Audiophile's and there zeal to avoid noise forget about the safety aspect of a ground wire. Your equipment needs the ground (the bare copper wire) so you have a return path to trip the circuit breaker in the event your component has a short between the hot lead and the casework. It's that simple and has nothing to do with the materials used in the boxes or the conduit, neither of which can be counted on to replace a continuous ground wire.
Is 10/3 OK instead of 10/2 wire
Hello
My electrician is doing an electrical rough-in for a HT room for me and has gone ahead with the following:
1) Ran 3/3 gauge off the main panel to a 100amp SquareD
'QO' type commercial subpanel.
2) From here he ran 12 dedicated lines to the home theater
room. Problem is he used 10/3 wire instead of 10/2. He
had the wire running through metal gang boxes. The
receptacles are yet to be installed.
I have some questions and confirmations though......
a) With 10/3 wire in this setup I do understand the black wire is hot, white is neutral, and red is either another hot or a ground wire to be tied into the 'isolated ground bar' at the subpanel, I think. The bare copper wire would terminate inside the metal box and ground the box.
We are swapping out the metal boxes and going plastic now which alleviates the need for the bare wire. Do the electricians just cap or tape the ends of the bare copper wires? Still, I'm stuck with this red wire again and am unsure if this is any different than using a 10/2 wire setup if I'm correct in saying it goes back to the subpanel and an 'isolated ground bar'.
b) I do understand that with 10/3 wire I could do an isolated ground circuit with each outlet having its own separate grounding and not tied into the main system's ground. I don't however want to have to buy dedicated IG receptacles when I have 12 cry'oed Hubbell 8300HI type outlets ready for install. These are not isolated ground type receptacles, as would be my situation with the 10/3 wire. I don't think the electrician installed a separate ground rod or tied into a copper pipe.... So I don't know if we can use 10/3 wire with standard hospital grade receptacles or must they be used in an isolated ground type of setup with those type of receptacles.(orange ones with the litte triangle on the front)
c) What are the benefits of 10/3 over 10/2 if any? Is it just that it can be tied back to a panel with its own isolated ground bar....and what advantage does this isolated ground bar hold if, when it is mounted on a subpanel that is connected to a main panel? This question I pose in the absence of a separate grounding rod.
Thanks to all who can offer some insight. Dave.
My electrician is doing an electrical rough-in for a HT room for me and has gone ahead with the following:
1) Ran 3/3 gauge off the main panel to a 100amp SquareD
'QO' type commercial subpanel.
2) From here he ran 12 dedicated lines to the home theater
room. Problem is he used 10/3 wire instead of 10/2. He
had the wire running through metal gang boxes. The
receptacles are yet to be installed.
I have some questions and confirmations though......
a) With 10/3 wire in this setup I do understand the black wire is hot, white is neutral, and red is either another hot or a ground wire to be tied into the 'isolated ground bar' at the subpanel, I think. The bare copper wire would terminate inside the metal box and ground the box.
We are swapping out the metal boxes and going plastic now which alleviates the need for the bare wire. Do the electricians just cap or tape the ends of the bare copper wires? Still, I'm stuck with this red wire again and am unsure if this is any different than using a 10/2 wire setup if I'm correct in saying it goes back to the subpanel and an 'isolated ground bar'.
b) I do understand that with 10/3 wire I could do an isolated ground circuit with each outlet having its own separate grounding and not tied into the main system's ground. I don't however want to have to buy dedicated IG receptacles when I have 12 cry'oed Hubbell 8300HI type outlets ready for install. These are not isolated ground type receptacles, as would be my situation with the 10/3 wire. I don't think the electrician installed a separate ground rod or tied into a copper pipe.... So I don't know if we can use 10/3 wire with standard hospital grade receptacles or must they be used in an isolated ground type of setup with those type of receptacles.(orange ones with the litte triangle on the front)
c) What are the benefits of 10/3 over 10/2 if any? Is it just that it can be tied back to a panel with its own isolated ground bar....and what advantage does this isolated ground bar hold if, when it is mounted on a subpanel that is connected to a main panel? This question I pose in the absence of a separate grounding rod.
Thanks to all who can offer some insight. Dave.