Fishroom Electrical Question

[tcarswell]

I agree.

I am no electrician, but installing a larger breaker without the corresponding wiring would mean that the breaker would not trip when overloaded, thus the heat would keep building from the electricity and the wires would burn right?

the whole idea of a breaker is that it trips, thus interrupting the circuit which stops the flow of electricity, thus stopping the overheating and fire hazard..

Bingo I had some friends doing an indoor "agriculture" project powering 4000 Watts of lamps on one circuit plus ventilation and dehumidifier etc. Needless to say the breaker tripped right away. So they went and got a 20 amp to upgrade from the 15. Then that tripped... so they went and got a bigger one and then all the lights went out .... Thank god they rented the place

 

[JIM]

Your problem is not gonna be so much, the wattage or amp draw as it is in heat. At this point youre talking about 12-14 amps on a 20 amp circuit which is pushing but not critical, If the amp draw exceeds the rated breaker excessively it will trip the breaker, the real problem lies in the walls and length of run from the breaker, if you have a constant pull of at or close to the rated amps of the circuit, and too small wire to handle that it will cause heat in the wiring and at the recepticle, and that is what causes fires. If i were you i would pay a licensed electrician a service call to evaluate the whole situation, the guy you spoke to may be perfectly qualified but he has no idea whats in those walls, An Ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure And internet opinions are like A#$holes, everybodys got one, and quite a few people ARE one

 

[12 Volt Man]

I laughed when I was googling some of this electrical stuff..

seems when you type in "max load on a circuit breakter' you get tons of pages on marijuana growing sites..

 

[tcarswell]

I laughed when I was googling some of this electrical stuff..

seems when you type in "max load on a circuit breakter' you get tons of pages on marijuana growing sites..

LOL hence my story

 

[12 Volt Man]

I was speaking with my father about the situation tonight and he brought up a good point - I could get an electrician to rewire some of the recepticals into one of the other circuits without much load on them (such as my garage). He said the electrician could do this right from the breaker box in the garage? sounds like a good idea?

 

[Bderick67]

I was speaking with my father about the situation tonight and he brought up a good point - I could get an electrician to rewire some of the recepticals into one of the other circuits without much load on them (such as my garage). He said the electrician could do this right from the breaker box in the garage? sounds like a good idea?

Like I said before, call and get a couple estimates, they're free. Have them explain what they can do for you, this will give you some knowledge and information. You may find that after the estimates are made, this is something that you could do yourself or that it wouldn't cost that muct to have it done.

Rewiring recepticles from one circut to another can not likely be done from the breaker box IME.

This is what I would do,(well if I wasn't an electrician )call a couple of electrical contractors. Have them come out and give you and estimate to add a pair of circuits to your basement. You can have them describe what and how they would do this, now you will have an idea of what it takes or maybe something you didn't think of.

 

[CHOMPERS]

I was speaking with my father about the situation tonight and he brought up a good point - I could get an electrician to rewire some of the recepticals into one of the other circuits without much load on them (such as my garage). He said the electrician could do this right from the breaker box in the garage? sounds like a good idea?

It may not be possible. Circuits are typically single branches to a single breaker. Multiple brances on a single breaker is often a code violation, so it is unlikely to be your case. If the basement was not finished when the house was new, and there wasn't an inspection when it was finished, then it is possible that you have multiple circuits. Look in the breaker panel and see if there are two wires going to the basement breaker. If it is a single wire, the circuit can't be split without running new wire.