John Sayers' Recording Studio Design Forum

Hi folks- An electrician will be coming to my house in a few days and while he is here I would like him to add 2 outlets in my garage for a future DAW /control room setup- I have read though the electric threads and am a bit overwhelmed by how to configure them regarding grounding-

The outlets will be powering a computer /reference monitors/ amp to monitors/ 2 synths-/ preamp/ 1 mic/ The electrician will be adding a grounding rod to the house- How should I have him wire the outlets to minimize ground loops- From what I have read that each outlet should have it's own 20amp breaker- is that sufficient to avoid ground loops or do I have to use a seperate ground rod for those outlets? All suggestions appreciated- Marty

p.s. The outlets will be run using metal conduit- Is a plastic outlet box better vs metal?

Is your home in North America?
Is the garage part of (or attached to) the house?
Or is the garage a separate structure?

Thanks for replying Speedskater-
Yes, I am in Florida- and the garage is attached to the house all concrete block and the panel is in the garage- I spoke with the electrician an hour ago and we have plans to put in two 20 amp outlets mounted to the wall using conduit- I Thought I read that plastic outlet boxes were prefered so I asked for plastic- I was told there will be 2 grounding stakes, though I believe they will be both connected to the whole house grounding system- I am just reading about star grounding- and if I have him wire the ground from each outlet back to the panel earth wire I will be good? cheers,Marty

Ground Rods:
For a single building (a detached garage is different) all the ground rods must connect at one point near the service entrance.
Ground rods are about safety! In a well wired system, ground rods do-not affect noise.

Outlets:
If both outlets are on the same breaker, then try to reduce the length of wire between the outlets.
In your garage I don't thing that it matters whither the boxes are plastic or metal.

Reading material:

The Bill Whitlock of Jensen Transformers Seminar paper
http://www.jensen-transformers.com/an/g ... eminar.pdf

The Jim Brown of Audio Systems Group white paper
"Power and Grounding for Audio and Audio/Video Systems"
http://www.audiosystemsgroup.com/SurgeXPowerGround.pdf

"Power White Paper" from Middle Atlantic.com
http://www.middleatlantic.com/power.htm

or a different version of the same paper

"The TRUTH" from ExactPower of Middle Atlantic Products
http://www.exactpower.com/elite/wpapers.aspx

Just wanted to give an update- had the electrician install the 2 outlets next to each other on separate 20amp breakers- the lines run 13 feet thought conduit out of the panelbox to the end of the garage- each have a seperate ground going directly back to the panelbox ground bar- It will be a few months before I get my amateur setup put together but I feel better knowing I have less of a chance for hum issues - speedskater thanks for replying- as mott the hoople said- Cleveland Rocks! cheers Marty