changing out breakers.

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Doc

Doc

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Is this a simple job?

Okay, I've only ever owned two houses. The first house had a fuse panel. The second house (the one we live in now) has the typical breaker box.

Someone didn't really think ahead when they planned out the breaker 'map'. Half of my 3 car garage, the family room and part of the basement is on one 15 amp breaker. Can I pull this breaker out and simply put in a 20 amp? I'm tripping this breaker at least once a week.

I've got my 50" plasma, the stereo system, PS3, a HUGE freezer (thanks slipshot!) and a space heater plugged into this circuit. Generally pops when all those things are on at the same time.

I should also say (if it isn't painfully odvious already) that I basically know nothing about electricity.
 
Doc said:
Is this a simple job?

Okay, I've only ever owned two houses. The first house had a fuse panel. The second house (the one we live in now) has the typical breaker box.

Someone didn't really think ahead when they planned out the breaker 'map'. Half of my 3 car garage, the family room and part of the basement is on one 15 amp breaker. Can I pull this breaker out and simply put in a 20 amp? I'm tripping this breaker at least once a week.

I've got my 50" plasma, the stereo system, PS3, a HUGE freezer (thanks slipshot!) and a space heater plugged into this circuit. Generally pops when all those things are on at the same time.

I should also say (if it isn't painfully odvious already) that I basically know nothing about electricity.
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Short answer......yes. It's really easy. There's only 1 wire to the circuit breaker. Don't forget to throw the main before you start pulling breakers, though.
 
Short answer- NO. First you have to find out what size wire is running that circuit. More than likely it's sized for the 15 amp breaker (14 gauge) and not for 20 amps (12 gauge).

This is especially important if you plan on running a constant load, as you are.

Changing out the breakers is easy. Changing the rating, not so much.
 
-Spike- said:
Short answer- NO. First you have to find out what size wire is running that circuit. More than likely it's sized for the 15 amp breaker (14 gauge) and not for 20 amps (12 gauge).

This is especially important if you plan on running a constant load, as you are.

Changing out the breakers is easy. Changing the rating, not so much.
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Ahhhhh, I didn't consider the wire size. I ran 12 ga throughout my shop, except where I put 220.

Are the circuits GFCI protected, Doc?

What color is the Romex sheath, Doc? That will tell you the wire size, right Spike? Yellow = 12 ga and white = 14 ga???
 
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bigndn said:
Are the circuits GFCI protected, Doc?
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I think so, yes. All done at the panel, I don't have any of those 'push to reset' outlets in the house.



Will the size (gauge) of the wire be written on it, so I can visually check the size myself?
 
I have newer romex that seems to be color coded, but I also have a bunch of old stuff............all white, both 12 gauge and 14 gauge.

Look at the cable sheathing for the wire gauge and don't up the breaker if the gauge is too small.
 
Doc, sadly, the answer is no. even if the wire in the breaker box is 20 amp rated, you cant be sure that the rest of the line is rated for that. lots of things behind the walls that you can't see. a 15 amp breaker was put in for a reason. stay safe. how old is the house? if it's old, maybe the breaker is worn/corroded inside and tripping earlier than it needs to. changing the breaker is easy..... you have to turn off the main, put a circuit tester on it to make sure the juice is off, unscrew the line, rotate the breaker towards the outside and pull it off. reverse to install the new one. be sure to remember, the wires at the top, going into the main, are HOT. stay away from them. ok?
 
Doc said:
I think so, yes. All done at the panel, I don't have any of those 'push to reset' outlets in the house.



Will the size (gauge) of the wire be written on it, so I can visually check the size myself?
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Those 'push to reset' outlets are the GFCIs. It would be really easy to install one on each leg so you know where the overload is. You can get them in 15A.

IIRC, the Amp rating is printed on the sheathing. It may be easiest to locate the sheathing inside your breaker box. :cheers:
 
Johnnymiz said:
how old is the house? if it's old, maybe the breaker is worn/corroded inside and tripping earlier than it needs to. ?
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That's the thing, this house is only 3 yrs old! It should be wired better than it is (in my mind)

bigndn said:
Those 'push to reset' outlets are the GFCIs. It would be really easy to install one on each leg so you know where the overload is. You can get them in 15A.
:
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I'm don't have all the terminology down- so I'm probobly not explaining this right, but ALL of my outlets are GFCI's. But none of them are push to reset at the wall. The way it was explained to me is that the panel is wired to handle all of that at the panel, so I don't need them in the walls? Anyway- I don't have those typical GCFI outlets (with the button) even by the sinks, but they are labeled GFCI in blue lettering right on the outlet.
 
