I am setting up six 60 gallon aquariums. Just like the one's Petco once had in the past, they are stacked up 3 high, so two columns of three. They will be set up in the garage so I will be using a total of six 300 watt heaters and six fluval 404s/405s. I calculated that it will be just under 2,000 watts. The last time I checked, the standard 15 amp wall outlet is rated at 1800 watts. I could run some of the heaters to other outlets in the garage, but I think its all the same circuit anyway. Any ideas?
Electrical question !
- Thread starter John Rambo
- Start date
The formula is P=IV, or Power (Watts) = Current (Amps) x volts.
If you have 120v service then a 15A breaker is rated for 1800W. If you have 110v service, then you will only get 1650W through the breaker. Reguardless, the breaker will be quaking as you approach its max load. It is better to run a second circuit. Consider upgrading to a 20A breaker with 12 gauge wire.
Check to see if your garage has been wired with 12 gauge wire (frequently done). If so, all you have to do is change your breaker. That will give you 2400W to play with. DO NOT change the breaker if the garage is wired with 14 gauge. The wire can burn without tripping the breaker.
If you have 120v service then a 15A breaker is rated for 1800W. If you have 110v service, then you will only get 1650W through the breaker. Reguardless, the breaker will be quaking as you approach its max load. It is better to run a second circuit. Consider upgrading to a 20A breaker with 12 gauge wire.
Check to see if your garage has been wired with 12 gauge wire (frequently done). If so, all you have to do is change your breaker. That will give you 2400W to play with. DO NOT change the breaker if the garage is wired with 14 gauge. The wire can burn without tripping the breaker.
Thats like replacing a 5 amp fuse with a 20 amp in a car just because the 5 amp keeps blowing. Something else is going to burn.
Check the wiring size, use a 25 amp breaker for the heaters and a 15amp breaker for the pumps and use more than one outlet assembly. 6 300 watt heaters equals to 1800 watts. That is is they run perfectly every time which they don't. They may use more or less than that.. Lets say for safty sake they actually use 380-400 watts of power which is about 2400 watts max. I would run 3 heaters on one outlet assembly. 3 heaters on another. The pumps I would run on a seporate 15amp circuit.
Both circuits I would dedicate. Meaning nothing else runs off the heater circuit except the heaters and nothing runs on the pump circuit except the pumps. Are you running lights?
I would personally just make one or to lage sumps. Get two pumps that are rated for about 1500 GPH since you will have a total of around 360 gallons of water that needs to be filtered. That will give you about 8 cycles per hour.
So lets say both pumps are rated for 180watts. Thats 360 watts. 6 Fluvals will use more electricity and have less output and less media. A loosing situation.
Make sure you are not going to overlead your main breaker. Its not good pratice to have all the smaller breakers add up to more than that amount of service coming into your house even though you are not using all that power at once. Depending on your power load, you may have to upgrade your service. You should contact a qualified electrician to come out and check the load status of your building and ask for suggestions.
Single sump is the best idea.With rising energy costs the initial investment will pay for itself in no time.
