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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2019 0:07:47 GMT -5
Hey all!
I'm having a house constructed and was just looking at the wall outlet and wiring from the fuse box to the entertainment room. It looks highly inadequate. A 20 amp fuse running some 30-40 ft with what appears as thin 16 gauge wire.
I have an Emotiva Gen 3 5 channel which I plan to push to its limits at times. What is the minimum amperage that I can get away with at the fuse box and do you have a recommendation for wiring gauge to the power outlet. I'm referring to the power wire in the walls.
Many thanks, William
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Post by AudioHTIT on Sept 9, 2019 0:43:52 GMT -5
Hey all! I'm having a house constructed and was just looking at the wall outlet and wiring from the fuse box to the entertainment room. It looks highly inadequate. A 20 amp fuse running some 30-40 ft with what appears as thin 16 gauge wire.
I have an Emotiva Gen 3 5 channel which I plan to push to its limits at times. What is the minimum amperage that I can get away with at the fuse box and do you have a recommendation for wiring gauge to the power outlet. I'm referring to the power wire in the walls.
Many thanks, William
Normally a 20A circuit should have 12AWG (12/2 romex) and that should still be good for a 40’ run. The minimum would be 15A which would use 14/2 romex. While most of us could run our entire system on a 15A circuit, I would have at least one dedicated 20A circuit for new construction. Maybe take a picture of the rating on the wire. |
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Post by simpleman68 on Sept 9, 2019 8:34:23 GMT -5
Hey William, I prefer 12 gauge romex on all my A/V rooms
Be careful with a 20amp fuse on what I'm guessing is 14 gauge wire. It is a potential fire hazard and against NEC code. If you are comfortable with electric you can run 12 gauge wire or step down to a 15 amp breaker and be done with it.
15 amps is still plenty of power to run your gear. But be sure to swap out the 20 amp for a 15 amp breaker. Trick is making sure you know what kind of panel you have as not all breakers will fit. Ex: GE breakers will not fit a Square D panel etc. Scott
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Post by davidl81 on Sept 9, 2019 9:09:32 GMT -5
Hey all!
I'm having a house constructed and was just looking at the wall outlet and wiring from the fuse box to the entertainment room. It looks highly inadequate. A 20 amp fuse running some 30-40 ft with what appears as thin 16 gauge wire.
I have an Emotiva Gen 3 5 channel which I plan to push to its limits at times. What is the minimum amperage that I can get away with at the fuse box and do you have a recommendation for wiring gauge to the power outlet. I'm referring to the power wire in the walls.
Many thanks, William
Code requires 12 gauge wire for any circuit that see a 20A breaker. As suggested take a picture of the actual wire and see what gauge it is (should be printed on the wire). If it is less than 12 gauge then make the electrician pull that wire and replace it with 12#. That 16# is a fire hazard and would fail any electrical inspection. As far as amperage goes in all honesty 15A is fine. I have a panamax power center on my DR-2 and XPA-5 amps that shows me actual real time amp draw. Even pushed to crazy volumes I have never gotten over 8A drawn and that was for only half a second. I do have 20A outlets ran in my room, but it really was overkill. Since you are doing new wiring I would still recommend you do the 20A lines as they wont hurt to have the extra headroom if needed, and cost wise its a minimal cost increase over 15A service. |
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Post by creimes on Sept 9, 2019 10:57:40 GMT -5
I have two 15amp circuits to my rack, 14/2 wiring, you can see them in this picture below. Cheers, Chad  |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2019 22:25:15 GMT -5
Hey all! I'm having a house constructed and was just looking at the wall outlet and wiring from the fuse box to the entertainment room. It looks highly inadequate. A 20 amp fuse running some 30-40 ft with what appears as thin 16 gauge wire.
I have an Emotiva Gen 3 5 channel which I plan to push to its limits at times. What is the minimum amperage that I can get away with at the fuse box and do you have a recommendation for wiring gauge to the power outlet. I'm referring to the power wire in the walls.
Many thanks, William
Normally a 20A circuit should have 12AWG (12/2 romex) and that should still be good for a 40’ run. The minimum would be 15A which would use 14/2 romex. While most of us could run our entire system on a 15A circuit, I would have at least one dedicated 20A circuit for new construction. Maybe take a picture of the rating on the wire. This can't be 12awg. I can barely make out the print on the wire but see something stamped 20 ...... I double checked the fuse box and indeed there's a 15 amp fuse. Is this really adequate?
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Post by AudioHTIT on Sept 9, 2019 23:10:20 GMT -5
Normally a 20A circuit should have 12AWG (12/2 romex) and that should still be good for a 40’ run. The minimum would be 15A which would use 14/2 romex. While most of us could run our entire system on a 15A circuit, I would have at least one dedicated 20A circuit for new construction. Maybe take a picture of the rating on the wire. This can't be 12awg. I can barely make out the print on the wire but see something stamped 20 ...... I double checked the fuse box and indeed there's a 15 amp fuse. Is this really adequate?
It could be 14, if there’s a 15A breaker that would be correct, doubt it’s 12, but hard to judge from a picture. Looks like he’s running individual wires instead of romex, nothing wrong with that, just normally done with larger wire runs. Seems like you might have (2) 15A circuits (2 pairs of wires). |
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Post by simpleman68 on Sept 10, 2019 7:55:10 GMT -5
Normally a 20A circuit should have 12AWG (12/2 romex) and that should still be good for a 40’ run. The minimum would be 15A which would use 14/2 romex. While most of us could run our entire system on a 15A circuit, I would have at least one dedicated 20A circuit for new construction. Maybe take a picture of the rating on the wire. This can't be 12awg. I can barely make out the print on the wire but see something stamped 20 ...... I double checked the fuse box and indeed there's a 15 amp fuse. Is this really adequate?
What we need to see is the jacket of the wire. Typically; yellow = 12 gauge and white = 14 gauge. Scott
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Post by pedrocols on Sept 10, 2019 13:36:13 GMT -5
Why not hire an Electrician?🤔
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Post by Deleted on Sept 10, 2019 15:03:21 GMT -5
Thanks fellas,
The builder has agreed to rip out the entertainment room wiring today and run two 20amp circuits with appropriate wiring.
The single 15 amp circuit that was installed was also going to run several other power outlets. That 15 amp circuit will remain with the addition of two 20 amp circuits for the entertainment system.
Once again thanks for your participation.
William
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Post by davidl81 on Sept 10, 2019 15:50:31 GMT -5
Thanks fellas, The builder has agreed to rip out the entertainment room wiring today and run two 20amp circuits with appropriate wiring. The single 15 amp circuit that was installed was also going to run several other power outlets. That 15 amp circuit will remain with the addition of two 20 amp circuits for the entertainment system. Once again thanks for your participation. William That’s a good call. It’s mostly a little overkill, but on a new buildout there is no reason not to go that way. |
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