Multiple baseboards, two thermostats (two rooms), one 30 amp circuit breaker
I have a similar question to one on the site (person wiring basement), but I couldn't find an answer. I remodeled an older lake home that had electric baseboard heating in each room with each having their own cb. The wiring was not changed in the older part of the house because it met code as is and no remodeling was done in these rooms. I am now looking at replacing wall thermostats (double pole line voltage) for these rooms and came across a problem with the configuration I have.
What do I do for the following configuration?
In each room there are three (3) 4' - 1,000 watt baseboard heaters connected continuously with wiring going to a thermostat in each room. (specs say that each heater should avg 4.1 amps, we measured mine and each only draws 3.5 amps each for a total of 10.5 amps /room). OK, so far, here comes the confusion for me.
The thermostats are back to back on same wall and it seems that there is a junction box above them where only one wire goes back to the breaker box to a 30 amp cb. The wires from heater to thermos to circuit breaker are all 10/3.
How do I replace the thermostats as they exist as I've been told I can't use the ones on the market which are rated only for a 20 amp cb? (Most tech specs I could find on newer thermostats are rated 22/24 amp max with max load @ 15-16 amps. ) Does anyone make a thermo for a 30 amp CB?
If I tell you that the heaters are over 50 years old and so are the thermos - don't be shocked. They are working fine (copper fins) and were made by the Chromalox Co which now only does industrial/commercial applications;
Therefore, I can't get any replacement thermos from them directly. My reason for replacing them is that I thought with newer tech I would get better efficiency from newer thermos.
Hope I haven't confused anyone with my info and would love to hear any solutions. Thanks.