dedicated curcuit question????

Krelldog,

This has turned out to be an interesting thread IMO. There is a lot of information already given. Some I agree with, some I don't. You should use the search feature to find many threads to do with this subject. KEY WORDS LIKE *Dedicated* *Dedicated circuits* and *Voltage drop* should bring up plenty.

It is never my intention to bash anyone’s comments as I can see their intent is genuine and sincere. Having said that I will say that I am an Electrician in a very High Tech area (Silicon Valley) And I have the mindset of an audiophile. Which is to say I believe in the best possible installation for the money invested.

I have installed six dedicated circuits in my own home and many in other peoples homes not to mention twenty-years in the commercial end of the industry (Impressed yet?)

My 2-cents on this topic would be run four or even five dedicated circuits (Mainly because you have a lot of gear) each with it's own dedicated neutral. Also add an isolated ground and a dirty ground to the receptacle location.

Use I.G. rated receptacles; you should probably run a 1" conduit between your panel and new location to cut down on labor and material. You will be required to pull #10 wire by code because of a de-rating issue when pulling more than five current carrying conductors in a raceway. THHN wire will work fine and personally I'd use stranded because it's easier to work with.

I recommend 5-hots 5-neutrals 1-isolated ground and 1-dirty ground.

Try to get a Commercial grade Electrician to do the work as opposed to a Residential Electrician. A Residental Electrician won't understand what you’re trying to accomplish, and may look at you funny.

Keep in mind the issue is not the current demand of your system but rather the isolating of different types of components from each other. This will lower the noise floor dramatically.

Don't forget to report back when it's all done.
Good luck!!! :^)

Stehno, that’s some pretty good information though I still do not agree with lifting the ground. I guess I've been hit to many times by every type of electricity known to mankind.

If you insist on cleaning up the ground how about dedicated grounds? One per I.G. receptacle. You know I damn near installed them myself in my home :^) but after bouncing the idea off a few of my friends at work and thinking seriously on the subject for a few days I finally passed on the idea. Though theoretically it almost seems feasible.

This is the part of the forms I enjoy the most. The sharing of good information. I couldn't agree with you more on the Commercial grade service. I trust your using bolt on breakers? Oversized the rating of the panel? Pure copper bussing? I personally would have added the Opt. I.G. ground bar and surge suppresion on the mains but that's just me.

The point I always try to stress is that lifting the ground posses an incredible safety issue. Did you know if your gear blows up and there is no reference to ground the breaker will probably not trip? Not until the receptacle burns up enough to short the hot to the neutral. THIS STUFF REALLY HAPPENS!! I know first hand, I've seen more than a couple dozen fires caused by faulty electrical wiring. When the insurance investigator finds out you lifted a ground wire which prevented a breaker from tripping guess what YOUR SCREWED!

Of course this is only my two cents. Lift the ground if you'd like. Leave your gear on when you’re away from the house or sleeping. Sweet Dreams :^)

I guess the most obvious scenario would be a lead wire coming lose in one of your components and touching the casing or anything bonded to the casing. The odds of this happening are probably pretty slim, but if it happened while your ground was lifted you could get a severe shock when touching the equipment. With the ground attached your breaker would trip instantaneously and would not reset.

As far as real life experiences go. I've been an electrician all my life. I've seen lots of burned up stuff. (As in whole buildings /houses etc.)

I myself have been injured by electricity on several occasions. Therefore I respect it. I don't toy around with it.

In the old days people didn't realize how important and effective grounding was. Today they do. That's why everything associated with electricity is usually grounded.

When appliances have a two-prong cord cap and a UL listing that usually means the product is double insulated and will not transmit voltage to the outer casing should something become defective inside the product?

As far as the two-prong cheater plug. I have no idea why manufacturers supply it. Sounds like a law suite waiting to happen.

I know all my gear warns against disconnecting the ground and voids the warranty should you choose to.

I acknowledge lifting the ground to be a quick fix for ground loops, amp hum and a few other problems, but personally I don't agree with this solution. In the trade we call it a band-aid. It does not solve the real problem.

I basically agree with everything you've said so far on the subject except the grounding comments.

I run six dedicated circuits with dedicated neutrals one isolated ground and a dirty ground to my gear. I connect one ground to an I.G recptacle the other to the box(If metal) I never compromise the ground when doing electrical work.
What I end up with is very clean power and no noise. My noise floor dropped so low I sold both my power conditioners.

I hope this helps. It seems to me you are asking some valid questions politely so I don't mind addressing them. Even though it is my day off :^)

There is no issue with using either side of your panel or should I say both sides. As long as you bring in a separate neutral (white wire) with each hot. DO NOT BALANCE TWO HOTS ON ONE NEUTRAL IF BOTH HOTS ARE CONNECTED TO THE SAME BUSS IN YOUR PANEL. Did you notice I didn't say same phase?

A residential service is Single phase. Both 120volt lines in your panel are derived from a single transformer provided by your power company. (Thus single phase) There is no such thing as A-phase and B-phase in a residential panel. unless of course the house is huge and has a three phase service coming in. This would only apply to around 5% of the population.

If you are balancing two hots on one neutral they must be on opposing buses in your panel. Otherwise you could very easily overload the neutral and burn it up. This will cause an electrical fire in your walls long before you trip a breaker. This is not a grounding issue.

Anyway I hope I helped a little on this thread.