Technical > Home Improvement > Dedicated circuit for a computer smart move or not

Dedicated circuit for a computer smart move or not

Made or are considering such a circuit?

If you've had one installed, it's a bit late to be considering if it is/was a smart move, eh?

reply to Oleg
Yes I would say it is a good decision(I have a dedicated circuit only for my welder as an example)
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reply to Oleg


It is a good decision, but even better if has an isolated ground circuit, but those are highly uncommon in residential settings.

reply to John Galt
Yea. I already have done it. Thank you to all of you for the answers.

I'd just keep the printer on a separate circuit. Also, I'd recommend a UPS for everything BUT the printer.

reply to mattmag
our electrician at work installed one of those orange outlets just to shut an annoying user up, its not really an isolated ground...

reply to Oleg
My computers are laptops and they share an outlet with a 120v window A/C in the summer. They have not been fried yet nor has the house burned down.

If I were to run a dedicated circuit, I'd have to pull romex from the basement to the second floor and I don't have the tools. Furthermore, my breaker box is maxed out.

reply to FiReSTaRT

Firestart was assuming a laser printer, which uses a bunch of power to run the fuser. An inkjet printer barely uses anything, as you've noted.

Honestly, I don't see any reason a typical computer user would need a dedicated circuit for their home PC. Look at the input ratings on a typical switching power supply. They'll take pretty much anything happily. Some will even run from DC to 400Hz and take anything from 90 to 277 volts.

If you're having actual problems running a computer on your general purpose outlet circuit, then that circuit could probably use some attention from an electrician anyway.

With that said, back to the laser printer thing. You could run into circumstances where those printers cause annoying fluctuations in the branch circuit voltage that are visible through incandescent lamps. That'd be a situation that could probably benefit from a dedicated circuit, or some rearranging so the printer and lights don't share the same circuit.

reply to Oleg
The reason why i did it is, because the electrician has told me that they only way to have a correct grounding is to install dedicated circuitry. Maybe, because we have 50 year old house.

reply to Oleg
IMHO, dedicated circuit for a single computer and a few low-power peripherals in a residential setting is overkill.

Unless you have a habit of using space heaters on the same circuit, then I could understand why you'd want a dedicated circuit, but then I'd just install a permanent baseboard heater on its own circuit, instead of a dedicated circuit for the computer.

I always have thought that having no ground is not good for the electronics.

reply to Oleg
Then you made a good decision. Sounds like you had the computer on a circuit with no ground conductor. Computer surge protectors require a working ground conductor to function properly, so having a new circuit installed was the right choice.

reply to Oleg

reply to Oleg

reply to Oleg
Waste of money. I'm in a 54 year old house with a window A/C and during winter a space heater on the same circuit for 15 years without problems.

A much better investment would have been a quality UPS.

reply to Oleg
I was going to say it was probably a big fat waste of money, until you mentioned the ground.

The equipment you mentioned, by no means, would need a dedicated circuit.
For grounding purposes, however, it's often easier / cheaper to run a dedicated circuit than try and deal with the existing wiring.
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If someone refers to herself / himself as a "guru", they probably aren't.