Help with setting up my electrical power

[mzhantsche]

Can someone point me to a thread that has examples of how to set up power strips and electrical systems under wooden stands.

I have about 13 things on my set up that need power. It is highly unorganized and will probably cause a fire if wait much longer.

I also have the added problem of my tank being 30" deep. My power sources are under the stand in the front. I have a problem because most of my heaters dont have cords long enough to reach.

So any suggestions would help.

thank you all.

 

[frickr]

on a standard 15 amp circuit you can support 1440 watts (ExI=W, 120V x 12A=1440W). a 15 amp breaker will handle 12amps continous. within 6 feet of open water all recepticals need to be GFCI protected. *all paraphrased from the NEC electrical code book. Now with that in mind. if you exceed the total amount of watts that your breaker can handle, you will need to run either a dedicated branch from your panel to where your tanks located sized to your load, or divide up the power across a a few 15 amp outlets.

for GFCI Ground Fault Circuit Interupter can come in the recepticals, and one GFCI receptical can protect all standard recepticals located after the GFCI. or a GFCI breaker can be installed. the later being a *better option but also alot more expensive.

are you planning on wiring up a outlet strip or are you planning on using some standard duplex recepticals and wiring it all up inside of a box? both can be done cleanly just depends on how much you want to spend and what you are trying to accomplish. let me know with any kind of custom wiring questions, im a certified electrician.

 

[mzhantsche]

on a standard 15 amp circuit you can support 1440 watts (ExI=W, 120V x 12A=1440W). a 15 amp breaker will handle 12amps continous. within 6 feet of open water all recepticals need to be GFCI protected. *all paraphrased from the NEC electrical code book. Now with that in mind. if you exceed the total amount of watts that your breaker can handle, you will need to run either a dedicated branch from your panel to where your tanks located sized to your load, or divide up the power across a a few 15 amp outlets.

for GFCI Ground Fault Circuit Interupter can come in the recepticals, and one GFCI receptical can protect all standard recepticals located after the GFCI. or a GFCI breaker can be installed. the later being a *better option but also alot more expensive.

are you planning on wiring up a outlet strip or are you planning on using some standard duplex recepticals and wiring it all up inside of a box? both can be done cleanly just depends on how much you want to spend and what you are trying to accomplish. let me know with any kind of custom wiring questions, im a certified electrician.

Im glad i got the attention of a certified electrition....problem is...im a certified dumb ass when it comes to electrical issues.

What i could understand out of what you said was GFCI. I know its all supposed to be wired with GFCI but i live in an apartment and cant do any modifications to my breakers or rewires anything. I know this leaves me very vounrable.

The only thing i can manipulate is anything pluged into a regular outlet. Is their power strips that can handle high power use?

I will print out your comments and bring them to my locial electrical store. They could help me figure things out.

 

[bbortko]

You might find a 20a strip since 20a is standard for commercial spaces but it won't matter since the breaker is still 15a. Your biggest problem is the wiring. On a 15a circuit you'll find 14awg wire. If you wanted to upgrade to a circuit you'll need 12awg. If your place has conduit you can simply tie on to the existing wire and pull the existing wire to the panel, untie the new wire and land on a new 20a breaker. This can be done in under an hour and for under $30. If you have romex or bx your sol.

 

[skjl47]

Hello; On the short heater chords, mine are the same way, I got a decent quality power strip with a long chord. I plug the heaters and a couple of other things from the tank into this. I try to place this so that tank water is less likely to be splashed onto it and for sure so that water cannot puddle around it. I have mine attached to the wall behind the tank area.

I believe there are several grades of power strips and extension chords. You may want to run an extension from a second or third wall outlet to spread the load. If so try to find a good quality extension chord, not the very skinny type,. Chords used by contractors can be found that use heavier gauge (thicker) wire and can have some safety features built in. You may need to flip breakers at the breraker box to determine which wall socket is powered by the different breakers. The breakers will have the amps listed on the toggle swich as well

 

[frickr]

I believe there are several grades of power strips and extension chords. You may want to run an extension from a second or third wall outlet to spread the load. If so try to find a good quality extension chord, not the very skinny type,. Chords used by contractors can be found that use heavier gauge (thicker) wire and can have some safety features built in. You may need to flip breakers at the breraker box to determine which wall socket is powered by the different breakers. The breakers will have the amps listed on the toggle swich as well

this is prob the best option for living in an apt. you can add a GFCI plug to the outlet http://www.amazon.com/Tower-Manufac...COIS/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1320730956&sr=8-9. your heaters will be the biggest draw in power. so these are what id try splitting up accross a few outlets. as far as organizing wires zip ties and some heavier duty power strips is about all you can do.