John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

36. Don't use metal studs as a guide/ruler for cutting plasterboard, its sharp.

37. Destroy any plans your not using and make mul;tiple copies of the one's
you are

Hello everyone and thank you for an awsome forum! I've been reading for a couple of days now, and there is SO much information here! I will be starting building my small studio (personal use) later this year, and even though its nothing fancy, I will still pick up som e useful advice from you guys.


Since I have been building everything from houses to boat houses to special machinery, I really miss the basic rule, the first one. I think we have to name it number 0 so it will come first:

(0) Murphy was an optimist



Greetings from sweeden

Welcome to the forum, and while your reading all the stuff, please note the forum requirements. One of them is to include your city and country in your profile, not just in your posting. Have fun, and happy learning!

Edo Peters wrote:Welcome to the forum, and while your reading all the stuff, please note the forum requirements. One of them is to include your city and country in your profile, not just in your posting. Have fun, and happy learning!

Ok, fixed that

frederic wrote:Electrical - (snipped) Make sure you plan your circuits out well with a 20% margin. i.e. if you add up all your "stuff" and find you need a 15A circuit, wire up a 20A circuit. No need to run things at the limits. Your breakers will thank you.

I think you should probably clarify this. Right now it sounds like you're suggesting that one ought to choose a 20A breaker, when a standard 15 is called for. I'm hoping I'm reading that wrong, because that would be a VERY dangerous thing to do. The standard, and safe thing to do, would be to add more 15 amp circuits, and run less plugs and switches off each one.

Can you be clearer, so someone doesn't wire up their studio and throw in breakers that are too high in amperage. One wouldn't want anything to go up in a puff of smoke as a result of something they read here.

Love the thread, guys.

Peace
Keith

Why would it be "dangerous" to install a 20 amp circuit if you are only planning to draw 15 amps from it? That makes no sense. Allowing a 25% margin seems pretty safe to me.

That would be like saying, "It's perfectly safe to duck tape my smoke detector, to reduce it's sensitivity, so it won't go off when I burn toast."

Safety systems are designed in a certain way. I think one of the most dangerous things we can do is to take it upon ourselves to raise the threshold of any safety system. If your 15's are tripping, you have a problem. A problem which might never be revealed with a 20 until it's too late.

There's another angle here. If there's a fire, and your insurance company finds out you've substituted 20 amp breakers where 15's are specified, they'll say, "Too bad, so sad. Go away."

So I stand behind my statement. This is a universally bad idea, and should not be employed, ever.

...unless I misunderstood the intent of the above post, in which case clarification is still in order.

cheers
Keith

That would be like saying, "It's perfectly safe to duck tape my smoke detector, to reduce it's sensitivity, so it won't go off when I burn toast."

No it isn't. It would be nothing like saying that. He said nothing of the sort. You seem to have not read what he said.

I think one of the most dangerous things we can do is to take it upon ourselves
to raise the threshold of any safety system.

Huh? How can it be "a dangerous thing" to RAISE a safety margin? How can it be dangerous to make something safer?

Try reading Frederick's advise again: what it says is that if your consumption will be 15 amps, then you should plan t install circuits that can handle 20amps. That is DEFINITELY a good thing. You most certainly DO want to design your electrical circuits to be able to handle MORE load that what you ever expect to to actually place on them.

If your 15's are tripping, you have a problem. A problem which might never be revealed with a 20 until it's too late.

Huh? I don't know where you got that from! Frederick's advise says nothing at all about replacing "15s that are tripping" with "20s". What it DID say is that if you calculate that your load will be 15 amps, then you should allow for a margin of error and plan your circuits with the capability of handling 20 amps. I fail to see how that advise is "dangerous".

What he actually said is "... Make sure you plan your circuits out well with a 20% margin. i.e. if you add up all your "stuff" and find you need a 15A circuit, wire up a 20A circuit. No need to run things at the limits. ...". Good advise, indeed.

This is a universally bad idea, and should not be employed, ever.

