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michaelfram · Jan 5, 2010, 06:45 AM

Hi,
I've just moved into a redone house and am now noticing a lot of issues. There are two electric baseboard heaters only one of which is wired to a 20 amp breaker. Both heaters are toast. I just bought 2 new heaters, one being an 8 foot 240 volt 8.3 amp baseboard, the other being a wall mounted forced air heater 240 volt 12.5 amp. The wattage of both combined is 5000 watts. My problem is there is only enough room in my breaker box for 1 double pole breaker and my main breaker is only 100 amps. I have little to no electrical know-how, so how do wire and install these two heaters with out tripping my main?

Any help would greatly appreciated. Thank You.

ballengerb1 · Jan 5, 2010, 08:33 AM

Your main will not be tripping but your 20 amp breaker will. You need a smaller heater or run a new circuit for the second heater.

michaelfram · Jan 5, 2010, 09:01 AM

So even if I up the my breaker to a 30 amp double pole it still won't be enough to power all 5000 watts? I was under the impresion that 30 amps x 240 volts = 7200 watts... and me needing only 5000 watts that would work... is that wrong?

ballengerb1 · Jan 5, 2010, 09:07 AM

What size wire do you have attached to that 20 amp breaker?

michaelfram · Jan 5, 2010, 09:10 AM

Well the dumbass who wired it the first time ran 14/2, but I got 12/2 to rerun with... I also picked up 10/2 just in case because I wasn't sure..

ballengerb1 · Jan 5, 2010, 09:12 AM

This might be something you want to save. Wire sizes, gauges, for breakers

michaelfram · Jan 5, 2010, 09:19 AM

Well by looking at that (thank you by the way) I'm thinking if I up it to a 30 amp breaker then I definitely need to run with the 10/2 wire. And since the added amperage of both heaters is 20.8 amps that means a 30 amp breaker. My other concern is that the one circuit won't be able to carry the whole load but I don't have any more room for more circuits in the panel. Should the 30 amp breaker with the 10/2 wire be good?

ballengerb1 · Jan 5, 2010, 09:45 AM

"My other concern is that the one circuit won't be able to carry the whole load " it will carry the load if you have a 30 amp breaker and #10 wire. Were you thinking of something else?

michaelfram · Jan 5, 2010, 10:00 AM

No no just me not knowing much I wasn't sure if that was the correct way of going about it. But I will go with the 30 amp and #10 wire, thank you for your assistance I really do appreciate it.

ballengerb1 · Jan 5, 2010, 10:25 AM

You may want to wait for Tkrussell to look at this later today, he may have better suggestions or send him a PM