Doc said:
That's the thing, this house is only 3 yrs old! It should be wired better than it is (in my mind)

I'm don't have all the terminology down- so I'm probobly not explaining this right, but ALL of my outlets are GFCI's. But none of them are push to reset at the wall. The way it was explained to me is that the panel is wired to handle all of that at the panel, so I don't need them in the walls? Anyway- I don't have those typical GCFI outlets (with the button) even by the sinks, but they are labeled GFCI in blue lettering right on the outlet.
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sadly, most new houses aren't. and if you bought it in a development or didn't specify exactly what you wanted, it was built as cheaply as it could be.

then the breaker is a gfci and all the outlets are protected by the breaker.

is the breaker tripping or the gfci part tripping? and what is the load on it when it breaks?
 
Johnnymiz said:
is the breaker tripping or the gfci part tripping? and what is the load on it when it breaks?
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I don't know the answer to your first question. How would I know? When I go to reset the breaker the throw lever is in the middle....

Load- Well, that circuit serves the big TV, the stereo, PS3, a space heater, the garage (freezer and door openers/ lights) and some of the lights in the house.

It seems to 'pop' at various times, but generally when it goes, the TV is on, sometimes running though the stereo, space heater is generally on. The freezer is always running it's fan, but not always cooling....

That probobly didn't make any sense. But safe to say I think there's a lot of load on that circuit to only be served by a 15 A breaker.
 
no, that's exactly what i wanted to know. i wanted to get a feel of whether there's a ground fault at a particular outlet, the breaker is bad, or if ur simply drawing too much current for the line.
and the answer is: you are drawing WAY too much for the line.

each light ampereage is the wattage/120....... so each 100 watt bulb is drawing .83 amps....multiply that times the number of bulbs. then, the freezer at compressor start up could be drawing 10 amps, throw in your 1200 watt (1200/120=10amps!!) space heater and you've got ur answer.

the breaker is protecting you from frying ur wires inside the wall and burning the house down. so, do NOT but a 20 amp in. it's doing what it's designed to do.

your only option is to run new circuits to alleviate the situation. a dedicated line to the garage would be good. leave the ones that are there alone...run a new string, and plug ur freezer, and door opener to that.
 
What would (ball park) running 2 new lines to the garage (I had already planned on doing this because there just aren't enough outlets in the garage..) cost?

The utility room is next to the garage, so you'd only have to run wire though one wall. I'd probobly just have the electrician surface mount the boxes to save running lines behind walls. 2 or 3 of the 4-gang outlets spaced across a 3 car garage... ??

Oh, and it sounds like (short term) the best course of action would be to remove the space heater or run an extension cord to run it off of another circuit?
 
!. i'm not too jazzed about extension cords and space heaters.....tape the cord down so no one catches their foot on it and knocks over the heater. know what i mean?

dude, i have no idea what it would cost. i'd just run it myself. im not an electrician. im a money markets broker on wall street :) but id do it myself. electrical isnt hard if u keep it neat and make sure you keep it to code. surface mount in a garage is ok. make sure u run the wire inside conduit to protect it. real easy.
you could pay to have the electrician do the whole job, run the wires/conduit urself and have the electrician do all the actual wiring to the box and outlets, or do it all yourself.

this is what it should look like (because it's in the basement and against concrete, i nailed wood to the wall, then attached the electrical to the wood). i ran several strings in my basement to new circuits in the box
DSC00361.webp
 
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I think you've gotten good advice and it sounds like you're overloading your 15 amp circuit. Just FYI, GFI breakers look different from other breakers. They have a button on them that has to be pushed before you can reset the switch (IIRC!). If you posted a pic of your breaker box open then it would be easy to tell.
 
I'll snap a pix of the 'box of death' tonight.
 
Some houses run there gfci's from the bathroom circuits for exterior recepticals. The tester is inexpensive and you will be able to verify. The gfci beaker will have a white (neutral) coming from it.
Just pulling the recepticals from the boxes you might be able to tell but 12 vs 14 is pretty close in size.
If the panel is in one room and backs up against the garage that is very simple to get power there. like posted external boxes would be easiset unless will to cut some dry wall or go with tiger boxes.
 
DSC04338.jpg


The breaker that is always trippin' is the bottom one in the right hand column.

I should also say that the 2 range breakers are not in use at all. I replaced an electric range with a gas range and now don't use that circuit.
 
Rambrush said:
If the panel is in one room and backs up against the garage that is very simple to get power there..
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It doesn't back up against the garage, but the utility room and the garage share part of a wall. So simple enough.
 
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