Will 15amps be enough?

[johnr2604]

Dont forget that there is 9000 available unbreakered amps in that panel so be sure you know what you are doing. It will just sit there and fry you untill the Jack heats up and falls out of the transformer on the pole. Best left to the pros

As stated above it could be an easy job or a hard job depending on the situation. Also keep in mind that most electricians will not patch the drywall so if drywall has to be cut then it could get pricey. I would also recommend installing a 20amp curcuit. GFI protect it and the existing plug on the 15 if you are going to leave any of the aquarium components on it.

I also have to disagree with the post that stated that most general lighting curcuits in new homes are 20amp (general lighting curcuits is how the code book refers to residential curcuits that include lighting and receptacles). The only ones required to be 20amp are bathroom, kitchen,and dining room. With the price of copper these days, no contractor is going to use 12g wire where they dont have to. You are actually more likely to find 20 amp general lighting curcuits in older homes.

The best advise I could give you would be not to listen to my advise or the advise of anybody else but your electrician.

 

[ericmcj31]

actually the wall behind my tank backs up to the room where the breaker is. So it wouldn't be too hard to fish wire through. I need to look into that apparently. Would it be overkill while everything was open to go ahead and put another breaker there just for safety purposes? What is the GFI for?-in case something gets wet?

 

[rockdog]

yes GFI is to shut off power if the hot wire gets wet. All you need is a 20 amp breaker for the new circuit. I would suggest it be a GFI breaker, not just the GFI outlet, either would work. As stated before I would change the existing outlet to a GFI outlet, for saftey reasons. Then you can use the old outlet for stuff that would NEED to run for life support, if the new circuit tripped. Hope this has helped. If Rome was not so far away I would come and lookat it for you.

JJ

 

[johnr2604]

The GFI is there to protect you. 120v isnt alot. I am sure most people have been shocked by 120 but in almost all cases you are not grounded well. If you add water to the mix you are giving yourself a great ground and it becomes potentially deadly.

In short a GFI monitors the power coming from the hot wire then monitors it coming back on the neutral wire. If it senses a differential then it knows the power is going to a ground (usually a person or short) and shuts it off. It basically does what a breaker does except a person has too much resistance to trip a breaker hence the need for a GFI.

There are some horror stories before there were GFI's such as people jumping in fountains and getting fried then it killing the people trying to rescue the original victim.

Yes, adding more than one curcuit is a great idea. If the electrician already has the wall opened up then pulling an additional wire would be minimal cost.

 

[ericmcj31]

yeah--I've got a pretty good electrician here in Rome, thanksthough rockdog; and thanks for all youguys' help--I mean I assumed that a "line" would run up to like 1875 watts (I think) and then you need to put it on another breaker; I broke that down with my lights, heaters, etc. and it is just under that (if everything is on at once)-is that not a true guideline? or is 1875 watts high? or low? or what?

 

[james s_]

Amps= Watts divided by volts. So on a 20 amp circuit at 80% that would allow 1920 watts. Once you get higher then that the wire begins to heat up and can cause Breaker to trip more frequently and possibly the wire will burn up if run over capacity for too long.

 

[ericmcj31]

could you show me how you figured that, 46?

 

[ericmcj31]

oh-and are there bigger than 20 amp. breakers?

 

[kwl1763]

better just to add 2 20A. They do make 50A but you can't afford the wire

 

[ericmcj31]

kwl1763;152324 wrote: better just to add 2 20A. They do make 50A but you can't afford the wire

what kind of wire would I need? (size)-how much is it a foot??? If I get this out-it is no prob. b/c I would only need like 20'

 

[rockdog]

If you go any larger than 20amp you will have to use plugs that are "special", not just the typical 2 or 3 prong srtaight blade. This would be total overkill. If you need more than one 20amp circuit, have the electrician pull 12/3 romex and add 2 20amp breakers and put in 2 duplex recepticals on in the same box... not a hard fix. Then you could split the load across 2 breakers, this is not needed as I see it.

Good Luck PM if you need more info..

JJ

 

[johnr2604]

20 amp is as high as it gets on a regular duplex outlet. when you start getting into larger breakers they are for specialized plugs like dryer and oven plugs.

 

[rockdog]

the power formula above is P=I x E where P= watts I= amps and E Volts. for continous loads (in a commercial application... not sure about residental) you can only load a circuit to 80% per code. Therefore a 20 amp breaker is only good for 16amps. 16 amps x 120 volts = 1920 watts. If you were to load the circuit to 100% then the formula would be 20x120=2400watts...

hope this helps.

JJ

 

[johnr2604]

Rockdog;152347 wrote: the power formula above is P=I x E where P= watts I= amps and E Volts. for continous loads (in a commercial application... not sure about residental) you can only load a circuit to 80% per code. Therefore a 20 amp breaker is only good for 16amps. 16 amps x 120 volts = 1920 watts. If you were to load the circuit to 100% then the formula would be 20x120=2400watts...

hope this helps.

JJ

receptacles are not considered continuos loads in residential and are not given the wattage per outlet rule like in commercial. Although the 80 percent rule still applies the code dosn't consider residential plugs continuos loads, there curcuits are just figured at 3w per square foot with no limit on the amount of plugs.

One 20 amp will be fine because you will still have your 15amp to use also

 

[rockdog]

Great thanks for the info...

I know that anything that will run for 3 consecutive hours is considered continuos load. I do Commercial and Industrial so the changes in the code, for dwellings, from when I got my license escape me some times... Who are you a GC for?

JJ

 

[johnr2604]

I work for myself doing remodeling projects but I used to work as an electrician running crews for my uncles company. We did residential, commercial and industrial so it kept me polished on all ends of the code. I still keep track of the code for what I do now but dont mantain my license anymore.

 

[ericmcj31]

I actually just checked-all the breakers are at least 20 amps! I guess I'll have the breaker changed to a GFI breaker, but since I'm not gonna have to break out the wall or nothing, I'm just gonna do without the extra "insurance" breaker-any other suggestions?? I saw some were 30 (like dryer, and stove, etc.); so I guess I'm in the clear?? (up to 1920 watts)?

 

[schwaggs]

If the outlet that you plug all this into is accessable and visable, just install a GFCI outlet in the wall. It is WAY cheaper than an GFCI breaker.

 

[ericmcj31]

ok-I'll get that done, then; when it comes to that kinda stuff, $$$ doesn't really matter, I just want it done (right), and want it to last and be safe--but if the outlet would be just as good/safe/last as long, I'd do that

 

[kwl1763]

The outlet should be fine. I actually have them on mine. Since all your tank is going to run on one cirucuit I would strongly recommend some type of battery backup at least for some circulation. One little GFCI trip and you whole tank will be stagnent. More then a few hours like that is bad news.