Dedicated 20 amp circuit - Electrician laughed!

Definitely appreciate @spenav and the link to Mr. Galbo’s recommendations. I’ve always been wanting the 240V circuits, but everybody says that’s beyond extreme. But they do it other places, so why not in the U.S.?

@jea48 mentioned using Al wire instead of Cu, I would be interested to learn why.

Now, not to be a nattering nabob of negativity, but what are people doing about the NEC rule regarding tamper resistant receptacles unless the receptacle is higher than 5.5 feet? I understand the NEC thinking, but if you don’t have any 3-year-old kids in the house, it seems a bit beyond extreme to me. I believe even if you do the work yourself you’re supposed to get a permit, and an inspection, and I think non-tamper-resistant receptacles would be marked unacceptable.

I’m not an expert on the NEC, but I’ve done a fair bit of studying for installing my PV system. But it is my understanding that a 20-amp breaker gets a 20-amp receptacle, or 15-amp receptacle if it is the only one, no matter what gauge wire is used. I know oversizing wire is allowed, as I did this on the PV system, but you also have to oversize the ground too, from what I remember.

the_treble_with_tribbles38 posts  

05-14-2020  
 8:24pm


@jea48 mentioned using Al wire instead of Cu, I would be interested to learn why.

@ the_treble_with_tribbles

Copy of post please.


Jim
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I had the Romex wire from some long ago project on the basement shelf. I knew the work involved so one day I found some ambition, drilled the necessary holes and pulled the wire. I then bought the best breaker I could find and connected it to the panel. I used a good quality outlet and had my own dedicated 20 amp circuit for the cost of the outlet and the breaker. Oh, and lots of sweat and sawdust all over me (and the clean-up). I run my system through a balanced power unit which cleans up the AC and supplies consistent pure power to my system. it is dead quiet. I consider myself lucky that I am able to this but it is not hard. Most of it is just plain old manual labor. If you want to hear a bunch of discussion about N.E.C. just mention balanced power and electricians go crazy. I just smile and hit play! 

Aluminum wire is used mostly in large guages into the main panel or a subpanel. You need to use a grease on it as well. Aluminum was used for a time during the 1960's wiring entire houses, copper was scarce because of the Vietnam war. I used to own a house built in 1967 wired entirely with aluminum wire. 

Don't get me wrong, I completely believe that Audio components should not be in a circuit that is shared by appliances. I also believe high current amps usually work best plugged directly into a wall receptacle and on a dedicated circuit, or at least one shared by only a few low current devices. Follow your manufactures recommendations, but generally (unless you have old or bad and not up to code wiring) you do not need to re-wire your house to find a clean circuit/circuits to run your audio gear...Jim