Hardwiring UPS?

[J Cubed]

I just bought a condo, and have a kind of cool setup where I want to put the entertainment center. The wall where the TV will go divides the living area from a closet under the stairs. On the nice side of the wall, there are two 2x2 outlet plates and the cable line. Behind the wall, under the stairs, there is exposed conduit that daisy chains those two outlets from the 1x2 outlet box in the closet.

Since I have 8 wall outlets right where I need them, it seems silly to throw a power conditioner or UPS behind the entertainment center. And since the conduit is already exposed under the stairs (and I'm going to put networking equipment in there), I just want to hardwire a UPS between the outlet in the closet and the ones in the wall.

Is this possible? Has anyone done it before? I'm sure there are safety and code issues; is it something I can do, or do I really have to hire an electrician? Does anyone know of a non-industrial UPS that is meant for this?

 

[majorloser]

Basically you need to cut the circuit in your closet.

I would sugest you use one of these from Powerbridge:

http://www.powerbridgesolution.com/powerbridgeproducts/singlesolutionkits.html

It's what I used for my projector.

http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showpost.php?p=570179&postcount=200

 

[JerryLove]

Given that you need to ask if it can be done: I highly recommend having an electrician do any work that involves cutting and splicing a conduit.

But yes, you should be able to introduce a UPS in-line. There are issues (like cooling and fire-safety) to be addressed: but I would hope any competent electrician could address those.

 

[Rickster71]

I agree with Gerry.
In addition to his advice: Since you live in a multi-family / unit dwelling. You have the possibility of endangering your family and others; when doing electrical work without the proper skills, while staying within the constraints of the code- NEC.

 

[J Cubed]

Thanks, majorloser, I think the idea of the inverse plug is what I needed to know. I figured I could wire a plug onto the existing conduit to plug into a normal UPS's outlets and probably not burn my house down, but this seems smarter. The idea of mixing hard & soft wiring was bothering me.

But it seems I (or an electrician) can just wire one of those male wall plugs into the wall in the closet behind each of the outlet plates and run a non-conduit removable cable from there to the UPS. I assume I can look up the power draw from my equipment and make sure all of the parts are properly rated.