ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Wiring for office cubicles

Almost all approved movable office cubicles these days come with some variation of an 8 wire connection. 1 dedicated circuit with neutral, 3 circuits with a shared super neutral, a dedicated ground and a mechanical ground. The receptacles plug on to a buss and they're numbered as to which connection they make.
I have always supplied 1 dedicated and 1 common circuit for each 3 cubicles and never had a problem. You can't possibly guess at all the unauthorized uses people will make of these circuits and you shouldn't have to.

We put no more than 4 cubes on a 20A circuit, and with dedicated outlets for all printers, shredders and kitchenettes. Portable heaters are banned and the ban must be enforced; nothing trips circuits faster. Fans are OK as the load is negligible.

You could *probably* put more cubes on if you strictly enforce policy regarding extraneous loads, but limiting 4 cubes to a string strikes a good balance between economics and tolerance of plugging in unapproved coffee pots, microwaves, mini fridges, or whatnot. If you put more than 4 on a circuit or don't strictly ban space heaters, prepare for nuissance trips.

The only way you could really enforce that is to put twist lock receptacles in and use office equipment with twist lock plugs.
Then it might take a few weeks before an enterprising guy brought in a plug strip with a TL plug on it.

Greg, it'd be Tuesday.

It's been many years since dealing with Modular Furniture - must be going on 6 years now! In those days, circuit calculations, installations & connections regarding Modular Furniture was a common thing.

Per the "8-Wire Systems"; the most common concept used "universally" by the typical manufacturers (i.e. Steelcase, Herman Miller, Westinghouse) for 8-wire options were:

* (1) 3 Phase 4 Wire Multiwire Circuit - with oversized Grounded Conductor (1 #10 common grounded conductor; 3 #12 ungrounded conductors).
Color Code was Black, Red, Blue, White.

* (1) 1 Phase 2 Wire Circuit - with Isolated Grounding Conductor (all 3 conductors are #12).
Color Code was Pink, Gray, Green w/ Yellow tracers.

* (1) #12 Equipment Grounding Conductor (bonded to all metallic sections of raceways, and to the ground pin of the "Non-IG" Receptacles).

Receptacles connected to the convenience circuits (3 Phase 4 Wire Multiwire Circuit) were identified as "Circuit A", "Circuit B", and "Circuit C". Color of devices were anything except Orange (normally light Brown or Gray).

Receptacles connected to the "Designated Circuit" (1 Phase 2 Wire w/ IG) were identified as "Circuit D", and colored Orange.

Electric Portable Heaters were not an uncommon issue at any location, and we had our fair share of Service Calls regarding tripped breakers from 2 or more 1500 Watt Heaters loading up a single 20 Amp Circuit.

Along with Heaters and Toasters tucked away at someone's Cubicle, have seen Coffee Makers, Microwave Ovens, Blow Dryers (1800 Watt Hair Dryers), Hot Plates (Electric Ceramic Element stove top type cook tops), and even some weird stuff!!!

Most of the time, a Plug Strip (Temp. Outlet Strip) was used, but there were several occasions where the loads would be plugged into those thin Table Lamp extension cords!
These setups _ALWAYS_ had extensive damage to the cord, due to the Office Chair constantly running over the cord.

Other troubleshoot calls were to rectify the jumper segments between adjoining Modular Sections (also mentioned by others), or when a Receptacle lost connection.

To the OP: The suggestions for designated & dedicated circuits for heavy load Office equipment is of high importance.
Loads such as Laser Printers for LAN Printers, Copiers, shredders, and other frequently used 8+ Amp Loads should be placed on dedicated designated circuits.

For the Modular Furniture's Circuitry, figure the Staff is going to plug anything in to any outlet they can reach.
We all expect to use the "Designated Circuit D" and corresponding Receptacles, for Workstation Equipment (CPU, Monitor and possibly an LPT), but when the crew installs the Mod. Furniture, they may not place the "Circuit D" Receptacles anywhere close enough to plug in the Workstation Equipment, so the W/S gets connected to the Convenience Circuit Receptacles (A, B or C).

Then an additional issue occurs quite frequently; since there is a really easily accessible plug strip with at least one unused space (plug strip used to connect all the Work Station equipment), the infamous Portable Heater gets plugged in to that plug strip too.

Good luck with this endeavor!!!

Scott