SodaLicious
- 533
- 43
quick question -
I have a 20 amp breaker that i want to throw approx 16-18 amps in, but im afraid of overloading it. i know it may not be code or whatever, but could i throw a 30 amp breaker on there instead, just so it wouldnt trip if there was a bigger flux over 80% of 20?? i know 30 amps run bigger gauge wire, but im not trying to run 30 amps, just 18 safely...
thanks!
Yeah well thats not going to happen if you have an oversized breaker hooked up to it right?The wire becomes the weak link and even if you dont replace the breaker with a larger one You are still here telling classic "go ahead and run an overloaded circuit'',A 1k digital ballast on 120v is gonna be 9.5-10 amps,his a/c he says is 8-8.5amps but both are going to spike on startup too and what about if/when they both startup together?You are not leaving ANY margin for safety at all,What if he has his kid sleeping in the next room when that shit lights up in the middle of the night?BAD ADVICE!what's that hooked up to it? no Breaker on there either. The purpose of your breaker is to protect that wire from something catastrophic like that from happening!
Yeah well thats not going to happen if you have an oversized breaker hooked up to it right?The wire becomes the weak link and even if you dont replace the breaker with a larger one You are still here telling classic "go ahead and run an overloaded circuit'',A 1k digital ballast on 120v is gonna be 9.5-10 amps,his a/c he says is 8-8.5amps but both are going to spike on startup too and what about if/when they both startup together?You are not leaving ANY margin for safety at all,What if he has his kid sleeping in the next room when that shit lights up in the middle of the night?BAD ADVICE!
Couple things you can do here A)Use the 80% rule which limits you to sixteen amps on that circuit B)Run another circuit if you have the room/capacity in your panel,Preferably 240 which will cut your amp draw in half.
Electricity is an unforgiving bitch,you can pay now and do it right or you can pay later when your shit is ashes on the ground.
Soda,im sure olyver will chime in here sometime,im a contractor not an electrician so i know just enough to be dangerous,lol.
One last time,here goes,For safetys sake you should only load a circuit to 80% which in this case was 16 amps.You may well be able to load it past twenty for all i know but its stupid to exceed the safety factor and not expect a bad outcome.
As for your lamp scenario,If i plug in a lamp and it throws the breaker and its not overloaded i would look for a short or possibly a weak/bad breaker that needs to be replaced,its rediculous to just plug it in another outlet which may in fact be hooked to the same breaker,how does this solve the problem?I want to know WTF is CAUSING the problem so i can fix it.
The reason you dont run a circuit drawing 18 amps with an 18 amp breaker is because you would be running that circuit at 100% and have NO safety factor at all,Imagine if you drove your car at MAX rpms from the second you started it until the second you turned it off,how long do you think it would last until you had a problem or it failed?
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?