John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum Archive

hi yet again... Again reading rods book, and it gives a great illustration/explanation of how the main circuit box is wired from the Power Company and how we should try to isloate our studio circuits from the refridgerator motors etc. by placing our circuits on the other leg of the main. My question is this... I have two 30amp circuit breakers in my main box in positions #1 and #2, wired for 220. This is run to another panel with set of 4 20 amp breakers wired for 110. After looking and understanding how the power company brings in power. It looks to me like I have both 110s running to that separate set of breakers and as such I will have 2 of my 20 amp breakers on the same main line as my fridge motors etc. Am I right is this?

jam

Sorry for bumping... just wanted to know if I needed to give more info on my problem? Do I have enough info to get a yes or no?

I was thinking about re-wiring the one 30 amp so that both 30s are on the same leg, but that would require moving some other brakers around and rebalancing the system. Quite a bit of work if it is not needed. I was also thinking about just leaving it alone until I am done wiring the plugs and checking if I get good power with it as is.

thanks...jam

Hi Jam.

I must have missed this one. Typically, your Fridge is running 110/120 AC, and using only one leg of the power. If your going to a subpanel, you are using a dual breaker, that takes power from both legs coming into the main panel.

If you look in your panel, the way the buzz bar works (that's the copper plate down the middle of the panel that the breakers connect to), alternates every other one as the same circuit. (This way when you have a 220/240 connection w/ dual breaker, it grabs 120 from each line).

You can probably separate from the line that has the Fridge, but unfortunately, you're still going to have the possibility of problems from other sources such as HVAC or a water, that uses both legs of the power.

You might wait and see if you have any issue's before really digging deep. As long as you have home runs for each outlet, it should be relatively easy to isolate or troubleshoot or move wires as needed.

Aaronw wrote:I must have missed this one.

You didn't miss it... I moved it from "Construction" to "Installation and Wiring."

You didn't miss it... I moved it from "Construction" to "Installation and Wiring."

Ahh. Gotcha. I figured I had missed it w/ all the chaos lately.

Thanks for the move... I did not see this section. I wondered where it went. Sorry for not posting in the right place.

I agree... might as well wait to see if there are any problems. No sense in trying to fix something that may not be broken.

jam