Getting my whole house re-wired - anything I should be doing?

[antichef]

Didn't think to post here until just now, 4 days into a massive re-wiring project for my entire house (I'm in the US). I have antique knob and tube wiring, and the electricians have already found a couple of places where inexpert work in the past resulted in hazardous conditions that in two cases resulted in actual fires that managed to burn out the circuit before catching the rest of the house on fire - whew! I had some lights that didn't work but I hadn't thought much about it. After this probably week-long job, the whole 100 year old house will be up to 2014 code! yay!

Anyway - I have a room I use for studio work. There will be an outlet on each of the 4 walls. I asked the electricians to make sure that all four of those outlets were on the same circuit, shared with nothing else. 15 amps, I guess?

I know I should have thought about this ahead of time, but right now with the work going on, anything I should be asking for or be aware of?

Thanks!

 

[Chili]

I would suggest ensuring the outlets are daisy-chained for grounding purposes to eliminate any ground loops. You might think with all grounds going back to the breaker box to one ground buss would suffice, but it doesn't.

My office/studio is in the garage. I built it myself and did all the electrical work. I have two circuits, one on the back wall and one behind the desk. Both grounds run to the breaker box which is barely 4 ft away from my office. I get a group loop when I plug my keyboard into the back outlet and then the audio cables into my interface on the desk outlet.

If you don't daisy-chain them, then perhaps, you can tie all the grounds together with a separate ground wire. Don't assume the ground buss in the breaker box is good enough. I would suggest going one step further with grounding, if you can.

But way cool you are bringing the house to the 21st century.

 

[rob aylestone]

The most handy feature in any studio is to have the ability to power down some kit from one switch, while having permanent supplies available for kit that doesn't like being turned off. You walk out of the door, throw the switch and all the stuff, bar the computers and network switches all turn off.

 

[mjbphotos]

Just one outlet per wall? I think most codes say an outlet every 4 feet, or something like that

 

[Chili]

Just one outlet per wall? I think most codes say an outlet every 4 feet, or something like that

Good catch. When I did mine, the inspector told me every 6 ft.

 

[Atkron205]

Good catch. When I did mine, the inspector told me every 6 ft.

you said one circuit on the wall, do you mean one circuit or one outlet? you can have more than one outlet (device) on a circuit. Also a little confused on the daisy chaining, if you say wire 4 outlets on one circuit then they are usually daisy chained (wired in parallel). As to the ground not sure how it makes a difference if it is a home run back to the breaker box or a group of outlets on one circuit. The ground and neutral buss is usually bonded together in the breaker box. One thing to check is for voltage from neutral to ground. you should not have any voltage present. Also you should have a earth ground (from a ground rod) connected to the ground buss in addition to the ground from the power source. it is also a good idea to earth ground your EQ of it equipped with a separate ground lug. Another option is to install a ground lift on EQ you think may be causing a ground loop issue ( really cheap at lowes, around a buck). Ground loops are usually caused by a piece of EQ, not the service. I have seen dirty power cause them also. Thanks

 

[Chili]

you said one circuit on the wall, do you mean one circuit or one outlet? you can have more than one outlet (device) on a circuit. Also a little confused on the daisy chaining, if you say wire 4 outlets on one circuit then they are usually daisy chained (wired in parallel).

I have two circuits; one in front and one in back. The front one has one outlet and supplies the computers, interfaces, etc, and I consider it to be the main circuit. The one in back supplies two outlets; each on a separate wall. My studio is really small; 10x10, so the inspector was okay with three walls having outlets and the fourth had none. (Yup, I actually had my little studio inspected when I built it. Didn't have to according to the inspector's office, but I didn't want any problems with the insurance company if I ever needed to file a claim.)

As to the ground not sure how it makes a difference if it is a home run back to the breaker box or a group of outlets on one circuit. The ground and neutral buss is usually bonded together in the breaker box.

I don't know how it makes a difference, either, but it does in my case and it is not suppose to. If I plug my kybrd into the back outlet (separate circuit) and audio cables into the interface (front circuit) it will hum. Plug it into the front outlet with the interface and no problem. The ground wires go to the same buss strip inside the breaker box. But I tell you what, it's easier to run an extension cable to the kybrd than it is to hunt down a ground loop.

