Your Resident Electrician for all your electrical questions!

[alton]

You will be fine

 

[BoneDoc]

I was thinking of using an H track and wire the power into the h track. Would that be possible?

What do you guys think?

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

I just received a pump with this unusual looking plug. Google suggests it's possibly typical for China. Safe to use in USA?

 

[Beau_B]

Unusual in what sense? It's non-polarized and ungrounded; not an issue. Am I missing something?

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

Unusual in what sense? It's non-polarized and ungrounded; not an issue. Am I missing something?

I just don't think I've ever seen one that didn't have holes in the blades.

 

[arvind]

I would like to get this one to go behind my fishtank:

Thin Socket Cover

Then connect my Apex powerbar, two other extension cords. Basically connect all equipment running in my tank to this one outlet. Is this alright? Drawing that much power from a single outlet?

 

[Discotu]

Im in the process of setting up a new tank and wanted to add a dedicated circuit for the tank. Luckily the location of the tank will be near the service box and i have room to add additional breakers. Question is would it be better to have a single 20a or two 15a circuits?

 

[Discotu]

some additional info:
200g tank
Will be running DC pumps (skimmer & return)
Apex controlled
Chiller during summer months (1/3 HP)
2X 250w heaters
LED lights exclusively

 

[KStatefan]

Im in the process of setting up a new tank and wanted to add a dedicated circuit for the tank. Luckily the location of the tank will be near the service box and i have room to add additional breakers. Question is would it be better to have a single 20a or two 15a circuits?

I would prefer to have two separate circuits. If you are running new circuits just run two 20 amp.

 

[Discotu]

I would prefer to have two separate circuits. If you are running new circuits just run two 20 amp.

i was thinking about two circuits so i could add a second EB32 in the future...curious, if the main circuit tripped and the apex controller shuts off....will the second EB fallback and continue to power whatever is plugged into it?

 

[KStatefan]

i was thinking about two circuits so i could add a second EB32 in the future...curious, if the main circuit tripped and the apex controller shuts off....will the second EB fallback and continue to power whatever is plugged into it?

That would depend on how it was set up.

 

[Sleepydoc]

Im in the process of setting up a new tank and wanted to add a dedicated circuit for the tank. Luckily the location of the tank will be near the service box and i have room to add additional breakers. Question is would it be better to have a single 20a or two 15a circuits?

I would definitely add 2 separate circuits - that lets you separate critical equipment on different circuits so if one trips it doesn't cut power for the entire tank.

Why not 2-20A circuits instead of 15A? The work to run the wire is the same, the difference in materials cost is minimal and then you don't have to worry (as much) about overloading one of them.

i was thinking about two circuits so i could add a second EB32 in the future...curious, if the main circuit tripped and the apex controller shuts off....will the second EB fallback and continue to power whatever is plugged into it?

You don't necessarily need two circuits for two EB832s, you're just limited to the circuit capacity for your total load.

If the EB832 has power it will revert to fallback mode. If it's plugged into the same circuit then won't.

 

[Discotu]

Why not 2-20A circuits instead of 15A? The work to run the wire is the same, the difference in materials cost is minimal and then you don't have to worry (as much) about overloading one of

Good point, I think I was just being careful not to exceed the theoretical limit of my 200a service line. In practice though, I don't think I'd come close to using the 2x 20a limit of the dedicated tank circuit.

You don't necessarily need two circuits for two EB832s, you're just limited to the circuit capacity for your total load.

If the EB832 has power it will revert to fallback mode. If it's plugged into the same circuit then won't.

My logic of having two EB32s on separate circuits was for back up only in case one circuit tripped...not necessarily because of load. Regardless, I'll plan for two for flexibility. Thanks for all the advice!

 

[alton]

Im in the process of setting up a new tank and wanted to add a dedicated circuit for the tank. Luckily the location of the tank will be near the service box and i have room to add additional breakers. Question is would it be better to have a single 20a or two 15a circuits?

Check with a licensed electrical contractor. Too many rules to assume you can just add a breaker or two. One is if your service panel does not have a main control breaker, you are limited to the six handle rule.

 

[Paul B]

I think I was just being careful not to exceed the theoretical limit of my 200a service line.

Trust me, if you were exceeding your limit of 200 amps in a house you would know it because the electric bill would be enormous.

Most houses use maybe 15 or 20 amps at a time unless your heaters, electric stove, electric heat, toaster and ACs are kicking in.

 

[Beau_B]

Check with a licensed electrical contractor. Too many rules to assume you can just add a breaker or two. One is if your service panel does not have a main control breaker, you are limited to the six handle rule.

This is one of those regional things. I’ve heard about the way service entrances are done in the south with lugged panels. I’m east coast and we do main breaker for almost everything. Now we have to do meter disconnects on all new services ($). The six handle rule is hardly ever a consideration for single family residential ‘round here. My home has a 100A 32 panel, full.

 

[arvind]

I would like to get this one to go behind my fishtank:

Thin Socket Cover

Then connect my Apex powerbar, two other extension cords. Basically connect all equipment running in my tank to this one outlet. Is this alright? Drawing that much power from a single outlet?

Bump. Can someone help me? This is to support a 130g plus tank Red Sea Reefer. I did a rough math and it came to about 750watts in total. Can all equipment be plugged into a single outlet ?

 

[Sleepydoc]

Bump. Can someone help me? This is to support a 130g plus tank Red Sea Reefer. I did a rough math and it came to about 750watts in total. Can all equipment be plugged into a single outlet ?

From the description it can handle 13 amps or about 1600 watts so it should be fine. Honestly, I’d just get one of these - cheaper, you can probably find one at your local hardware store and it doesn’t block the other outlet. They also make flat-plug extension cords.

 

[Beau_B]

I would struggle to recommend daisy chaining other extension cords onto it. The length and wire gauge become of some concern.

 

[arvind]

From the description it can handle 13 amps or about 1600 watts so it should be fine. Honestly, I’d just get one of these - cheaper, you can probably find one at your local hardware store and it doesn’t block the other outlet. They also make flat-plug extension cords.

Gotcha, thanks for the tip!