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[Turbo's Aquatics]

I’ve done the math, at full capacity of all equipment, I’m below 1,440 watts. I believe 80% capacity is what is recommend on a 15amp...

This might depend on the breaker. Most think it's a hard line, but that's not necessarily true. If you want to nerd out about it, look at the thermal magnetic curve for the breaker.

60% is a better rule of thumb. At least, that's what I use for commercial construction design.

My only other guess would be that it’s colder now then it was 3months ago and my heaters are working harder.

Watts are watts. Most heaters are off or 100% on. They might run longer, and that might cause extra heating of the breaker if it's loaded up to 80%, which could cause the tripping.

 

[Paul B]

Remember that now most parts of everything or the item itself is made in China and those numbers could be off by 100%. The heating element in your heater and the heating element in your breaker is not exactly what it is supposed to be. Switch the breaker in your panel with another one and see if that fixes it. I have seen breakers trip on 7 amps or not trip until you ark weld the panel to an Oldsmobile.

At my job as an electrician we routinely short out the circuit to find the breaker and some of them would literally melt the wire and start a fire before way before they would trip.

 

[siggy]

+4 on breaker swap, their cheap and who knows what the guy before you had on it.

 

[link81]

is it a regular breaker or a gfi breaker?
could be tripping on ground fault, not current if its a gfi one.

 

[bmbpka]

is it a regular breaker or a gfi breaker?
could be tripping on ground fault, not current if its a gfi one.

Regular I believe

 

[link81]

Regular I believe

gfi breaker will have a test button on it. (like a gfi outlet)
not sure if I've ever seen one with out a test button.
I've also seen breakers go bad and trip at a much lower current then rated, (and higher for that matter)
Have also seen them trip because of a loose wire in the circuit.
Is the tank on its own circuit? or is it shared with other things in the house?

 

[bmbpka]

gfi breaker will have a test button on it. (like a gfi outlet)
not sure if I've ever seen one with out a test button.
I've also seen breakers go bad and trip at a much lower current then rated, (and higher for that matter)
Have also seen them trip because of a loose wire in the circuit.
Is the tank on its own circuit? or is it shared with other things in the house?

ya it’s a regular.

it’s shared but I included all of the other stuff on the circuit in my calculation as well. It’s really odd there are so many receptacles on this one 15amp circuit. Entire living room, entire garage, and both exterior house lights. Seems like a lot!

 

[link81]

older house?
not terribly uncommon unfortunately. makes things a pain.
how often does it trip?
try running a lead cord from another circuit to the tank temporarily. It might not even be the tank that 's tripping it.

the picture was from a loose connection at an outlet that was tripping the breaker, even though there was very little load on it.

 

[Ling_Thing]

As a licensed electrician myself, I love when people call me to replace a breaker because they think it’s faulty because it’s tripping. It’s tripping because it’s doing it’s job 99% of the time. It’s very very rare I find a “bad” breaker that trips intermittently. Have you put a fluke or amp probe on the wire coming right out of the breaker to get a true amp
Reading? Any other wires tagged on to the breaker in the panel?

 

[bmbpka]

older house?
not terribly uncommon unfortunately. makes things a pain.
how often does it trip?
try running a lead cord from another circuit to the tank temporarily. It might not even be the tank that 's tripping it.

the picture was from a loose connection at an outlet that was tripping the breaker, even though there was very little load on it.

1971, old but not that old.

it was tripping nightly around 3-5am for about a week. Then I took my exterior Xmas lights off it and it was good for a few days. Then it tripped in the middle of the day yesterday. Commons factor it’s been very cold the days it’s tripped. That why I was leaning toward a faulty heater.

 

[bmbpka]

As a licensed electrician myself, I love when people call me to replace a breaker because they think it’s faulty because it’s tripping. It’s tripping because it’s doing it’s job 99% of the time. It’s very very rare I find a “bad” breaker that trips intermittently. Have you put a fluke or amp probe on the wire coming right out of the breaker to get a true amp
Reading? Any other wires tagged on to the breaker in the panel?

I haven’t. Nothing is tagged. I had to go through the whole box the other day to figure what was what. Why don’t people tag and label these things?!

 

[Backreefing]

If you have an empty slot in your breaker box , just simply add a new breaker , pop out the blank in the box and run a home run to to aquarium ( new supply wire ) . The wire is we’re most of the work is .

