New situation for me... stopped by a job to check on progress (it's been in rough in for more than a year) and there's now a 400A electrical panel in the same wall that an 85" Sony TV will be mounted.

The panel is offset to the right side of the TV, but there's a 2" conduit that's feeding the panel that goes right up the center of the TV and then sweeps over to the panel.

I don't have any experience with televisions this close to an electrical panel so hoping maybe someone else does and can let me know if there's any potential for interference.

The only thing I can think of to help mitigate interference would be sheets of MuMetal for shielding.  I've worked with MuMetal on another project where it was used for environmental shielding around high current electrical devices, wiring and panels.

Here's a photo of the TV wall:

As an electrician, I would be worried about a lag bolt punching into that conduit.

If you can, remove that plywood and put a piece of metal of sorts to protect the coduit. Then put the plywood back. I only say to remove it, because you'll want to make sure theirs no bulg under the Sheetrock.

KOT

I was thinking "no problem" until I saw the conduit was PVC. I'd sure want a couple of layers of mu metal under the TV!

The thing is, won't it's protection be compromised where it's penetrated by a lag bolt? Don't you need to provide an opening for power and low voltage for the TV... which would open up any layer of anything?

We had zero problems with the system I did in a flip recently. Its power panel backs up to the immediate left of all the components, so they were all about a foot from all that; outputs are all Romex, to boot. But the closest edge of the TV was more than three feet away from that mess, much further than you'll have.

All you can do is everything people suggest.

A 2 or 3" EMT conduit cut in half would cover that PVC.

KOT

CYA...

Bring this to the immediate attention of the builder. Noting that if there is a problem, it's going to be his problem.

Might not be a problem, but then again, it might. Where will the speakers go? If they are anywhere close to that, they may well pick up some noise that you cannot get rid of.

NOW is the time to take any corrective actions.


Personally, I wouldn't want any part of the mess there.

KOT - I'll be installing the TV and know the location of the conduit, but might still be a good idea to get some metal strapping installed vertically for protection. This wall is supposed to get a 2" acoustic treatment and that's a 2x6 wall so there will be some separation.

ERNIE - I've found that MuMetal works best close to the source so I steal of a sheet behind the TV is probably olace it around the panel and around the conduit. By doing this, I won't need to worry about penetrations behind the TV.

A recessed wall box still needs to be placed behind the TV for power, low voltage and conduit up to the attic.

Ive already contacted the builder and I don't think there will be any issues with additional cost to mitigate this... it's just not clear to me how big the potential problem is for interference since I've never run into this before.

The front speakers will will be floor standing Martin Logan with the center channel either on a small cabinet or wall/shelf mounted.

Its been kind of a strange job.  Client and general contractor are both from out of town and it's really been dragging out. This is a remodel that started more than two years ago and will finally be ready for insulation and drywall after the holidays.

Electrical contractor is someone I've worked with before and they did the prewire based on my wiring schedule, but because I didn't wire I haven't spent much time onsite to catch weird things when they happen.

This does not look like it can be ready for drywall right after the holidays, so I wouldn't hold my breath. What would make a two year old project suddenly jet to completion? Watch out!

What's in their conduit? Anything?

It'seems possible the conduit could be re-routed over to the right.

Conduit be be empty at this point.

it's most likely for the panel feed seeing that it's in conduit.. That wire is some thick/heavy stuff and electricians usually route it the easiest way possible and don't like to have to move stuff like that.

I followed up with the contractor today and insulation will be complete by Friday (they'd already been working on it for awhile), but they're leaving insulation out of this wall until we figure it out.

Drywall is scheduled to start next Tuesday, but it's going to take 6-8 weeks to complete so I've still got some time to work out the details.

Nothing fishy or to watch out for and not jetting to completion... they just have the drywall contractor scheduled next week and want to start getting the walls up.  It's one of several home's the client owns so there's no rush from him to complete.  He travels extensively and when there are decisions for him to make, sometimes several months go by before he can be on-site at the property so work just stops until he gets around to it.

Project completion will be sometime around the end of 2017.

 
Yup, the conduit contains the feed for the 400A panel.  This was a remodel, so lots of electrical got reworked (this is one of three panels).  The conduit stubs up into the ceiling, but because of the roof line I don't think it could have gone farther to the right.

In any case, I think shielding the conduit and panel is going to be more cost effective than moving any of the electrical around at this point.  Was just hoping that someone else had "been there, done that" and could offer some insight on how big a problem it might actually be.

The good thing is that this panel only feeds 3 HWQS panels that are almost entirely LED loads so there's not that much draw.  There is a steam unit for the master shower that draws 80A, but it's use will be infrequent.  I think there might also be 1-2 FAUs on this panel and outlets for the master suite.

Use short lag bolts. Measure your plywood/drywall/bracket and use lag bolts that wont protrude beyond that. Then you wont have to worry about punching a hole in the conduit.

This bit of advice is coming from a guy who once lag bolted a bracket through a pocket door. TV was mounted solid but they no longer had privacy in the bathroom :).

Thanks Mac, but I don't need any advice on mounting the TV.  I don't have any concerns about that at all.

What I'm worried about is the potential of problems created by installing the television so close to the electrical panel and conduit feeding the panel.

It sure looks like it could go all the way to the left of the TV, though. This is just stubbed up now but guaranteed, they'll be putting another 90 on it to take it upstream. If they go to the left, there's even more room above the ceiling for that.


So the picture won't turn into a field of wavy lines very often.

Just yankin' your chain.