power issues

[nitrofish]

I just found out my old screw style fuse panel can't Handel my electrical current draw. I woke up to find my fuse was blown and my tanks where off. so I went to screw in a new fuse and the socket broke! I was in a panic so I did the only thing I could, I ran the wire to another circuit and doubled up on the fuse. the main fuses where getting so hot that they where starting to melt the plastic holder. so an electrician came in an accessed the problem and basically said I need an independent circuit just for my tank.he put lower amp fuses in for the meantime. so I have an appointment to have it wired on Monday. in the meantime all the ac's are off and I'm using minimal power so I down blow another fuse. talk about a stressful day. I thought all my fish and corals where going to die .luckily the new circuit job will cost only $800. he wanted $3,000 to convert the old panel to new style breakers and make it code compliant, which means re-locating the entire service.


old apartments just aren't reef ready.

 

[RichConley]

If its an apartment, and you dont OWN it, the owner should pay for this.

 

[smcnally]

If its an apartment, and you dont OWN it, the owner should pay for this.

It's kind of a sketchy situation. First of all, if it's an apartment, he can't have ANY electrical work done without the landlords knowledge. And second, they could always say because he rewired part of the fuse panel (being an unlicensed electrician) and caused the damage to it, that he is liable for repairing the damage. Jeff, the reason the panel go so hot is because you put a higher current draw on another circuit. Just for future knowledge and for others reading this...You can't just add wires to a circuit and change the fuse (or breaker) out for a higher amperage one. The fuse is there to protect the wire itself (and your house) from burning up. In most homes, if you have a 15A fuse/breaker it means that you have 14AWG wire ran on that circuit. That wire is too thin to handle more than a 15A current. 20A fuse/breakers are usually on circuits ran with 12AWG wire. So if you look at your panel and you see your tank circuit has a 15A fuse/breaker, then the only way to get a 20A in there is to rewire that ENTIRE circuit with 12AWG wire. I lucked out and found my entire condo was ran with 20AWG, but it isn't the case in most places.

 

[nitrofish]

my friend owns the place. I couldn't make him pay for upgrades required because my tank needs more power. ive already discused this new curcuit with him.everything ok

I know why it got hot, it was either that or no power to my tank for at least a week till an electician can run new wires. I just couldn't watch my fish die.I used to be an electrial apprentice so I knew how to micky mouse it temporarly just to get by.

but picture this, my entire apartment runs on only 4 fuses(no breakers). I lost the use of one bcause of a bad sockett and lost power to 1/4 of my place. that stinks

 

[RichConley]

I hear you on that jeff...

my apartment has 8 breakers. The stove/fridge take 2, 2 are the main, 2 are the boiler,1 is the rest of the kitchen... and then the last one...the 4 bedrooms....

makes it real tough...but I think the house was set up in the 30s or so, so I understand it.

Try running 3 6K BTU AC's and a 250w MH(along with my desktop, and a couple laptops) on one 15 amp circuit...man its fun.

 

[offshore]

I'd put in a slow blow fuse untill monday, and what are you going to do when he shuts the power off to work? I almost lost all my fish (and did lose 3) 2 day's ago from an outage.

 

[dedfish]

I had to have my landlords put in seperate circuits for the 4 bedrooms so we could each run an AC. There were only 2 circuits for the 4 bedrooms and you couldn't run a single AC and the iron on the same circuit with out blowing it. Luckily for us the landlords were understanding and agreed to have the work done.

 

[nitrofish]

right now im useing minimal power. every ac is off, room lights are using only one bulb instead of 3. fridge is on powersave mode. no tv, etc.

when the electrician does come to add the new curcuit he can do most of the work without killing power. I figure he will only need to kill the power to make the final connections. plus I only have like 4 fish on a 300+ gallon system.

if im lucky I can get him to add a second curcit for my washing machine/dryer/dishwasher. that has always been a power issue.