Dedicated Power Lines

Foster_9,

I can only give you general advice. The electrician you hire will know what he must do to meet the minimum electrical code standards in your area.

Note I said minimum. You can go overboard as much as you can afford.

12 gauge or 10 gauge? Short runs 12 is probably more than adequate. But if you go with 10 gauge you will never wonder what if.....

Tell the electrician you want two 20 amp 120V dedicated branch circuits installed.

NM-B, (Romex is a trade name), if possible.

The electrician should be able to keep the two cable runs fairly close in length with one another. Some separation between the two cables for long parallel distances if possible.

Plastic cut in boxes if possible. Two separate boxes. Not a 2 gang box. Just in case of a wall wart power supply, physical size.

I assume your home is wood studs with drywall.

Tell him you want both hot conductors of the branch circuits connected to 20 amp branch circuit breakers fed from the same Line, leg, in the panel.
To verify after the installation is completed and power is turned on have the electrician show you both circuits are fed from the same Line, leg, by measuring for voltage from the hot contacts from one duplex receptacle to the other duplex receptacles.
Same Line, leg, zero volts. Off each Line, leg, 240V.

If possible the breakers should be located away from known noisy load breakers. Example, Furnace, laundry, sump pump, Microwave, ect.

Forget about asking the electrician to move all noisy loads to one Line and put your new dedicated circuits on the other. If he is a licensed electrician worth his salt he will tell you no he cannot do that. Nor would you want him to.

If the main disconnect breaker is installed in the panel the new branch circuits will be fed from ask him if he can keep the neutral and equipment grounds grouped close together on the same neutral/ground bar.
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Bifwynne,

I tried cutting through the NEC material. Have to admit, I got lost.
Bifwynne

LOL.

National Electrical Code 90.1 Purpose:
(A) Practical Safeguarding. The purpose of this Code is the practical safeguarding of persons and property from hazards arising from the use of electricity.

B) Adequacy. This Code contains provisions considered necessary for safety. Compliance therewith and proper maintenance results in an installation that is essentially free from hazard but not necessarily efficient, convenient, or adequate for good service or future expansion of electrical use.

FPN: Hazards often occur because of overloading of wiring systems by methods or usage not in conformity with this Code. This occurs because initial wiring did not provide for increases in the use of electricity. An initial adequate installation and reasonable provisions for system changes provide for increase in the use of electricity.

(C) Intention. This Code is not intended as a design specification or instruction manual for untrained persons.

(D) Relation to Other International Standards. The requirements in this Code address the fundamental principles of protection for safety contained in Section 131 of International Electrotechnical Commission Standard 60364-1, Electrical Installation of Buildings.

FPN: IEC 60364-, Section 131, contains fundamental principles of protection for safety that encompass protection against electric shock, protection against thermal effects, protection against overcurrent, protection against fault currents, and protection against overvoltage. All of these potential hazards are addressed by the requirements in this Code.

Look Closely at Section (B) Adequacy it reads as follows: "Compliance therewith and proper maintenance results in an installation that is essentially free from hazard but not necessarily efficient, convenient, or adequate for good service or future expansion of electric use."

http://www.spgs-ground.com/information/-purpose-of-the-national-electrical-code

FPN:?
Are suggestions only.

Code is bare minimum electrical safety standards. NEC is not meant to be used as an instruction manual.

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What I'm still confused about is whether I should run hot wires from both sides of the box. My concern is whether powering my gear with different phase hots could in some way change the output phase of my gear.
Bifwynne

Either way it will not change the polarity or phase of the output of your gear.

I looked at your equipment. Everything added up, the total connected load can't be more than 10 or 12 amps continuous max. And that would be if you pushed the amp near full power.

Have the electrician feed the dedicated branch circuits from the same line, leg, of the panel.
You do not want a 240V potential, voltage, between the hots of your dedicated branch circuit receptacles where audio equipment will be be connected together by ICs. You want zero potential from hot to hot. And you will have zero if the branch circuits are fed from the same Line, leg of the electrical panel.
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Got it! My thought is that the in-wall house circuits will feed the TV, the DVD player and the VPI TT. Four (4) separate dedicated lines for: (1) the amp; (2) the analogue fronts (linestage and phono pre); (3) the CDP; and (4) the sub-woofer. Will set up a satellite box off the main panel for the 4 lines -- will use only hot from one side of the main panel and will ask the electrician to link the sub-panel as far away from other breakers that feed motors and the HVAC system. Does this sound like a good plan?

This is really interesting reading all the posts and suggestions. 1) show me evidence where connecting electronics on the panel as balanced loads split evenly between phases actually causes ground loops and noise. I would bet money that this is an assumption made by people that have no idea what was actually causing their noise and ground loops. 2) Every qualified electrician will ask an important question before installing the new panel box and wiring the "dedicated" lines. That question will be "what will the specific loads be on each phase? And a qualified electrician that is concerned with not violating basic safety and code will pull out a calculator and split the loads equally. I'm not going to argue with anyone here regarding this issue. it is what it is. When I wrote separate lines, I actually meant "dedicated Lines" specifically lines that have three conductors per line. A hot wire, neutral and ground that are not shared with any other circuit and are dedicated lines all the way back to the panel. That is what I meant. I don't care if you use separate conductors or three conductor "Romex" type conductors. It is up to you and your electrician as long as it meets or exceeds code and serves your purpose. Sharing neutrals will absolutely contribute to ground loops and noise. And yes, you have to be very clear to the electrician in the instructions. Tell the electrician that you want "dedicate" lines with a hot, neutral and ground per dedicated line and to not share ground and neutrals. If your system doesn't draw massive current per phase, then it really won't make a difference if you connect it on one phase. However, if you have stupidly massive equipment that is on all the time and draws continuous current, this may overload one phase and is a basic violation of electrical code. Period! I read posts all the time where some well meaning person suggest to someone to do something to "fix" a problem and that "fix" is a violation of some code or safety standard. Such as the continuous use of "cheater Plug" or some other non-sense. But, they wont' be around when someone gets hurt will they? also, if you wire your panel incorrectly and a fire occurs and your insurance company finds out that it was purposely wired incorrectly, this may void your insurance coverage. I'm just saying... Do it correct the first time.

Minorl, I take your point. The biggest energy vampires in my system are the power amp and the sub woofer. The rest of the gear doesn't draw that much current. Let me be clear. If the line stage and phono pre are fed off a true dedicated line from the box off one hot and the amp and sub are fed off true dedicated lines from the box with the other hot of opposite phase, will that set up result in the line stage/phono pre outputs being out of phase with the power amp and sub?