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

IIRC, the 8 pin type cubicle wiring harness is setup for a 20a 3p4w+g group, and separate 20a 1p2w+g isolated ground circuit. The outlets are stamped with a circuit number from 1-4, with 4 being the iso circuit with orange outlets. The neutral in the wiring harness may be slightly oversized, but double check..

Just watch out for demands of vibrating chairs, Toasted sandwich makers and spa pools.

When I worked strictly service work, the receptionist used to get literally 8-10 calls a day starting about October with circuits tripping in office cubicles.
I could walk in and immediately point out the source of the tripping ..... the only secretary in the office not wearing a sweater.

I think Bill was on the right track; good design always requires a realistic assessment of just how a space will REALLY be used.

Space heaters are so common in offices that Steelcase makes one specifically to be mounted on the 'modesty panel' of its' desks.

Laugh if you want ... but I recall the time the creator of "Dilbert" was asked to design a cubicle. Heater, fridge, microwave, coffeepot ... even a built-in sound system and aquarium.

We've come a long way since les Nessman marked his space with duct tape on the floor.

That one thing I did noticed that some office complexs are start to crack down office cubeies using portale heaters some don't like it due safety reason especally if the system is not sized up to handle more than a dozen heaters going at the same time.

Most cubies I deal with it they useally have oversized netural conductor in there unless specifed by customer for specal useage then it will be diffrent set up.

Merci,Marc

I've found that most bosses could care less about overloading the electrical system or having maintenance constantly resetting breakers. They're more worried that the space heaters will set fire to some of the junk that always accumulates under the desks.
I agree...if it's too cold, look at the heating systems that's not working as originally desiged...or dress in accordance with the cooler office space.

I have never been a fan of cubicles. A worse system of dividing up office space has yet to be devised IMHO, for it immediately ruins any HVAC installation design and encourages staff to play solitaire all day on the PC [or come on here!] . While they drown in the racket of hundreds of phone calls drifing in over the walls.
The worst locations are near the "managers" vast and luxurious office - you get all the crummy tasks & projects - or next the main doors where herds of 'wildebeast' sweep majestically to the water cooler while you bask in the howling drafts. The 'pecking order' is most important - any cubicle at a window is premium - although some VPs have been known to board over the glass if the occupant is too low status! All this leads to the inmates wanting electric heat. Then, the coffee machine and all the other 'comforts of home' which drive up the amperage and lower the productivity.
When I worked in a large open plan design office it was always freezing in winter, [designed with massive north window lights], made worse by the "manager" who justified his grotesque salary by keeping the steam off wherever possible for us oiks. He would turn up Monday mornings, whirl a 'football rattle', [with a wet and dry thermometer in it], round his head, check the stat setting was still locked at 58F and then go hibernate for the rest of the week with 6kw of electric heaters melting his suit. What he never saw were the electric heaters which appeared from nowhere when he'd gone, or the fact that we'd had the stat housing apart, filed a new flat on the dial stem and turned the steam off Monday am at the main valve just for him.
Now the trend is 'hotelling'. You have no 'owned' cubicle, you get assigned one at random when you arrive. Probably. At a Gummint establishment where I once turned up to waste half my life, there are now only enough desks for 60% of the workforce. If you are unlucky [lucky?] you spend the day in the canteen eating donuts, getting a caffiene overdose and using your mobile to try & stay in contact. This reduces the electric bill marvellously, since you'd need a couple of shopping trolleys to cart about all that electrical junk that uses up the juice.

(Question removed)

Tee is is not not the best interest of this forum to hijack threads

For what it's worth, most electrical failures I've seen as an engineer(!) are in cubicle farms. Those plug in interconnections between partitions each contain at least 3 contacts (designed such that any exposed metal contacts are not live). These are little better than the "push and pray" el cheapo outlets. And a load outlet could be connected to the power source via up to about ten such interconnections, to make that 30 contacts (on the hot wire and then another 30 for the current return). One cubicle farm I was in, the installers forgot to, on the little outlet modules, change the phase selection from phase A to B or C on 2/3 of them, and it turned out phase A had all the load.

One company I worked for about ten years ago had so many failures they brought in an EC to run conduit and install 4 inch square boxes for outlets thru out the cubicle farm. We had some smokey interconnections...