electric fireplaces ratings image
barnessand
I have a 40in. tv plugged into an outlet and in the bottom plug i have a power bar that has a 1500watt electric fireplace plugged in, 5 houses from my xmas village (they only have a small bulb in them), and one small set of mini xmas lights. I have to leave them all off because if I turn them on my power in my living room, dining room and porch area goes. The breaker keeps tripping. I tried switching things around to see if that works but the same thing. If I leave my fireplace off its fine then so I know its the 1500 watt electric fireplace but I didn't think that should happen so I'm hoping someone can tell me why it is happening..thanks
Answer
Amperage is determined by dividing the voltage by the wattage being used so, 1500 watts divided by 120 is 12.5 amps being drawn by the fireplace alone. Since you living room, dining room & porch all seem to be on the same breaker, you are overloading it. Look at wattage ratings of all devices ie: light bulbs, heater, tv etc. add them all up & divide by 120 (the voltage). This will tell you how many amps the entire circuit is drawing. I will just about guarantee that its more than the breaker rating. Also the more times you trip a breaker the weaker it gets so, you'll end up replacing it after awhile.
Amperage is determined by dividing the voltage by the wattage being used so, 1500 watts divided by 120 is 12.5 amps being drawn by the fireplace alone. Since you living room, dining room & porch all seem to be on the same breaker, you are overloading it. Look at wattage ratings of all devices ie: light bulbs, heater, tv etc. add them all up & divide by 120 (the voltage). This will tell you how many amps the entire circuit is drawing. I will just about guarantee that its more than the breaker rating. Also the more times you trip a breaker the weaker it gets so, you'll end up replacing it after awhile.
Space heater vs. apartment heater?
peaceloveb
I'm trying to save energy. I have weatherized the windows and my one bedroom apartment has gas Fasco baseboard heaters, one 6ft and one is 4ft. I purchased a small electric "fireplace" for $70. It has a 650w option and a 1300 w option. Would I be saving money by not using the apartment heaters and just using my heater? Thanks!
Answer
What you need to evaluate is energy available from the two sources, and the efficiency rating of the appliance.
I don't know the efficiency of a gas baseboard, never seen one, unless you are talking about hot water filled fed by a gas boiler. I tried to search for it to determine efficiency rating and failed. Combustion appliances have ratings of 65% to 95%. I used 80% as the average for comparison given below.
Electric resistive heat sources are all rated at 98% efficiency, exchanging one resistive heat source for another will have no cost saving, Watts are watts, a watt = 3.4 btu's. A lower setting would save money, but just by giving you less heat.
Resistive Electric heat generally cost about 3 times the cost per btu than natural gas, so to break even you would have to heat only 1/3 of the space, without any of the heat leaking from that space and heating adjacent areas. So you may need to heat less than 1/4 of the space to break even.
Here is a spreadsheet I used from The Department of Energy that shows average US energy costs and efficiencies of different types and resultant net cost per btu. To modify it for your specific fuel costs you may need to save it then reopen it.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CB8QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.eia.gov%2Fneic%2Fexperts%2Fheatcalc.xls&ei=ypeMUOPiBea8igKY5ICICQ&usg=AFQjCNEI3O4-27x7XDhiFFJKOpjvhEZHsA&cad=rja
What you need to evaluate is energy available from the two sources, and the efficiency rating of the appliance.
I don't know the efficiency of a gas baseboard, never seen one, unless you are talking about hot water filled fed by a gas boiler. I tried to search for it to determine efficiency rating and failed. Combustion appliances have ratings of 65% to 95%. I used 80% as the average for comparison given below.
Electric resistive heat sources are all rated at 98% efficiency, exchanging one resistive heat source for another will have no cost saving, Watts are watts, a watt = 3.4 btu's. A lower setting would save money, but just by giving you less heat.
Resistive Electric heat generally cost about 3 times the cost per btu than natural gas, so to break even you would have to heat only 1/3 of the space, without any of the heat leaking from that space and heating adjacent areas. So you may need to heat less than 1/4 of the space to break even.
Here is a spreadsheet I used from The Department of Energy that shows average US energy costs and efficiencies of different types and resultant net cost per btu. To modify it for your specific fuel costs you may need to save it then reopen it.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CB8QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.eia.gov%2Fneic%2Fexperts%2Fheatcalc.xls&ei=ypeMUOPiBea8igKY5ICICQ&usg=AFQjCNEI3O4-27x7XDhiFFJKOpjvhEZHsA&cad=rja
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Title Post: What could be the problem with my breaker tripping out?
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Rating: 100% based on 99998 ratings. 5 user reviews.
Author: Unknown
Thank FOr Coming TO My Blog
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