 

[Atkron205]

I have two circuits; one in front and one in back. The front one has one outlet and supplies the computers, interfaces, etc, and I consider it to be the main circuit. The one in back supplies two outlets; each on a separate wall. My studio is really small; 10x10, so the inspector was okay with three walls having outlets and the fourth had none. (Yup, I actually had my little studio inspected when I built it. Didn't have to according to the inspector's office, but I didn't want any problems with the insurance company if I ever needed to file a claim.)

I don't know how it makes a difference, either, but it does in my case and it is not suppose to. If I plug my kybrd into the back outlet (separate circuit) and audio cables into the interface (front circuit) it will hum. Plug it into the front outlet with the interface and no problem. The ground wires go to the same buss strip inside the breaker box. But I tell you what, it's easier to run an extension cable to the kybrd than it is to hunt down a ground loop.

Cool, the ground lifts I am talking about is just a plug that you plug the 3 prong into the back and it only has the 2 blades that plug into the wall. When i was on the road as a FOH guy, all of our amp racks had ground lift switches we installed in them. power is some funky shit sometimes. Maybe trying one of these plugs on your keyboard.

Shop Project Source Single-to-Single Gray 2-Wire Adapter at Lowes.com

 

[JimmyS1969]

Cool, the ground lifts I am talking about is just a plug that you plug the 3 prong into the back and it only has the 2 blades that plug into the wall. When i was on the road as a FOH guy, all of our amp racks had ground lift switches we installed in them. power is some funky shit sometimes. Maybe trying one of these plugs on your keyboard.

Shop Project Source Single-to-Single Gray 2-Wire Adapter at Lowes.com

Yeah, us crazy musicians tend to use those. But we are stupid for the most part. Never a good idea really. Not as far as safety is concerned.

 

[rob aylestone]

Lift the ground in a power cable in the UK and you get lynched. Here this is considered an incredibly stupid thing to do, and we think countries that promote this technique to solve an audio problem a bit backwards. Lifting audio grounds is a safe solution, while lifting the ground in the mains connection to the gear removes the safety protection the third conductor provides. Worst of all are wall outlets that have a ground connection that is not connected. This gives strangers the impression it's a safe outlet, and not a potentially dangerous one! Everyone knows lifting the ground often cures annoying hum, but so does death! In the UK we're amazed this still happens. Many venues now insist equipment is safety tested before use, and no ground on a 3 conductor cable is an immediate fail.

 

[antichef]

Worst of all are wall outlets that have a ground connection that is not connected. This gives strangers the impression it's a safe outlet, and not a potentially dangerous one!

my whole house was this way prior to this job. The person before me had bought it and tried to fix it up cheaply and sell it (without ever living here) during the last real estate boom - she went into foreclosure. We even had one outlet that was the normal US 3 pronged variety which had 220 volts hooked up to it (ungrounded, I bet) - the initial inspector found it when all the lights on his tester lit up in a way he had never seen before. We had that one fixed before we moved in. But between all that kind of stuff and the small fires, we're lucky to be alive, I suppose.

Everyone knows lifting the ground often cures annoying hum, but so does death!

Yeah - when I had more than one guitar player in my room we would get shocked if we touched each other. I guess if someone spilled their root beer and that happened it would have been worse. Still, I hate getting hit with 220 (or 240? whatever you all have across the pond) worse than 110, even though 110 tends to paralyze you. I wish I could say I didn't know what either experience was like - but 220 feels like getting hit by a charging pig that weighs more than you (not that I know what that feels like - just speculating)

An outlet on each wall in my studio room won't result in an outlet every 4 feet, but maybe there's an exception in the code for a 100 year old house? I suppose I'll find out during the final inspection.

Does anyone know of a good decisive way for me to test the outlets (which have now been installed, but the electricians will still be working for a few days on the rest of the house) for a ground loop problem? I'm of course not talking about the loops that form in equipment alone - just a problem with the current wiring.

Thanks everybody!!!