Electrical wiring question

[BigK]

If anyone knows enough about electrical wiring to answer a question, I'd really appreciate it.

 

I am constantly tripping a breaker in my garage. Some common examples:

• If I have a heater on and try to use the shop vac, the breaker trips.
• Sometimes I'll be warming a piece of Kydex in my small toaster oven and the breaker trips if the freezer or mini fridge cycle up.
• I can't run my table saw with the shop vac attached without tripping the breaker

It didn't occur to me until tonight to check the circuit breaker. I was shocked to find it's only a 15A breaker. Am I crazy for thinking that is a ridiculously small for all 5 of my garage plugs? I mean how can a man get anything done with only 1800 watts to work with at a time?

 

Do you think it's safe to change that out for a 30A circuit breaker?

[nightrunner]

It depends on what gauge the wire is that the circuit is run with. A 14 gauge wire can only handle a 15 amp breaker. 12 gauge is good for 20amps and a 30 amp breaker would need 10gauge wire. Otherwise you would be overloading the wire and risk it overheating and possibly catching on fire.

Keep in mind most homes are built with the average homeowner in mind, which is to say, most people use their garage to store vehicles in not work. At least nowadays.

Obviously you are overloading the circuit. Every time you trip the breaker it makes it weaker. Best answer is to add a nother circuit and split off half of your plugs on the new circuit.

[eRay]

If anyone knows enough about electrical wiring to answer a question, I'd really appreciate it.

 

I am constantly tripping a breaker in my garage. Some common examples:

• If I have a heater on and try to use the shop vac, the breaker trips.
• Sometimes I'll be warming a piece of Kydex in my small toaster oven and the breaker trips if the freezer or mini fridge cycle up.
• I can't run my table saw with the shop vac attached without tripping the breaker

It didn't occur to me until tonight to check the circuit breaker. I was shocked to find it's only a 15A breaker. Am I crazy for thinking that is a ridiculously small for all 5 of my garage plugs? I mean how can a man get anything done with only 1800 watts to work with at a time?

 

Do you think it's safe to change that out for a 30A circuit breaker?

 

I would think it would depend on the size of your wiring. With a 14 wire, I would be afraid to go with a 30 amp. If the wiring is 12 ga, I would probably swap it out.

[quietguy]

If anyone knows enough about electrical wiring to answer a question, I'd really appreciate it.

 

I am constantly tripping a breaker in my garage. Some common examples:

• If I have a heater on and try to use the shop vac, the breaker trips.
• Sometimes I'll be warming a piece of Kydex in my small toaster oven and the breaker trips if the freezer or mini fridge cycle up.
• I can't run my table saw with the shop vac attached without tripping the breaker

It didn't occur to me until tonight to check the circuit breaker. I was shocked to find it's only a 15A breaker. Am I crazy for thinking that is a ridiculously small for all 5 of my garage plugs? I mean how can a man get anything done with only 1800 watts to work with at a time?

 

Do you think it's safe to change that out for a 30A circuit breaker?

Probably not safe to just change the breaker.  A 15A circuit is usually wired with 14g wire.  You want 12g wire for a 20A circuit and 10g for a 30A circuit.  

 

A better strategy may be to wire dedicated outlets for high draw tools.  

[TripleGGG]

Probably not safe to just change the breaker. A 15A circuit is usually wired with 14g wire. You want 12g wire for a 20A circuit and 10g for a 30A circuit.

A better strategy may be to wire dedicated outlets for high draw tools.

This

[gomer pyle]

How old is the house? I'm assuming fairly old since you didn't mention a gfi plug. You might try changing out the 15a for a new one, breakers are like anything else, they wear out also.

[enfield]

^^^ All good advice!

[Sunfish]

If  you have more room in your panel to add a couple more 15 amp breakers you could seperate the receptacles. Or you could run a new 12/3 off a dedicated 20 amp. 

[Randall53]

Of all the things to do yourself in your home, electrical wiring is not one of them. It can cause fires usually from loose connections from improper installation, or undersized wiring being overloaded either of which can cause a great amount of heat and fire. Hire an electrician. While several outlets wired to one breaker is not uncommon, They are meant for general lighting per NEC, not power equipment. A 1500 watt heater maxes out a 15 amp breaker (Watts/Volts = Amps  1500/120 = 12.5 amps). That's why you have dedicated circuits for Microwaves, the kitchen outlets (toasters, coffee makers, etc...) and also in the bathroom. A garage where power tools are to be used has to be planned out when being wired to accommodate larger capacity circuits. Most homes are wired as cheap as possible by builders aka 15 amp breakers and 14 gauge wire. The breakers are there to protect the wiring. Simply installing a larger breaker will put your home at risk. Saving a couple of hundred dollars is not worth it.

Edited February 14, 2016 by Randall53

[enfield]

I used to tell customers that circuit breakers are not put in their house to irritate them - they're put there to keep their house from burning down.

[peejman]

What they said.

Your builder was cheap (just like mine) and not only used the cheapest wire, he also put everything on one circuit. Breakers are designed to protect the wiring, so just arbitrarily increasing the breaker size is a recipe for disaster.

What you have to do is run an extension cord from somewhere else to power the 2nd appliance (shop vac, etc.). Or hire an electrician to rewire it so that you've got an adequate amount of power available in the garage.

Personally, I think the plumber wired my house. There's no way anyone who called themselves an electrician would have done the exceedingly stupid things I've found. I dread any electrical project because it's like opening Pandora's box. Every time I've done anything, I've found either something really stupid, a blatant code violation, or both.

[Tncobra]

Change the breaker it's probably bad.

When my home turned 12 years old, they all seemed to go bad. Keep extras around, and the double ones too.

[BigK]

I appreciate the advice, fellas. Thanks for you input.

 

This house was built in 1993. I bought it in 2009 or as I like to put it...right when everything started breaking. I've had to replace a dishwasher, a roof, both the upstairs and downstairs HVAC units, a garage door and motor, and at least half a dozen plumbing repair calls. Luckily I bought when the market was down and only paid around $42/ sq ft.

 

Sounds like I'd need at least 2 outlets rewired with new breakers. That sucks, because one is overhead and the other is about as far away as you could get from the panel and still be in the garage. I guess I'll hit up Angie's List and see about getting a few quotes from electricians. I'm guessing this will be expensive.