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Electrical Wiring

upgrading circuit breaker amps to one room?

14 years ago

im a musician and when i plug all my gear into my rooms outlets it blows the breaker... it turns out that the living room is running on that circuit too. its only a 15amp breaker, can i upgrade that to a 30 or larger to handle the load? are there any issues i might have from current wiring? my amps and p.a. systems are about 2,000 watts and up to 5000watts when all the buddies are around and we are jamming... so its an issue i need to fix... thanks for your help guys!

Comments (4)

azlighting
14 years ago
No, you cannot replace the breaker with a 30A because the wiring is only #14 ga.. 30A breakers require #10ga. wiring.

If you replace the breaker with 30A, you are inviting an electrical fire as the load would exceed the current carrying capacity of the wire.

No sane electrician would install this.

The only choice you have is to install NEW plug-in, wiring and breakers dedicated to your equipment. at 2000W, you will need a minimum of 16A(20A breaker) and at 5000W you will need a minimum of 42A(50A breaker). That is ONLY for your equipment.
Ron Natalie
14 years ago
Further, you can't have a 30A breaker feeding the 15 or 20 A receptacles even if the wiring was upgraded. What you want is ADDITIONAL 20A circuits.
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davidandkasie
14 years ago
get someone to install 2 20A circuits in addition to what you have now. that will handle your load.

BTW, i have set up some large concerts before and never really required more than 2 20A circuits to run teh PA's, board and effects. no need to use all teh power you have in a jam session, the acoustics of the room will not allow it to sound right anyway.
spencer_electrician
14 years ago
True, the power used is somewhat relative to how loud the sound from the amplifiers is. I use 2 20 amp circuits to fill large rooms as well with no breakers tripping. The same power in a small room should result in the complete loss of hearing. The 15 amp circuit you have was probably already loaded up and the minimum running load of the equipment was enough to put it over the edge.

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