Do You Need A Dedicated Line?
Many electricians will recommend a dedicated line for supplying power to your
sensitive computer-based equipment. A dedicated line, properly installed,
will provide the clean power a computer needs to operate accurately and
minimize down time. Unfortunately a dedicated line must be policed by you to
maintain its integrity.
Over time things can happen to a dedicated line to reduce or eliminate its
dedicated-ness. Examples of things that can go wrong are:
- The line must be properly installed.
- It must be in its own conduit without any other circuits. If it is run in
a conduit with another circuit, the noise pulses from that other circuit can
induce noise into your dedicated line.
- The dedicated line must be run from the power panel at the entrance of
your building all the way to a receptacle near your computer. It must not be
started at a sub-panel further inside your building. That is because those
sub-panels do not, by building code, tie the neutral and ground wires
together to kill the ground noise pulses.
- Over time you must make sure no subsequent electrician uses that
conduit to run his circuit.
- You must make sure no other piece of equipment is plugged into the
dedicated line's receptacle. The noise that may be generated by that other
piece of equipment is more likely to enter your computer than be dissipated
back at the power panel.
- You must never move or change the layout of your office because you will
then lose your investment in that dedicated line. Also, you must not use long
extension cords from the dedicated line to your equipment because the
extension cord will act as an antenna to pick up noise pulses.
Power conditioners can be thought of as a portable dedicated lines. They
perform all the protection functions of a dedicated line without any of the
above listed drawbacks. Also, they are generally priced lower than the
installation cost of a dedicated line.
