Electrical woes...breaker box what??

[Myka]

Please help me figure this out.

Right now my whole tank is on one breaker. 14 plugs into one wall outlet (powerbars) with no GFCI. I know this is asking for trouble.

My breaker panel says 70 amps. If I add up all the breakers on the panel they total 280 amps, plus one that is unlabelled. There are three blank breaker spots. I would like to put two 15 amp breakers running to two GFCI wall outlets dedicated to my reef. Do I have room on my panel to do this, or am I looking at adding a sub panel?

Jeez this hobby gets expensive quick.

What you are looking at is 70amp main breaker which means you can only have a total of 70 amp draw on those breaker. The one outlet on that wall is probably connected to other outlets or lights as well. I was talking to a inspector a week ago and he was saying on a 15 amp breaker you have to limit the draw to less than 2000 watts other wise you can have troubles. especially with older wiring, he also said that under the electrical code they go by the number of potential outlets and lights on a circuit and not the draw on the circuit.
I think he is right to use the draw on the circuit it does make since. As for do you have room well if you take the outlet that is on that wall out and remove the line and run 2 new dedicated lines to the panel you should be OK. I would look at upgrading the panel to a 100 amp at the least in the near future if possible I would go to a 200 amp service which would mean a new panel and a rewiring of the panel. Also I found out if you don't have a GFI on the tank circuits your insurance will be void if a fire is caused by a short in that circuit. You have to by electrical code have a GFI on outlets that are withing 1.5 meter of water. They will have to pull a permit to do the job and ask how much it would cost to upgrade to atleast a 100 AMP service. My mom is doing it and she has to move her mast and panel. 3000.00 you get it all back in value to the house.

Bill

I hope this helps, I would have a electrician take a look at it if you are not sure. They can do the calculations for you and give you a estimate on doing the work and then your house is covered.
Bill

[outacontrol]

Originally Posted by bvlester

. I was talking to a inspector a week ago and he was saying on a 15 amp breaker you have to limit the draw to less than 2000 watts other wise you can have troubles. especially with older wiring,

Bill

I hope this helps, I would have a electrician take a look at it if you are not sure. They can do the calculations for you and give you a estimate on doing the work and then your house is covered.
Bill

A regular outlet can only support 1440 watts max continous load

[Myka]

I am at about 1100 watts on that outlet. Maybe up to 1250, as I'm not sure the wattage on my Tunze 6055, Tunze Osmolator, Drew's dosing pumps. This is taking the watt ratings off the equipment, not actual readings. I know most stuff will actually draw a different number than is printed.

Here's my list (number) totalw:

Electronic ballasts (x2) 500w
T5s (x2) 108w
Heaters (x2) 300w
Skimmer pump 45w (I think)
Return pump 140w
MJ1200 (x2) 40w
MJ400 (x2) 10w
Koralia 3 10w
Fan ?
Tunze 6055 up to 18w
Tunze Osmolator
Drew's Dosing pump (x2) ?

there you go the answer you need to have.
I am not an electrician just passing along what I was told by an inspector maybe he was referring to a 20 amp breaker, I don't know but he did say 15AMP. My house has been inspected many years ago.
I always refer to the professionals as they know what they are doing. Kind of let Telecommunication stuff I know electricians don't know what i know about it they get the color code mixed up all the time. I have had to fix things that electricians have messed up many times. It's not their fault they have not learned this stuff they should be humbled and pass the telco stuff on to people that know what they are doing. I am straight up if i don't know I say i don't know, I do not pretend to know some thing that I have no knowledge about. That just gets people hurt I was working for a company that was riddled with people getting injured for no reason just stupidity and plain laziness. People doing jobs they know nothing about and people standing in the wrong place, things like that.

Notice I referred to the professionals.(I hope this helps, I would have a electrician take a look at it if you are not sure. They can do the calculations for you and give you a estimate on doing the work and then your house is covered.)

the other thing I am getting at do you know for sure that your tank is the only stuff on the circuit? Do you know where or not that line is not tied into some thing else.
Bill

[Myka]

Bill, I know it is cheaper to add a sub panel than it is to upgrade the current one. I am told it would cost about $300 to get a sub panel put in.

Ya but will they change the mains to 100AMP? IF they can just change the Mains then that will cost next to nothing also.

Bill

[Myka]

I don't get it... do you mean the line from the street to the pole needs to be changed? I was under the impression that you can pull out the old 70 amp panel, put a 100 amp (or whatever) panel in, and voila. Not so? I thought it worked like an outlet does...you can draw whatever the panel itself is?

Oh.....one thing I just remembered...there are 3 or 4 other outlets on that same breaker too. The dehumidifier is on a different outlet, but same breaker. For some reason the whole bathroom is also on that breaker (can't blow dry hair when halides are on), and the kitchen's ceiling lights. It is a 20 amp breaker.

[Electric eel]

If you have space in the main panel (which it sounds like you do as you said there are 3 spaces empty) then go ahead hire an electrician to install 2 dedicated circuits from your main panel. At this time do not worry about the 70 amp main. If you have not tripped it then don't worry! Save your self the money (spend it on fish stuff!). If it does trip then it would be time to look at a new service and 100 amps would be plenty. Don't forget to install the GFI plugs!!!!! 1440 watts on a 15 amp circuit is correct.

James
Certified electrical contractor

[Myka]

Thanks for your reply James. We haven't tripped the main breaker, just the one the fish tank is on if I try to blow dry my hair on the same breaker.

That breaker is a 20 amp breaker, so would it be safe to assume I can have around 1900 watts on it at any given time? Is that all wall outlets combined on that breaker, or 1900 watts on each wall outlet of a 20 amp breaker?