 

[bmbpka]

If you have an empty slot in your breaker box , just simply add a new breaker , pop out the blank in the box and run a home run to to aquarium ( new supply wire ) . The wire is we’re most of the work is .

I do and I have thought about it. The plug for the tank is near by so it should be easy.

 

[Paul B]

You don't have any aluminum wire in your house do you?

 

[bmbpka]

You don't have any aluminum wire in your house do you?

i don’t have any clue on that one.

 

[Turbo's Aquatics]

You don't have any aluminum wire in your house do you?

That was my first thought when he said 1971.

FYI @bmbpka the reason he is asking that is that there was a time when copper was expensive and aluminum wiring was used in almost all construction in the 1970s. Aluminum expands and contracts more than copper so that led to connections loosening over time, which led to many issues.

Whenever I come across a retrofit project for a building in the 1970s, we have to address this. Usually it's easier (on commercial construction) to rip out all the wiring. The other option is pigtails to copper which mitigates the issue at the point of use (receptacle/switch). If you have aluminum wiring you would know by removing a receptacle or switch and just looking at the wire on the connections. Silver colored conductors are aluminum.

 

[bmbpka]

That was my first thought when he said 1971.

FYI @bmbpka the reason he is asking that is that there was a time when copper was expensive and aluminum wiring was used in almost all construction in the 1970s. Aluminum expands and contracts more than copper so that led to connections loosening over time, which led to many issues.

Whenever I come across a retrofit project for a building in the 1970s, we have to address this. Usually it's easier (on commercial construction) to rip out all the wiring. The other option is pigtails to copper which mitigates the issue at the point of use (receptacle/switch). If you have aluminum wiring you would know by removing a receptacle or switch and just looking at the wire on the connections. Silver colored conductors are aluminum.

Good to know, never heard that!

i have switched out a few switches around the house, never noticed silver wiring. Only copper on the ones of switched

 

[Backreefing]

If you see copper you’re good .
my house is 100 years old and had knob and tube . And latt and mortar walls to . I ripped all of it out and replaced it.
but just do a home run to the aquarium.while your at it installe a double outlet and a switch. That way you can have one outlet constant and one switched. You can plug certain equipment in the switches side like pumps ect . Could make cleaning easyer.

 

[dustinc]

Attached is the wiring diagram for my Red Sea Max 250 (this version has 2 transformers, and mine only has 1 transformer) and I would like to wire 1 of the ballasts (probably the middle 2 bulbs) on a separate power supply to have a dusk/dawn effect. Can you help here? Thank you.

 

[Paul B]

Last night we came home from dinner and my Christmas lights were out. I didn't think much about it and figured the timer from Home Depot (China) croaked, melted, blew up, went on fire, was stolen etc.

I checked the timer and it seemed fine. Then I plugged the lights straight into the outlet and still nothing.

This is a newly built house that I didn't build but I noticed the outlet was a GFI (or as you people like to call them GFCIs. In the trade they are just GFIs)

Anyway, I pushed the button to re set it and it still didn't go on.
Now I have been a Master Electrician for fifty years so I know I can figure this out. But first I want something in the refrigerator.

I open the door and the refrigerator is dark. I assume it is dark when I shut the door but it isn't supposed to be dark now. It wasn't that cold either.

I went to High School and everything so I deduced that the outdoor outlet and refrigerator were on the same circuit. It's not really supposed to be, but it isn't illegal. Just stupid.

I go to the circuit breaker panel and see that one breaker is tripped. It is also a GFI breaker, which is also stupid. There is no reason to put a GFI breaker on a circuit with a GFI receptible.

I have been retired quite a while and it may be a new code. If it is, it is stupid and I will tell the guy who wrote that code as soon as I find him. A GFI receptible is very sensitive and if you put that on a circuit with a GFI breaker and then have it on the same circuit as your refrigerator "And" an outdoor outlet in the rain where you will plug in Christmas lights. You are at some time going to come home with no lights on and a dark, warm refrigerator.

Today I will remove that GFI receptible and GFI breaker. Carefully walk over to the dumpster, and throw them both in. Then I will replace both with normal devices.

I hate GFIs unless they are needed like for a fish tank, bathroom or near a sink.

So far I removed about 6 GFI breakers from my panel as I hate stupidity, even if it is a code.
So I guess I could call myself a "Code Breaker"