Plugs/electric/extention leads?

[Cheezepleeze]

I have of a double socket outlet an extension lead with 2 outlets at the other end witch has my water feeder in one and a 4 way extension lead in the other and on the 4 way is a radiator constantly on my 600 w light my water heater and my extraction fan I'm thinking that this might cause a fire and am getting worried what should I do if this is bad ? Can I carry on ? What could I do to solve this ??? Thankyou

 

[yuyo]

Re: Plugs/electric/extention leads???

hiya first i am no electrician
when you say 4 way,is this a surge protector?
are the wires themselves pretty heavy gauge?
do you feel extra hot spots in the wiring or near the 4 way?
at the least i can bump your post and get some veterans attention
when in doubt play it safe
take care and good luck

 

[tokersmokeg]

Re: Plugs/electric/extention leads???

typically one would feel to see if the cord was hot good suggestions i run 2 600s on a 10 foot cord with a surge protector with fans and all long cords are killer gennerally the shorter the better

 

[josh223]

Re: Plugs/electric/extention leads???

Is the circuit on a 15 or 20 AMP breaker? 14 or 12 gauge wire? Those are what you need to know.

I'm running on a 20 AMP dedicated circuit with 12 G wire. 2200 watts capable draw with an additional "safety".

I'm not a journeyman electrician but have wired many homes. I'm actually a nuclear and aerospace certified and certifiable welder. Also teach the trade for a living. Not an expert-but far from an idiot and work with 480 volt 3-phase everyday..

If you are halfway handy, and have room for another breaker, it's pretty cheap to run a new circuit. Depending on the length of your home run, you're looking at $50 of materials. To me, that is a small price to pay for mucho piece of mind.

If not feasible, keep all your your extension cords as short as possible. Don't pull the ground plug out. Using circuit breaker power strips is also not a bad idea.

 

[CronicHempHog]

Re: Plugs/electric/extention leads???

yea my grow stuff is on its own breaker
if not you gotta check the breaker and see if its sharing all outlets with the whole house or whatever it may be
check the breaker box itll tell you if your sharing the circuit with other room outlets
better to make one dedicated if you got the space on the box to add

 

[Graytail]

Re: Plugs/electric/extention leads???

I wonder what the wiring in the wall is like. If it's an old house, you should probably start thinking about a way to get power from another circuit. Wiring gets warm when you run a high constant load through it, and some day, some year, some month, it'll be a problem.

If the house is newer, I'd just get me a 15 amp power strip with a ground-fault or breaker on it and run everything through that. At least that'll pop before the wall circuit gets involved.

Best solution is to run another line from the box, of course.

If I'm adding up your power draw correctly, you're using under 1000 watts, which really isn't anything to worry about on a 15 amp circuit. 1200 watts (66%) is when you want to start looking for power somewhere else.

[Edit] Oops, radiator? Radiator isn't a good word in amperage. Do you know how much that draws? Most heaters are over 1000 watts!

 

[josh223]

Re: Plugs/electric/extention leads???

I wonder what the wiring in the wall is like. If it's an old house, you should probably start thinking about a way to get power from another circuit. Wiring gets warm when you run a high constant load through it, and some day, some year, some month, it'll be a problem.

If the house is newer, I'd just get me a 15 amp power strip with a ground-fault or breaker on it and run everything through that. At least that'll pop before the wall circuit gets involved.

Best solution is to run another line from the box, of course.

If I'm adding up your power draw correctly, you're using under 1000 watts, which really isn't anything to worry about on a 15 amp circuit. 1200 watts (66%) is when you want to start looking for power somewhere else.

[Edit] Oops, radiator? Radiator isn't a good word in amperage. Do you know how much that draws? Most heaters are over 1000 watts!

Yeah, that "someday" always nips you where it hurts the worst. A little bit of fore thought is much better, in my opinion, vs. the other route. No one wants to smother in their sleep.

My home was built in the '30's. Digital KWH Meter and all that. I'm pretty anal about the 15 AMP power strips. Never had one trip but the 20 AMP breaker in the panel box would always flip first. I ran a couple dedicated circuits a few days ago. I'm sleeping better.

 

[NotoriousBOB]

Hey I'd be glad to help you if you haven't got it figured out mate.. Licensed journeymen electrician, industrial controls and automation specialist. It just comes down o the rating of the circuit breaker on that circuit and the lowest sized wire your using in line with your load. If your circuit breaker is standard it's 15 or 20a you cannot overload that amount you may also not use wire that has a lower amp rating than your load. When running heaters, chillers large hid lights I always use 12 gauge wiring and I never load it to the maximum allowed there's no need. And when using these high inductive loads I don't use cheap low rate timers or cheap multi tap cords and power strips either. Amperage = watts divided by volts. So a 1200w heater on a 120v circuit = 10amps. Most small/medium heaters are 1500w alone. If you want any help figuring something out let me know mate don't underestimate the dangers of electricity it kills people and burns down houses everyday.. Good luck!