Dedicated Line Advise


I currently have a 20 amp dedicated line run to my small HiFi rig; amp, preamp, CDP, TT, power conditioning. I wish to add a second line using the same electrician who has worked on my house. It looks like he used 12 gauge Romex last time.

What are the key facts that I should know in case he is not familiar with doing wiring for audio systems?
I'm talking about the installation at the breaker box, e.g., keeping proper phase and preventing a ground-loop between the 2 circuits.
128x128lowrider57

lowrider57;  moving hot leads from one phase to another in the panel takes no time at all for an electrician.

Adding a new box takes a little more work. 

But what you described is really not complicated. 

You could actually do this yourself if you knew how.

On my house it is simple.  I would go outside to my meter panel.  There is a large circuit breaker for my house. Yes it is that old.

I will trip off that circuit breaker, de-energizing the house feed from the meter.  (I actually don't have to do this, but it is safer), Then I would go into the house to the breaker panel in my house.  I would locate the breaker that feeds the line described, then remove the breaker, take the lead from that breaker feed and move it to the other hot phase in the panel.  reconnect the circuit breaker, turn on the main breaker and you are done.

If you are doing this yourself, just take a volt meter with you and measure that the voltage is turned off before proceeding. 

There are two hot leads coming into your home. An A and B phase and a neutral.  A is on one side of the panel and B is on the other.  They both measure 120VAC with respect to the neutral.  They are out of phase with each other.  If you open your breaker panel, you will actually see the two phase wires connected to the breaker bus bars on either side.  You will see the neutral also and a ground (which is your house ground).

If you are not comfortable doing this, an electrician shouldn't charge more that an hour's labor (that is very conservative) to do this.

enjoy

Or, if your breaker panel is like mine (I just looked), if you have an open breaker position in the panel on the other phase, you can simply move the breaker in question to the other side/phase, snap it into place and you are done.

enjoy

Minorl,
While I agree that it is quite easy to change a breaker to the other phase in a panel - but if one is not familiar at all with electrical work - I will strongly caution about the DIY approach on this one.  For one there is lethal voltages inside the panel and even though the main beaker is turned off, depending on the design of the panel there could still be live voltage inside the panel - in my main panel the feed coming from the meter to the main breaker are still live with the breaker in its off position.

Another one I will never forget, while an electrician apprentice back in Denmark, where I'm originally from, we were called to a vacation home to install an electrical outlet for a TV.  Initially the owner had tried to install it himself, even though back there its actually again the law.  Also every house is fed with three phases and neutral, 220V from neutral to each phase and 380V between the phases.   He managed to get 380V on the outlet, and there was an empty TV stand in front of the outlet :-)

Good Listening

Peter

Thanks for the detailed info, minor1. My box has the Main Disconnect linked on #2 and 4, so it's very convenient.
I'm sure I could move a breaker myself, although each wire may only be cut to length.

 It's a very poor layout of my household appliances. Even though the load is balanced, there are some high-current breakers in the middle, then blanks and low current, then more appliances at the bottom). 
If it's only an hour labor charge, I'm fine with that. Thanks.


Peter, I have a quick story about my respect for electricity. I'm not an EE or electrician, but I did hold a 2nd Class FCC license and worked as an audio engineer.
On my first remote, we were going to tie-in the truck to the venue (an old theater), so I went with the Chief Engineer to the basement and located the circuit boxes. He handed me a heavy length of wood and said that if he started to get electrocuted, I was to knock his body away from the wiring.