hospital grade or commercial grade receptacles ?


What is the difference ? Is it really worth ten times the price to get hospital grade receptacles ? Why ?
Is one brand really superior to another? Is Pass &
Seymore a good brand ? Hubble better ?
I am setting up a closet to house my mid-fi gear and
will be running two dedicated 20A. lines to run the
2-channel audio and the home entertainment equipment. I
will have two double (2 duplex receptacles) on each 20A
circuit.
Thank you in advance.
saki70

Showing 5 responses by saki70

Excellent advice and information, thank you to all.
I am thinking to go with isolated hospital receptacles on
a dedicated line with 12/3 wire. I will use one of the shielded wires as the ground (rapped in green tape at the ends) so as to pick up less, if any, interference as compared to the bare ground wire. Using the Isolated H.S.
grade receptacles will finish the isolated route and offer
a secure and tight fit at the wall. Does this make sense and sound correct ? Is a seperate ground, at the breaker box, needed for the isolation process to be complete for the dedicated line ?
Please keep the info coming. We are almost there !
Eldartford;
What I was refering to, was the use of the insulation on
the third wire as a means of insulating against possible stray interference from outside forces, maybe not totally but of some use as compared to the bare ground. The green tape was to identify it as a ground wire should anyone else
get in there.

Tobias;
Please excuse my ignorance, but what did you have to have redone with the neutral wire ? What was the procedure ?
Is that the same as a seperate ground ? Did it require further equipment ?
WOW !!!
So can anyone respond to my post of 11-12-04 ?
Is the isolated ground system a decent path to take ?
I didn't mean to stir-up a hornets nest !!
Irvrobinson;
Are you saying that an isolated ground system does not need to use isolated grounding receptacles ? I thought
(possibly incorrectly) that they were made differently.
Something with the way that the strap or ears were connected to the case of the receptacle for grounding purposes. As I said, I don't know much about this. Just trying to get it right the first time !
An update to my set-up; I had to change the electrical cable from a two wire (12/2) to a three wire (12/3) to
facilitate the correct installation of the isolated ground system. This was needed even with use of plastic boxes in the wall for the receptacles. I would also like to mention that a seperate isolated ground bar (plastic) is required in the electrical panel, hooked-up to its own ground rod. This made the system totally seperate from the rest of the house's system. Or so I have been told .
Just as a hedge against obsoletion, I also changed from 12 guage cable to 10 guage cable. So now I am running 10/3
with ground from the breaker box to the outlets. Two dedicated runs, each operating two H.S. grade isolated ground duplex 20A. receptacles. The change in cable necessitated an expenditure almost 4 fold, from about $27.00
to just over $110.00 ! I was actually able to purchase a roll 250ft. long for about the same price as having two 60
ft. pieces cut from the spool at Home Depot ! Exactly the same wire from the same manufacturer. Make sense ?
It is supposed to be hooked-up next tuesday.
Again, thank you to all who contributed information to my cause. This is a great forum !