First I just wanted to say I just found this Discussion Board Site, and it is AWESOME! Great wealth of information! ;)

I am currently building a Home Recording Studio, and I am at the installing of the electric stage. I learned about electric about 25 years ago in school when I took 4 years of residential wiring, but know things had to have changed since then with codes etc. I never used the skill because I didn't become an electrician, but instead a City Firefighter. :D

Anyway, my questions are:

1 - I drilled 1" holes in all my studs to run my Romex (12/2 wg on all 20Amp circuits), can I run more then one romex cable in those hole(s)? (ie" Can I have 2 or 3 romex cables sharing the same hole in the studs?)

2 - As for wiring the 2nd floor and the ceiling lighting, smoke detectors, etc, is it OK to attach the romex to the top of the bottom cord of the roof truss. There is no attic area, just trusses above the second floor. Then it would actually be laying (attached) on top of the truss 2x4 bottom cord? (I don't really want to drill into any Trusses due to how they are made) :eek: But knowing codes, thought that may be a no-no because it was not protected then. That area is NOT going to be a place where people get up in to. Or does the romex have to always be runnign within the wood studs and joists for protection? (I know its not in my current house, and is just laying on the trusses in the attic)

3 - I have my outlet boxes placed under the windows on the 2nd floor (wifes request for window candles), but that made them a little over 9ft apart,, so I added a box in between because it used to be that you were to have your outlet boxes no more then 6ft apart. Is this still the case?

4 - And finally (for now :D ) Can I use the blue plastic outlet boxes (like from Lowe's or Home Depot) to run the baseboard heaters 12/2 wire through. I think it should be OK since the actual connection is in the heater itself, but wanted to make sure codes doesn't require some metal box or something different for a heating device.

I spent yesterday searching and reading the electrical posts, but didn't find the answers to these above questions. (Learned a lot though! :) )

If you guys could respond I would absolutely appreciate it. Thank you very much!

AJ ;)

My answers are in bold:

1 - I drilled 1" holes in all my studs to run my Romex (12/2 wg on all 20Amp circuits), can I run more then one romex cable in those hole(s)? (ie" Can I have 2 or 3 romex cables sharing the same hole in the studs?)

Two is fine, 3 is pushing it.be sure each cable is 1.25" away from the nailing surface of a framing member, if not use protectiver nail paltes where cables pass thru.

2 - As for wiring the 2nd floor and the ceiling lighting, smoke detectors, etc, is it OK to attach the romex to the top of the bottom cord of the roof truss. There is no attic area, just trusses above the second floor. Then it would actually be laying (attached) on top of the truss 2x4 bottom cord? (I don't really want to drill into any Trusses due to how they are made) :eek: But knowing codes, thought that may be a no-no because it was not protected then. That area is NOT going to be a place where people get up in to. Or does the romex have to always be runnign within the wood studs and joists for protection? (I know its not in my current house, and is just laying on the trusses in the attic)


Good choice, never drill thru pre-engineered truss unless the manufacturer lays out penetration marks. Laying on top of the truss framing member is fine keep off to one side or the other away from the center, where someone may stand, or crawl as the case may be.

3 - I have my outlet boxes placed under the windows on the 2nd floor (wifes request for window candles), but that made them a little over 9ft apart,, so I added a box in between because it used to be that you were to have your outlet boxes no more then 6ft apart. Is this still the case?

The maximum spacing is 12 feet apart, start at a doorway, put the first at no more than 6 foot then the next one more that 12 foot. Putting them closer is no problem and recommended. It never was a maximum of 6 feet apart.

4 - And finally (for now :D ) Can I use the blue plastic outlet boxes (like from Lowe's or Home Depot) to run the baseboard heaters 12/2 wire through. I think it should be OK since the actual connection is in the heater itself, but wanted to make sure codes doesn't require some metal box or something different for a heating device.

Electric baseboard heat units are designed to accept a cable with a cable connector into a knockout with out boxes. Measure out and leave the cable whip laying on the floor, after applying the finish, cut up into the finish and raise the cable to the height of the KO in the heat unit. We always feed on the left end of a heat unit. (don't ask, just one of those things we do.)

You were posibly thinking,max 6' to nearest receptacle, 12 between. Try to avoid, phone/audio wiring near electrical, don't go through same holes as electric. Avoid parallel runs, and cross electric at 90 degrees. May help, will not hurt.
Hope you drilled holes in center, if you did, you don't need nail plates, if closer than 1 1/4" You will need, one Inspector I know, is strick on that, and little else.

I measured the holes today, and they were about 2" in, on the studs (they are 2X6 exterior stud walls), so that part should be ok. And I think my longest distance between recepticles is around 5ft. Figured you can never have enough recepticles as long as the load is still a constant small/normal room load (TV, computer, light or two). My total outlets on this 2nd floor is 11 outlets.

