypass anything else that may currently be on the same circuit? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrot Posted June 1, 2005 Share Posted June 1, 2005 Don't tell the electrician that you use $1000 power cords or he'll peg you as the biggest sucker he's ever run into and charge you $30,000 for the breakerbox work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryC Posted June 1, 2005 Share Posted June 1, 2005 ---------------- On 6/1/2005 6:55:12 PM garymd wrote: ---------------- On 6/1/2005 6:42:22 PM JJKIZAK wrote: Have him put in two #10 30 amp circuits. That will cover anything you have. JJK ---------------- Thanks for the quick response. I'm guessing additional work may be needed to bypass anything else that may currently be on the same circuit? ---------------- Yes, those new circuits would by-pass or replace your existing hi-fi circuit. Would that be one 30-amp for both your amplifiers -- and then do you need another whole 30-amps for the rest of your equipment, or just a 20-amp? Actually my most important suggestion is to have him run "metal clad" wire in both circuits, to reduce EMI and RFI going into and exiting from the wiring. As you may recall, doing that greatly reduced hum and noise in my amp's setup. You probably have to let him know in advance so he can bring the good stuff with him. I also had them unite (star-ground?) the grounds on my two circuits, same-phase. Provided, of course, that I know what I'm talking about.... Larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garymd Posted June 1, 2005 Author Share Posted June 1, 2005 ---------------- On 6/1/2005 7:25:33 PM Parrot wrote: Don't tell the electrician that you use $1000 power cords or he'll peg you as the biggest sucker he's ever run into and charge you $30,000 for the breakerbox work. ---------------- Thanks for the extremely useful and informative response Paul. I can always count on you. Larry, Yes, I remember. He's coming in the morning so I'll just have to hope his truck is fully stocked. Thanks for the info. I'm most concerned about the basement. The family room would just be an added bonus and I'll only have it done if it turns out to be an easy and inexpensive job. I've never had any noise issues in that room anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrot Posted June 1, 2005 Share Posted June 1, 2005 Lighten up, Gary. The fact is, any electrician would laugh himself silly if he heard about audiophool prices on audiophool wire. That is a side issue from the one you're discussing, granted, but what I said was absolutely true. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrMcGoo Posted June 1, 2005 Share Posted June 1, 2005 Garry, See if the electrician can put the new circuit on the same leg in the breaker box as the existing circuit in that room. The power transformer on the pole outside of your home supplies 230 volts via two hot lines. The 115 volt circuits in your home are from one-half or the other half of the two lines coming in. It can cause noise problems if your amp is on one leg and the pre-amp or CD is on another. Consider putting in a quad recepticle instead of a duplex recepticle. IMO a 20 amp circuit is probably big enough for your needs unless you are using your amp to do welding. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rplace Posted June 1, 2005 Share Posted June 1, 2005 FWIW, when I had home theater guys in my house they suggested one dedicated 20 amp circuit for equipment only...and stressed that it was best to run all the equipment off that one circuit only. No outlets for lights or a vacuum or anything besides audio/video equipment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garymd Posted June 1, 2005 Author Share Posted June 1, 2005 Thanks guys. I just use a cheap surge protector strip for all the equipment so nothing will be split up. I'm not going to worry about the family room, just the khorn room since I've had noise problems there in the past. The heavy up has been needed for a long time. I think there's only 65 amps coming in. The house was built in '63 with no A/C at the time and everything ran off gas. The inspector didn't look closely enough to see we were under code when we moved in. Every time you turn on the vacume cleaner or the subwoofer or A/C, etc., lights flicker. We occasionally blow fuses but not that often. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j-malotky Posted June 1, 2005 Share Posted June 1, 2005 Gary When I built my house, I have them run two dedicated isolated 20 amp circuits to my racks. I had them install a separate ground bar with its own real world ground separate from the rest of the house ground. Not sure if that is the same as what Larry said or not as I am not sure what a star ground is. JM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mighty Favog Posted June 2, 2005 Share Posted June 2, 2005 ---------------- On 6/1/2005 9:19:26 PM garymd wrote: I think there's only 65 amps coming in. The inspector didn't look closely enough to see we were under code when we moved in. Every time you turn on the vacume cleaner or the subwoofer or A/C, etc., lights flicker. We occasionally blow fuses but not that often. ---------------- Know where your coming from there..... We had about 60 amps a few years ago and had a new outside line (from the pole) and swapped out the fuse box to a breaker setup. Now it's 200 amps for a 1200sq/ft. house with no A/C. The biggest draw we have is the hot water heater, the clothes dryer and my air compressor (15 amps on the compressor so I had them put in a 20amp line to be sure). There is one 40 amp breaker down there all by itself and it does nothing. It goes to the kitchen to an outlet and was intended for an electric range, THAT HASN'T EXISTED IN OVER 25 YEARS!! I'd love to have it switched to my system but I doubt anyone would do it and still have a 15/20 amp outlet at the business end. Who knows, I may just someday be able to afford those McIntosh <350 wpc amps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fini Posted June 2, 2005 Share Posted June 2, 2005 Good point, Larry! The electrician could, as an alternative, run the wires in metal conduit. You might want him to install "hospital grade" plugs, as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edwinr Posted June 2, 2005 Share Posted June 2, 2005 Hi, Gary. Out of any 'tweaking' we can do, that doesn't involve major equipment upgrades, a dedicated line from the power box has to be the way to go. I've spoken to my local electrician about this very option. For a relatively small amount of money, we can access very clean power, minus all the interference from other household appliances. The only thing this dedicated line won't do, is guarantee the correct line voltage. Perhaps if you have the dollars, a second dedicated line to your other room, may be a serious option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke Spinner Posted June 2, 2005 Share Posted June 2, 2005 you can also get a Surge Supressor that goes right on the panel's buss ... they look like a 2 pole breaker ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Adams Posted June 2, 2005 Share Posted June 2, 2005 Hey Gary - Like others here, I had the electrician run a single, dedicated 30amp line to my HT room equipment rack during construction of the house. Additionally, I've got a dedicated 20amp line for my A/V stuff in the den. As someone kinda pointed out, from the wall outlet you're gonna feed some type of power strip/surge suppressor/power conditioner/whatever so there's really no need in having more than one line. And fini makes a good suggestion. However, it might be difficult to find a power cable that will connect to a hospital type twist-n-lock receptacle. The power cable plug on my Furman requires a specific receptacle for a 30amp circuit. As for breaker boxes - my electrician set me up with 300amps of service (two 150amp panels). I doubt I'll ever use it all. Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garymd Posted June 2, 2005 Author Share Posted June 2, 2005 Thanks for all the suggestions. Very much appreciated. He's putting in 2 separate dedicated circuits/outlets for my khorn system, 20 amps each. One for the amps, the other for the pre and everything else???? Probably overkill but he offered to throw it in for free since it's so close to the panel. Too much trouble right now to put a dedicated line to the HT and it isn't that important to me anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fini Posted June 2, 2005 Share Posted June 2, 2005 Tom, They make hospital grade plugs in the familiar "U-ground" configuration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebes Posted June 2, 2005 Share Posted June 2, 2005 You paid the guy? I would have done it for free! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJkizak Posted June 2, 2005 Share Posted June 2, 2005 Keep in mind also that if you start planting ground rods that are separated by too much distance you might start some ground loop problems. But if you have to you have to. The proper way is to construct a massive ground plane mesh then run your grounds up from the mesh. Then with your explosion proof 115vac twist-lock plugs ($100.00 each) you will have some real nice power. JJK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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