No, sorry, but you are flat wrong. If you figure out that all the equipment in your studio is going to draw 15 amps, then your advise of designing a circuit that can only handle 15 amps is extremely dangerous. Frederick's advice to design a circuit that can handle 20 amps is sound, solid, safe advise. Personally, I'd go for 30 amps, but 20 is fine too. But I most certainly would NOT design it for 15. That would be plain stupid, just like Frederick said. You do NOT want to run your circuits at the load limit. You DO want a margin. Running your wiring at the limit is asking for trouble.

Sorry, but I just do not see the issue here. The advise says nothing at all about "replacing 15a breakers with 20A breakers". Those are your words, not his. What Frederick said is perfectly good, sensible advise. To NOT follow his advise would be dangerous. I think you need to read it again. I think you are confused about what he said. I think you misread it, and thought he was suggesting that you should replace 15A breakers with 20A breakers, but in fact he said no such thing. He said that you should PLAN your circuits with a 20% margin. Not that you should replace low current breakers with high current breakers.

What he says is very clear: When you PLAN your circuits, add up all your expected consumption, then add a 20% margin, and wire your circuits for that.

In other words, if you add up all your expected consumption and get to a figure of (for example) 15 amps, then you need to plan your circuits for 20 amps., and wire them for 20 amps, and install 20 amp breakers.

How on earth that advise can be considered "dangerous" is beyond me.

( And yes, before you ask, I am a qualified electrician. )



- Stuart -

The most important thing is to have a reserve in the wire diameter which powers yous studio.
I will have 5 x 2,5mm² for suply my studio.
I will use one phase for light, one for equipment, and have one for the ventilation /aircondition.
with 2,5mm² you can power up alot of equipment!
In Germany you can have a 32A breaker with this wire, and you will never reach this with normal studioequipment!
cheers
Mika

Okay, we all agree that to create more of a safety margin is a good thing.

What I read looked to me like a reduction in safety. I thought he meant upping the breaker size, and I figured others could also misinterpret this in a way that could cause harm. Which is why I requested clarification.

This is probabaly getting a little academic at this point, but if I'm counting up the devices on a circuit, and I'm approaching the maximum number of devices allowable on, say, a 15 amp circuit, (12 in my country, and I personally don't exceed 10)then I add another 15 amp circuit in the panel, so everything runs a lot lower than capacity.

I THOUGHT he was advocating an increase in amperage in an individual breaker, on a circuit. Clarification, that's all I'm suggesting here.

Actually, the advice ought to probably be: If you're not an electrician, get someone who is to do the work.

Peace
Keith

took-the-red-pill wrote:...(12 in my country, and I personally don't exceed 10)then I add another 15 amp circuit in the panel, so everything runs a lot lower than capacity.

Actually, the advice ought to probably be: If you're not an electrician, get someone who is to do the work.

Peace
Keith

15 amp in the States, so ditto and double ditto

Actually, the advice ought to probably be: If you're not an electrician, get someone who is to do the work.

Absolutely! That certainly is something that we all agree on. Electricity is dangerous, and it will bite you if you do not treat it with respect. Hiring a qualified electrician to do the work is very, very good advise.


- Stuart -

I would clarify that just adding a 20amp breaker to any existing wiring is NOT A GOOD IDEA. However, when planning studio circuits, install WIRE THAT CAN HANDLE 20 amps. That's where the safety margin is. Then you can install a 20 amp breaker no problem.

Safety issues arise when the breaker is larger than the capacity of the wire in the wall. That can cause a fire hazard.

As a side note, installing 5x 15 amp circuits when 3x 20amp ones would do does nothing to increase safety and just costs you more money in the end.

-ashley

29) (I skipped "28") Do not put electrical wall plugs or wall sconces within 17" of any corner if you plan to add floor-to-ceiling bass traps.

LAME

38 - Don't use transparent caulk; you can't see whats happening when applying it.

39 - When building inside out, don't ever build a wall so big that you can't move it/lift it up later

40 - Don't make a hole for your snake conduit thats gonna end to a stud in the other side