Q: Electricity & Circuit Breakers

[jameslee]

I recently moved into an apartment where the power seems 'off'. I believe all the outlets in the bedroom and attached bathroom/closet run off a 15 amp circuit breaker.

I've noticed that when my girl's using her hair dryer in the bathroom, all the lights in the bedroom/bathroom/closet dim slightly. I tested a small space heater and again all the lights off the 15 breaker dimmed noticably. I've actually tripped the breaker by vacuuming while a clothing steamer was warming up in the closet. I realize all these devices 'pull' a lot of amps, but i've never experienced any problems like this in any previous apartments.

Does anyone know if it's possible/suggested to replace the 15 breaker with a higher amp breaker, or is it situation more complicated than that?

[ribitch]

Originally posted by jameslee
I recently moved into an apartment where the power seems 'off'. I believe all the outlets in the bedroom and attached bathroom/closet run off a 15 amp circuit breaker.

I've noticed that when my girl's using her hair dryer in the bathroom, all the lights in the bedroom/bathroom/closet dim slightly. I tested a small space heater and again all the lights off the 15 breaker dimmed noticably. I've actually tripped the breaker by vacuuming while a clothing steamer was warming up in the closet. I realize all these devices 'pull' a lot of amps, but i've never experienced any problems like this in any previous apartments.

Does anyone know if it's possible/suggested to replace the 15 breaker with a higher amp breaker, or is it situation more complicated than that?

you need to know the specs of the wiring in the walls before you can do this. If the wiring cant handle the increased load that the breaker can, the wiring will fry before the breaker trips, thus resulting in a wall fire. Since its an apartment, I would call your landlord or whoever is responsible for the unit and ask them to do something. Show them what is happening. This way if something did happen, you would have them being the ones responsible intead of you being resposnible.

[johnnymk]

I believe that the National Electrical Code requires minimum 20 amp circuit breakers and 12 gauge wire for 110 volt outlets.

[CynJon]

Originally posted by johnnymk
I believe that the National Electrical Code requires minimum 20 amp circuit breakers and 12 gauge wire for 110 volt outlets.

That may be true NOW, but code could have been different (or non-existent in that jurisdiction) at the time the apartment was built. Regardless, the fact that the lights dim when a hairdryer is turned on, indicates that something is near it's limits, be it the breaker or the wiring itself. Substituting a larger breaker if the wiring is undersized is a recipe for fire, like ribitch said. It's possible that the breaker is getting old and not transferring current the way it should. Either way, you need to make the landlord be responsible, not you.

Also, a typical hairdryer is around 1250 Watts, which is around 5 Amps of current draw. This should be handled easily by a 15 Amp circuit without dimming the lights, so it indicates a problem. It could be as simple as loose connections at the outlet itself. Does it do the same thing when the hairdryer is plugged into other outlets? The space heater is not a very good reference because depending on the size, it could pretty easily overwhelm a 15A circuit.

[jameslee]

Thanks for the info. Since there seems to be a problem, i'll have my landlord check out the situation.