Let me ask this question since I read on here an answer to it,,, that confused me>?

The recording studio is attached to the back of my house garage which is where the house main breaker panel is located (in the garage). I am putting a 100A 6 space small sub panel in the new Studio feeding off of the main house breaker panel (there are about 6 or 8 spaces left at the bottom of my house 200A Square D breaker panel.

Anyway, I think I read on here that I will NOT need an additional 100 breaker in this sub panel since there will be one in the main breaker box feeding this sub panel. The 2 panels will be in 2 different rooms, but only be about 15ft away from each other.

The Question: A co-worker (95% Firefighter / 5% Licensed Electrician) told me that "code" states that I can only get away without a 100A breaker in the sub panel IF I can actually visually see the main breaker panel from the sub panels location. And since there is a wall dividing the 2 rooms, then I will need another 100A breaker in the sub panel. Is this true?? He actually seemed unsure because he prefaced it with an "I think"

The sub panel I bought was a Square D Homeline 100A - 6 space, and it does not look as though it has a place at the top for a main 100A, or any main breaker, like my main house 200A panel has.

Can someone clear up this confusion since I plan/hope on installing all this tomorrow?? ;)

Also, when I go into Lowe's and ask for the wire to feed this sub panel (so it's there at the house when I get a pro electrician there to wire it in for me) what size and how many wires do I need for this feed? I have seen on here in researching a couple different answers, and the using of Alum vs Copper,, what the safe wire to get (size and type?

The Sub panel will only be feeding the following:

1 - Regular type 2nd floor home rec room (TV, Computer, Lights, etc) (20 A Circuit)
1 - Small office type room (20A Circuit)
1 - Band room (currently runs off a 20A Circuit with no proplem)
3 - 1500Watt / 6ft - 240V baseboard heaters (will only be used as backup heat if the new Sanyo mini split heatpumps can't keep up which will/should be rare) (And from reading on here, I assume I can put these 3 baseboards on the same circuit>?>? On the box it says they draw like 6.3Amps each>?)

That should be it. The rest of the electric I will run directly into the house panel (like the main HVAC Heat Pump Outside Unit)

Hope this isn't too much to write or ask,, just trying to clear it all up and make sense of it. ;)

Thanks a million!

AJ

I would pull 3 #4's, and #6 for ground in 2 "PVC, Can use smaller, I see future growth.
Also while ditch is open, throw in couple of 3/4" for TV, TEL,SAT, alarm, innercom, camera,
Cat 5 or better.
Volts X Amps= Watts. 120 X 20 =2400. Derated 80%, 2400 X .8 = 1920 Watts or 1920/120 =16.
Sorry just noted 240 heaters. 3 1500 watt/240 volt heaters = 4500watts,/240=18.75 Amps
16 Amps limit for this application(80%).You can have 2 on one circuit.
1500 X 2 = 3000,/240 = 12.5 Amps
The wire is protected at house. Good luck, Take Care

Thank you,, but I guess I need to make clear that the garage (where the main 200A panel is) and the new Studio room (where the sub panel is going to be) are connected by a sort-of common wall. They have a common wall (2X4 on Garage side and 2X6 walls on Studio side with sheetrock in between) so would I still need PVC?

or,, could I just drill holes in the 2X6 stud wall (Studio side) and run these wires straight over to the new sub panel? There are already old (maybe 3 years old) wires from a Hot Tub (50A Circuit) we used to have there, already in place. Those wires are in PVC surface mounted on the garage side from the main panel. I was going to use those wires to fish in the new wires in, but didn't know if on the Studio side if I still needed PVC to run the new wires through and over to the new Sub Panel (again about 12 to 15 ft away)?

Ok.. I am confused now by what I just wrote. Hope you guys aren't. ;) lol

Also on the above response,, should I drill separate holes, maybe above the romex holes, to run the Cat 5 and TV Cable lines? (or maybe I will just run them above in the rafters to their destinations>?>?)

Thanks as always! ;)

AJ

This can be done simply by using 4 wire #2 SER aluminum cable. Check if aluminum cable is allowed in your area. If you use aluminum be sure to use anti-oxidant compound on the wire connections and be sure the connections are torqued properly.

Or you can use PVC conduit with 3- #4 copper THHN and one #8 green THHN wire pulled through.

Install a 2 pole 100 amp breaker in your main panel.

The new subpanel does not need a main breaker, it can have only main lugs.

Be sure to install a separate equipment ground bar, bolt it directly to the inside of the new panelboard using machine screws.Only connect bare and green wires to this bar.

Only connect white neutral wires to the neutral bar in the new panel. This includes the new feeder neutral and all branch circuit neutrals.

Low voltage phone,data,or CATV lines should run in their own holes at least two inches away from power cables. If the low voltage wires need to cross power cables haver them cross at 90 deg to each other.