How to wire my 1-room studio?

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gdgross
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How to wire my 1-room studio?

Post by gdgross »

See the attachment for a diagram. There are two phases going to the studio from the house. Of course each one has is own 20A breaker. This will be a small home project studio, so I don't expect too much equipment. I will be tearing down the existing drywall and insulating and soundproofinfg as best I can, and I figure that's a good time to do the electrical. I'll be adding outlets and lighting and regrounding. (This is an old house with many 2-prong outlets.)

Are there any general guidelines I should think about before I rewire the place? For example should I keep the lights and the outlets on different phases? Also, the garage is run from one of these breakers as well. Perhaps I should keep the garage and the lights on one phase and the outlest on another?

Thanks!
Geoff
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Post by Aaronw »

Hello Geoff,

It's not a bad idea to keep the lighting & outlets on separate legs if you have the ability to.

Are you coming off of a 200 amp main panel with a 20 amp sub panel, or what are your needs?

Surely you have more than 20 amps coming from the street. Oh, BTW, residential is usually single phase.
gdgross
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Post by gdgross »

The main panel is 200A (I think, it may be only 100A). And there actually are two phases going to the house. (220V between the hot wires, 120V between each hot and the neutral)

The breaker for the practice room/studio is at the main panel. It's a dual 20A breaker, so 20A for each of the two legs. And the legs are also separate phases. Also, one of these leges must power the garage, too, or else I can pull a separate set of wires if I need to.

This will be a small (14'x10') rehersal space/home project studio. I do not anticipate needing a whole bunch of power out there.

Should I install another panel in the studio? Should I go with balanced power on one of the phases (the non-lighting & one)? I did some reading at the equitech site yesterday, but was unable to find out if I can simply install an appropriately sized balacing transformer after the breaker. I will definitely give this stuidio its own ground rod, separate from the rest of the house and the garage ground.

Thanks!
Geoff
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Post by Aaronw »

Hi Geoff,

The nice thing about a subpanel, is you can create individual circuits in the garage, instead of killing all the power when you shut it off. With mine, I used a 60 amp dual breaker to run over to a sub panel. It's actually a 200 amp panel, but I'm only running 60 amps to it. The cable I ran is rated for 95 amps, so If I need to upgrade, I can later.

Anyway, I wanted the ability to run every circuit on it's own breaker.

How many outlets or circuits do you plan on? If you want balanced, you may be just as well using one of equitechs rackmount units. It would probably be cheaper than an inline version. And from the sounds of it, you won't be pulling much juice, so you may only need one.
gdgross
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Post by gdgross »

Right now there's about one outlet per wall. I'll probably double that, just because it's nice to have power exactly where you need it.

The subpanels sounds like a good idea, but it will mean more work (and more holes I have to cut behind the main panel in the house....). Let's say i run it off of a 60 amp breaker as you are doing. 2 separate phases... what gauge wire do I need to pull? Right now it's 12 gauge (4 wires, 2 hot 2 neutral)

Thanks!
Geoff
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Post by Aaronw »

I used #2 or 2/0 wire (can't remember). It's rated for 95 amps. Expect to pay about (I think around .50+) a ft. for it (roughly).
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