I have an insulated ground circuit that an electrician installed for my PC about 20 years ago. It is 20 amp, and the only receptacle is orange in color.
Can I extend this circuit to another box and receptacle? Does the recetacle need to be IG, or will a regular 20amp commercial grade circuit be adequate?
I believe what you have is called an "isolated" ground, not an insulated one, which would make little sense. All that means is that there are no other loads on that line sharing that ground. The theory there is to offer some additional protection from ground induced currents from other loads that might be present. From practical experience of billions of users, it isn't needed for a PC.
So, yes you can extend it to another outlet using a normal receptacle. Just be aware that if you put some nasty load on it, like an AC, any noises, surges, etc will be on the same line as the PC.
Sorry, I meant "Isolated".
I believe what you have is called an "isolated" ground, not an insulated one, which would make little sense. All that means is that there are no other loads on that line sharing that ground. The theory there is to offer some additional protection from ground induced currents from other loads that might be present. From practical experience of billions of users, it isn't needed for a PC.
So, yes you can extend it to another outlet using a normal receptacle. Just be aware that if you put some nasty load on it, like an AC, any noises, surges, etc will be on the same line as the PC.
It is "isolated ground" but it is also insulated. If you have metal boxes (the wiring system grounds the boxes), the wiring includes an insulated ground wire that connects to the IG receptacle. The unique feature of a IG receptacle (orange) is that the receptacle ground connects only to the ground screw, it does not connect to the mounting strap. So the IG receptacle connects only through the source ground wire. Someplace like commercial there are more likely to be other ground currents in the return path for the metal box.
I agree that IG is not necessary in a house (and not likely anywhere else for a PC).
I agree. If you have a receptacle circuit from the service panel, wired with Romex and plastic boxes, and no other circuits in the boxes it is, in effect, an IG circuit. Also with metal boxes that don't contact any other metal.
You can extend the circuit as an IG circuit or normal circuit.
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