I have a 15A breaker that trips whenever the small space heater and the iron are used at the same time (not in the same outlet, just the same circuit). Is the solution as easy as upgrading to a 20A breaker? Thanks for any info.
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How many watts are these appliances rated for?– ThreePhaseEelCommented Jan 5, 2021 at 2:28
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3I can't vote to close bc this is a valid question that the OP asked, The answer is obviously a firm NO! but it does educate others here.– George AndersonCommented Jan 5, 2021 at 3:15
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1In general, devices whose primary purpose is heating (such as space heaters and irons) use a HUGE amount of power. You will never ever be able to run two of them on a normal circuit together, and you often can't run one with much of anything else.– Glenn WillenCommented Jan 5, 2021 at 3:24
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1Almost any heating appliance is rated at 1500 watts. That's 12.5 amps. That means you can't use two of them on a 15A circuit... nor a 20A circuit either. So that wouldn't help and would hurt.– Harper - Reinstate MonicaCommented Jan 5, 2021 at 5:26
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2 Answers
Space heaters in the US are typically designed to use the full amount available on a standard 15A circuit. That is 120V x 15A x 0.8 = 1,440W. Or thereabouts. Might call it 1,500W if based on 125V. But no matter how fancy or "efficient" or "comfortable" or "environmental" or "safe" or "ceramic" or "oil filled" or whatever the word of the day is, a standard electric space heater in the US uses that amount of power because everyone wants to get as much heat as they can and that is the maximum allowed on a 15A circuit.
Guess what? When you are running one of those heaters, it is using all that is available on that circuit. Actually, 80% of what is available, because the space heater might be running a while and those are the rules. So that leaves 20% - less than 400W for everything else on that circuit. Lights don't take much. A big desktop computer could. A laser printer could. An iron, which is also designed to generate heat also could. I looked up a few name-brand irons on Amazon - 1,200W, 1,400W, even 1,500W. That is a lot more than 400W. Guaranteed breaker trip.
In fact, while 20A might be enough in some cases - e.g., that space heater plus some lights and a laptop - a space heater plus an iron is pretty much guaranteed to trip a 20A circuit too.
You don't need a 20A circuit, you need an additional circuit. Or look around, you may well have additional circuits available. Often the receptacles in a room will alternate between two circuits. Laundry room, bathrooms, kitchens all normally have (code normally requires now, but has not always required) dedicated circuits.
Back to the original question, you can't just swap the breaker. A 15A breaker will normally be wired up with 14 AWG wire. For a 20A circuit you need 12 AWG wire. You can use 12 AWG wire on a 15A circuit, but most of the time you won't see that (because it costs more) and if you do, you need to make sure the entire circuit uses 12 AWG wire before you can switch it to 20A. Which is unlikely.
answered Jan 5, 2021 at 2:37
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No!
Circuit breakers aren’t chosen arbitrarily, or for fun. They are chosen so you don’t overload the wiring and devices (switches, receptacles, etc) in the circuit. If you swap in a larger breaker you seriously risk setting your wiring on fire and burning down your house.
Specifically, all - all! - the wire in a circuit would have to be 12 Ga and all the devices would have to be rated for 20A to make that swap. Any 14 Ga wire at all, and you can’t.
The correct action is to move loads to a different circuit (either existing or new) so you don’t overload it.
