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Dedicated Circuits - Subpanel importance?

My system is no more. Sold everything. Starting from scratch. Thanks to you and seven months of experience I am doing the following, which is taking care of the number one component, the room:

  1. Treating. The full GIK order in October is starting to arrive.
  2. Running one or more dedicated circuits.

I am addressing #2 in this post. There are extensive discussions here and one can spend hours if not days trying to wring-out the critical details needed for a DIY solution. I have spent hours and there a few things I need to confirm before I proceed because I was unable to find definitive answers.

I am doing this myself. I do not want or need lectures on only having a licensed electrician do this work. I have been doing my own electrical work for many years and am very comfortable doing so.

  1. Does a subpanel help? Is it required? Subpanels are typically supplied from a breaker off of the main panel's bus, so I'm guessing there is no advantage in terms of SQ? Perhaps if I can independently ground the subpanel it might make a difference?
  2. Opening up my walls is not an option, so I need to use conduit. This may restrict the number of lines if the wire should not share the same conduit? If I am restricted to Romex 8 or 10,2 versus metal-clad, is it okay for two runs to occupy the same conduit?
  3. How much better is metal-clad? Is it required vs Romex? Will metal conduit accomplish the same result with Romex?

Answers to these questions will complete my plans and I will go forward at speed. Hopefully this discussion helps others as well even if it's to know what to have their electrician setup for them.

Thank you!

 

 

 

 

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rajugsw
194 posts
 

@lowrider57 Yes and the stupid thing is I have a soft start circuit board that I bought (and tested) off of eBay which is residing inside an incomplete Amplifier project that I’m working on. I’m sure if I would have “Jerry rigged” the AC power between it and my BAT Preamp, I still be listening to the eight 6H30 tubes that reside inside the BAT.

Lesson learned (I guess). The internal fuse I’ve never changed or looked at since I bought it 1.5 years ago.

If the fuse is the wrong amperage, that too would explain a lot. When I checked the fuse, I only checked for continuity, not it’s Amp rating. Stupid me :-(

Damn good question though.

ieales's avatar
ieales
1,201 posts
 

If your hifi is on a seperate circuit as above, you are not going to get noise from an appliance on a seperate circuit.

We must have imagined moving the breaker to the other leg curing the noise.

8044drussell
93 posts
 

@ieales

Unless the OP has a 3-phase system (unlikely), don't you mean "leg"?

ieales's avatar
ieales
1,201 posts
 

'Leg' is synonymous w 'phase'

A home 120VAC panel is fed from a center-tapped transformer.

The Neutral, connected to Earth, is the center tap. Each leg of the panel is connected to one output of the transformer, which are out of phase.

The two legs of the panel are out of phase with one another.

lowrider57's avatar
lowrider57
5,396 posts
 

 

There's no advantage to a subpanel, imo, unless perhaps it can be located close to your system and simplify the rest of the install. As for grounding, all grounds must be bonded together at the main panel and only at the main panel to ensure a fault to ground will trip the breaker.

@cleeds , I've learned about grounding code from forums such as this. But I've been wondering why can't a subpanel have it's own grounding rod as long as the main panel has a grounding rod? This is unclear to me because the subpanel ground is tied to the main panel grounding block.

Is a grounding rod ever used on a subpanel?

 

 

 

 

 

 

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