Circuit Question

mrloren
mrloren Posts: 2,465
in The Clubhouse
Hello,

The circuit breaker that my HT is on also has some plugs in the garage. Lately it's been tripping when my son is using his pressure washer. I looked at his pressure washer it 15A-1875W, so if I'm watching something and washed his car = trip.

When my solar was installed the said my house is wired with 12awg wire. I looked it's same wire going to all the breakers 20A kitchen and laundry. Can I pop in a 20a breaker? Or should I just make sure the HT is off when he is washing his car.
When I was a kid my parents told me to turn it down. Now I'm an adult and my kids tell me to turn it down.
Family Room:LG QNED80 75", Onkyo RZ50 Emotiva XPA3 GEN3 Oppo BDP-93,Sony UBP-X800BM. Main: Polk LsiM 705Center: Polk LSiM 704CFront High/Rear High In-Ceiling Polk 80F/X RT Surrounds: Polk S15 Sub: HSU VTF3-MK5
Bed Room; Marantz SR5010, BDP-S270Main: Polk Signature S20Center: Polk Signature S35Rear: Polk R15 Sub: SVS SB2000
Working Warehouse; Yamaha A-S301, Sony DVP-NS3100ES for disc Plok TSX550T SVS PB2000 Mini tower PC with 400GB of music
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Comments

  • txcoastal1
    txcoastal1 Posts: 13,300
    If it's tied into garage...(sounds weird) in any case my garage is also GFI same circuit on front door outlet and my back porch.
    Builders call that normal :#:#

    Anyway are yours the same way...test it

    When I get a heavy rain inward to my front door exterior entry, the breakers trip shutting off my garage and back porch
    2-channel: Modwright KWI-200 Integrated, Dynaudio C1-II Signatures
    Desktop rig: LSi7, Polk 110sub, Dayens Ampino amp, W4S DAC/pre, Sonos, JRiver
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  • daddyjt
    daddyjt Posts: 2,547
    Unless you KNOW, in all certainty, that all wire AND components in that circuit are 12ga/20A, I would not even consider upping that breaker. I can’t help but think there’s a 15A breaker in there for a reason… it’s not worth the risk to change it out, IMHO.
    "Conservative Libertarians love the country, progressive leftists love the government." - Andrew Wilkow


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  • invalid
    invalid Posts: 1,372
    As long as you know for sure you have 12awg wire, you can change the breaker and outlets to 20amp.
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  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,895
    edited July 2022
    daddyjt wrote: »
    Unless you KNOW, in all certainty, that all wire AND components in that circuit are 12ga/20A, I would not even consider upping that breaker. I can’t help but think there’s a 15A breaker in there for a reason… it’s not worth the risk to change it out, IMHO.
    invalid wrote: »
    As long as you know for sure you have 12awg wire, you can change the breaker and outlets to 20amp.

    Taking these two together -- I'm thinking "get an electrician to see if the circuit breaker can be upgraded". :)

    This being said -- I am always suspicious of fricking GFCI breakers, outlets, etc.
    Besides what seem to be nuisance tripping, they can just plain fail. One of our outdoor GFCI outlets did a couple of years ago.

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  • txcoastal1
    txcoastal1 Posts: 13,300
    GFCI do get week. A house I rent in Dallas was always tripping when we took it over
    Told the rental mgr I could replace the breakers and outlets...pffft...no problem

    I charged him electrician rates got it done, no more tripping
    2-channel: Modwright KWI-200 Integrated, Dynaudio C1-II Signatures
    Desktop rig: LSi7, Polk 110sub, Dayens Ampino amp, W4S DAC/pre, Sonos, JRiver
    Gear on standby: Melody 101 tube pre, Unison Research Simply Italy Integrated
    Gone to new homes: (Matt Polk's)Threshold Stasis SA12e monoblocks, Pass XA30.5 amp, Usher MD2 speakers, Dynaudio C4 platinum speakers, Modwright LS100 (voltz), Simaudio 780D DAC

    erat interfectorem cesar et **** dictatorem dicere a
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,647
    mrloren wrote: »
    Hello,

    The circuit breaker that my HT is on also has some plugs in the garage. Lately it's been tripping when my son is using his pressure washer. I looked at his pressure washer it 15A-1875W, so if I'm watching something and washed his car = trip.

    When my solar was installed the said my house is wired with 12awg wire. I looked it's same wire going to all the breakers 20A kitchen and laundry. Can I pop in a 20a breaker? Or should I just make sure the HT is off when he is washing his car.

    A 20 amp line is 2400 watts max. Ideally the load should not exceed 80% of that, so 1920 watts. If the pressure washer is using a full 1875 that line doesn't have much reserve.
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  • mrloren
    mrloren Posts: 2,465
    Yeah my house is weird! Neighbor up the street with the same floor plan is wired the same. My garage has 4 outlets, 3 are on one circuit and 1 is on the same circuit as my family room. When my solar was installed I asked about the strange wiring, they said it was all up to code.

    Told my son when he uses his his pressure washer to plug into the 1st floor bath. It's on the laundry room 20a circuit.

    In the family room the wall the HT is on has 2 outlets tied into the garage, the rest in the room are on a different circuit. just weird.
    When I was a kid my parents told me to turn it down. Now I'm an adult and my kids tell me to turn it down.
    Family Room:LG QNED80 75", Onkyo RZ50 Emotiva XPA3 GEN3 Oppo BDP-93,Sony UBP-X800BM. Main: Polk LsiM 705Center: Polk LSiM 704CFront High/Rear High In-Ceiling Polk 80F/X RT Surrounds: Polk S15 Sub: HSU VTF3-MK5
    Bed Room; Marantz SR5010, BDP-S270Main: Polk Signature S20Center: Polk Signature S35Rear: Polk R15 Sub: SVS SB2000
    Working Warehouse; Yamaha A-S301, Sony DVP-NS3100ES for disc Plok TSX550T SVS PB2000 Mini tower PC with 400GB of music
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  • sucks2beme
    sucks2beme Posts: 5,602
    My panel is in the garage. There's both a 110 and 220 below the panel.
    No issues with running air compressor!
    Last house ran the bathrooms through the gfi in the garage.
    And the gfi was wired wrong, so it did nothing. I ran new pulls up to the bathrooms.
    I ran extra outlets in the garage and put in a new 20a circuit just for the compressor.
    I also added a flood at the front of the garage. I also fixed a bunch of outlets wired
    wrong. I guess the imported labor had a tough time getting it right.
    That was an issue all over the house. I ended up fixing a lot of stuff that wasn't done
    right. The home builder was known to cut corners.
    "The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." --Thomas Jefferson
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