Electricity Overload

I'm no electrician, but I'm pretty sure if you have a 20amp breaker, your wires are rated for a 20amp breaker.  You'd most likely have to re-wire your kitchen.  Are you blowing breakers from your tank? I know how that goes

if the breaker keeps popping, you may just need a new one....this will not solve the problem long term, but good enough until you get into a different place......if a breaker is run constant at 75% of what it is rated, it wears out alot faster.....that is why it is good to 'spread' the wattage around.......

how large is the load on the one breaker?.....

i have my 72 and 120 running on the same 20 amp breaking 2x150 halides 2x250 halides plus return pumps heaters etc!!!!. I accidentaly blew the breaker one day when i turned on the dehumidifier on the same breaker. DIddnt pop before we set up the 120 but apparently now its too much. I'm guessing your breaker is just bad too.

Yeah....My roomate has the electric bill automatically deducted from his acount.....I figure he gets to enjoy my tanks as much as I do, so its fair we pay the same price..  Yeah I figure i have 250watts in heaters...(not all on at the same time) 3x250watt lights, 200watts in PC...i think the iwaki 40rxlt runs around 300-400watts. and pump and skimmer and timers mostly MJ's im not too sure so 1700watts not includeing the powerheads and pumps for skimmer plus additional room for more gadgets.  Its awfully clse to 75-85%max load during the day.

changing the breaker to a 40 with 12 gauge wire will most likely burn your house down. and invalidate any fire insurance, not a good idea, also if you do go with the extension cord route also make sure that you are using a cord that has at least a #10 wire there will be considerable voltage drop otherwise. (this will be expensive depending on the length of wire)


the best bet is to add an additional circuit that can handle the extra load.



Edited by bbeck4x4 - March 01 2008 at 8:45am

Do change out both the breaker and GFI.

DO NOT change it out with a 40 amp breaker.  Stay with 20.  You'll end up melting your wires and possibly burning the place down.

Extension cord idea is also a good one.

Electricians set up circuits so that the breaker has a normal 50% load running through it.
That would then take into account the occasional extra irons, lights, etc, that would be turned on occasionaly.
Even though a circuit and wires may be rated at 20 A, they are not made to carry 20A, 24 hours a day.
If you did that, you would find they would get extremely hot.
Be careful with extension cords and use the shortest one that will fit.
The longer they are, the more power is lost and the hotter they will get.