power breaker triping

[mqur1963]

guy's i need help i have my 150 gal saltwater fish tank in my living room and my 58 inch plasma when mh lights is on my braker trips with plasma tv on so i canot have both on same time .

should i change my braker from 15amp to 20 amp or any advise

 

[TRIGGERMAN]

Your tank should be on it's own breaker to begin with. I don't know how much wattage your tank runs on but I'm sure that switching from a 15 to a 20 is probably a good idea anyway especially running halides on a large tank.

 

[rkaragozler]

be carefull on switching breakers, if you only have 14 gauge wires it is not advisable, you live in nj, and if i'm not mistaking they use a 14/3 romex out their. look by your breaker panel and see what the size it is that goes to that breaker that is tripping.
If it is 14/3 stop. do not do it......

 

[CrAzY cOrAlS]

if you have a 15 amp breaker on there, you DO NOT want to change it to a 20 amp, your just overloading the circuit period, i suggest you run a dedicated line to where your tank is and keep that seperate puttin a 20 amp breaker on a 14 gauge wire is against code, the wire will heat up, please dont do that, just run a new line i can walk you through it if you want,

 

[silentworldj7]

you might have to run one or the other but you may need to set up a diffrent breaker just for the tank , you may have to run all new wires to your breaker panel and set up a breaker for you aquarium. had that problem also, it depends on how old your wiring is for your house.

 

[mqur1963]

16 years old wiring

 

[mqur1963]

ok i will not switch i will try to bring new wire from my braker panel which is located in the basement

 

[CrAzY cOrAlS]

your best bet.

ok i will not switch i will try to bring new wire from my braker panel which is located in the basement

 

[roc5288]

if you have a 15 amp breaker on there, you do not want to change it to a 20 amp, your just overloading the circuit period, i suggest you run a dedicated line to where your tank is and keep that seperate puttin a 20 amp breaker on a 14 gauge wire is against code, the wire will heat up, please dont do that, just run a new line i can walk you through it if you want,

+++1

 

[stage3-S4]

Yes NEC code states that the maximum overcurrent portection on a 14 awg wire is 15 amps. Running a new line from a new breaker is a good idea but you should make sure your panel has enough ampacity to do so. Code states that you should have at least 25 percent spare ampacity for expansion. So you have to be careful when you just start adding more loads to an existing panel. If you start tripping the main breaker after you install the new breaker, then you have this problem.


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[Deep Dive Coral]

+1. what kind of ceilings do you have. also is your basement finished.