Whole Home Surge Protection/Power Conditioning for Dedicated 20A lines...

[Chops]

As some of you my know, I plan on running three 20A circuits to my system this fall, using a 60A subpanel and three 20A breakers via 10/2 Romex. From what I have read, this seems to be the best approach anyway.

Also in my research, I have come across a couple of items from Environmental Potentials, specifically the EP-2050-EE power conditioner and EP-2750 ground filter. I was thinking these would be a good add-on for the dedicated subpanel.

For outlets, I'm thinking I'll go with Hubbell IG8300's which have isolated grounds. Not exactly sure what the means as far as the outlets are concerned, but saw several people mention over others, not to mention they accept 10 AWG cable.

Is there anything else I should consider? Would a whole home surge protector from the power company (TECO in my case) be good? Not really too concerned with price as I want it to be done right the first time, and labor will be paid for in a cook-out. It's good to have an electrician as a friend!

 

[facten]

@Chops - According to the webpage for the EP-2050-EE it has whole home surge protection built into it so the TECO would seem to be redundant and unnecessay for the subpanel. You might consider the Teco for the main panel to protect everything else.

 

[LL21]

Two things we did do when renovating:

1. Do you have a UPS in this design? An Uninterrupted Power Supply may/may not do anything for sound, but it CAN BE a great safety feature. When the power goes out (as probably most of us have experienced even if because someone accidentally turns off a piece of equipment while the amp is on, or unplugs something by accident)...you can get a big BOOM from your system.

By contrast, we had ours put in, and when the power did go out..the system kept playing with NO INTERRUPTION...and then we took our time, and shut it off safely.

2. We also had a high powered 16 amp/240V blue plug for commercial utilities put in...and it has been nice that we dont have to think about powering a big Gryphon, Boulder 3000 series amp (which requires it actually I think) or our current Robert Kodas and everything else which are getting plenty of juice from the wall.

 

[Chops]

@Chops - According to the webpage for the EP-2050-EE it has whole home surge protection built into it so the TECO would seem to be redundant and unnecessay for the subpanel. You might consider the Teco for the main panel to protect everything else.

If we can do what I'd like to do, we may end up bypassing the main panel completely and have the subpanel directly connected to the main power outside the house. That would be the best scenario instead of coming off of the main panel. And like you said, use the EP2050-EE on the subpanel and the TECO unit on the main panel.

 

[Chops]

Two things we did do when renovating:

1. Do you have a UPS in this design? An Uninterrupted Power Supply may/may not do anything for sound, but it CAN BE a great safety feature. When the power goes out (as probably most of us have experienced even if because someone accidentally turns off a piece of equipment while the amp is on, or unplugs something by accident)...you can get a big BOOM from your system.

By contrast, we had ours put in, and when the power did go out..the system kept playing with NO INTERRUPTION...and then we took our time, and shut it off safely.

2. We also had a high powered 16 amp/240V blue plug for commercial utilities put in...and it has been nice that we dont have to think about powering a big Gryphon, Boulder 3000 series amp (which requires it actually I think) or our current Robert Kodas and everything else which are getting plenty of juice from the wall.

That's a great idea, but I don't know if I would need that or not. Both my preamp and amps have relays that snap into action instantly as soon as power goes out, resulting in zero noise getting to the speakers.

I have been thinking about getting a UPS for my network though. Sometimes the power will go out for just a second or two (have no idea what the electric company is doing, maybe switching generators or something, who knows), but when that happens, everything remains running except the modem. And that darn thing takes nearly 10 minutes to reboot and reconnect.

 

[Brucemck2]

I have been thinking about getting a UPS for my network though. Sometimes the power will go out for just a second or two (have no idea what the electric company is doing, maybe switching generators or something, who knows), but when that happens, everything remains running except the modem. And that darn thing takes nearly 10 minutes to reboot and reconnect.

This has worked great for me. My networking gear, most of my sources, and all of my home automation are on UPSs. You have to ensure the UPSs are adequately sized and have good isolation across various types of devices. The only drawback is making sure you get the UPS serviced and/or batteries replaced before they fail - otherwise you may hear an annoying beeping sound reminiscent of a garbage truck backing up in the middle of night