anyone here a electrician?

M

maxdout

New member
I'm looking to add a 20amp circuit in my garage to run the air compressor and the rest of the fish junk. My current 15amp keeps popping and it's a PITA to get to the reset switch. So i'm looking to get a new dedicated circuit. Anyone that knows how or knows someone, please lmk. Thanks in advance
max
 
Funman1 I believe. You should get a dedicated circuit for sure. I use 3 circuits in my system on of which is feeding from the swimming pool.
 
You might just have a worn out breaker. I'd try replacing that first.

Its also pretty easy to add a circuit. Just copy one of the other ones in the box already.
 
I could try to add myown but I can't figure out how to get the wires out of the box into the garage. I was going to just drill the circuit box and put a electic socket right on the other side of the wall. however i hear that isn't very safe so i thought id do it the right way.
 
Disclaimer: I'm not liable if you kill yourself... That said... grab a length of 12-2 wire with ground. Prep on side with a 1/2" of wire exposed. Turn off your main power to the box and take the front panel off. Use a metal gromet where you feed the wire into the box like whats already there for the others.

Ground wire connects to the ground strip like the rest, One connects to the breaker (the black one I think but not sure without looking). And the other connects to the power bar. Then run your wire where you need your outlets. Use GFCI outlets since its for an aquarium. On the outlets ground goes to ground, Black to the side of the small hole, white to the bigger hole. Follow instructions that come with the GFCI outlet to connnect to more outlets.
 
I got an electrician to do mine the right way. Playing with your breakers can cost you ALOT of money. Plus if you do have damage and your power company sees it then you will have to pay for them to inspect it..... Just my .02
 
Im a General Contractor and an Electrician, Built Commercial plants for about 10 years.

My guess would be that the compressor is the tipping point on the breaker. A 15 amp can normally hold alot. If the circuit is already loaded it would not take much for the Compressor to trip it.

Could be a number of things. Without see'ing it i couldn't tell you for sure. But 1. could be a bad breaker ( Some will go bad). 2. Could also be a bad ground. Or 3. could just be overloaded.

If you want a 20 amp circuit, you need to make sure the existing wire is 12/2 ( 2 wires, b&w and a bare ground) . Depending on the age of the home you can identify it. Older homes most often have 12/2 in my experience. can be cloth or white. Early to late 80's they started using 14 ga which is now white for 14/2 and 14/3 and they started making the casing yellow for 12/2 and 12/3. If it isnt 12 ga you will need to run a new circuit.Depending on what you want and where you want it; it can be run in a number of ways. Normally can fish them in the wall with a little work and the right tools.

Hope it helps, If you have any specific question feel free to call me, five3zero 3nine1-7 four45

James
 
After reading your post and seeing that its a pain to reset. Is that with hardly anything drawing on it. If you are comfortable at DIY switch it it with another breaker and see if it takes care of the problem. Easy way to tell if it is just a bad breaker.

Black wires to your breaker/ or red in some cases. White goes to your neutral bar And ground goes to the Neutral bar also; in some cases Grounds will have their own bar, but in the Main panel the ground bar and neutral bar are tied together so it doesnt really matter. If its a sub panal the Ground and neutral bar are isolated from each other so make sure they go to their respective bars.
 
thanks for all of hte info guys. i'm going to try a new 15 amp breaker first. Then if it doesn't work then I'll hit you up baiz.
 
I was a master electrician for 40 years and you sound like you need an electrician (not me, I am retired) I don't think you have the skills to do this, just from the sound of it.
 
firemansac said:
Just remember to not touch the bus bars in the breaker box. You won't feel the zap because you'll be dead.
Click to expand...


long as i have the main input power off, i should be fine? also from the utube vids and my previous experiances, they just pretty much has like 1 or 2 screws and snaps out and snaps in.
 
I'm. No electrician but allthe ones I've ever talked to say to stay away from the bus bars that the circuit breaker snaps onto. The only way to kill the power to those is to shut off the power that comes into your house.
 
Yes no touching the bars in there.
1- turn of main breaker
2- take picture of breaker and unscrew the breaker in question
3- pop breaker out
4- drive to HD or lowes get a new breaker
5- buy correct breaker
6- drive home
7- install new breaker opposite removal
8- verify all things back to same as b4
9- turn on main breaker
10- perform test and if all pass close up the breaker box

I think thats it.
 
If you want to attempt a home improvement project but are unsure of your skills, pull a permit, for a small fee the inspector will come look at your work when you are done, if you did it wrong he will tell you how to fix it. IME they are very helpful. It might be overkill for just the breaker replacement, but if you wanted add the circuit. Just be prepared to do it to code.
 
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