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[LadyCrimson]

I have a question:  if your circuit panel has a 2-pole/double circuit breaker and the label on it says "125" (no A, just the number), does it mean 125 amp? And if it's supposed to be amp, how to know/calculate how much wattage anything connected to it might trip it (because of the 2-pole thing)?

Context: I was thinking about power requirements on highend/gaming PC's growing and growing and checked our circuit breaker panel. Supposedly they are all 20 and 40 amp breakers (there are two 15amp connected to the roof circulation fans I think). But the one for garage + bedrooms is on that double-pole. Stuff like dryer/washer/oven blah blah are all on single breakers separate from the double-pole (supposedly). I'd guess "garage" might include the garage door + basic lights and wanting power tools/shop lights a DIY home and auto type would use, with bedrooms on the same breaker for some reason. I don't know for sure tho, just guessing there. Anyway just trying to figure out what the bedrooms circuit capability might be etc.

Edited Friday at 08:56 AM by LadyCrimson

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

6 hours ago, LadyCrimson said:

I have a question:  if your circuit panel has a 2-pole/double circuit breaker and the label on it says "125" (no A, just the number), does it mean 125 amp? And if it's supposed to be amp, how to know/calculate how much wattage anything connected to it might trip it (because of the 2-pole thing)?

It should be 125 amp.

Typically you don't want to go 75-80% over listed amps (so about 94) to avoid tripping a breaker. If you feel comfortable opening up the breaker panel, which in general I do not reccomend, you can use a clamp meter to check the amp draw of the breaker when running all devices it powers. If you don't feel comfortable doing that and have a pretty good idea of everything the breaker operates, you can check the listed amp draw of all devices powered by the breaker and compare that to the PC.

[Sarex]

@PK htiw klaw eriF on the same topic, do you guys (US) use ceramic spiral fuses? If you are familiar with them, how hot would it be too hot for one of them to get, or does it depend on the amperage?

[LadyCrimson]

@PK htiw klaw eriF  Thanks. I spent an hour net searching and as usual now mostly got useless and/or unrelated "how 2 pole breakers work/why people use them" essays (remember when net searching felt more useful?). I think I got more stat info looking at Amazon product pages listing stats on products, haha

Of course like any house you buy into, never know about the accuracy of the panels or the labeling past people have done so more detective work required. Ideally I'd wish for two of our bedrooms to be on separate breakers/circuits - or even more ideally, redo all the electrical/new circuit panel many more wall outlets entirely etc - but that would be an expensive labor/and possibly permit job. I wouldn't be too concerned except I do run that window A/C in summer which is ... a fair amount of wattage. >.>

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

1 hour ago, Sarex said:

@PK htiw klaw eriF on the same topic, do you guys (US) use ceramic spiral fuses? If you are familiar with them, how hot would it be too hot for one of them to get, or does it depend on the amperage?

Not really, at least on relatively new stuff. Circuit breakers have been the norm for as long as I've been working with electricity.

I do see fuses in specific devices but they're glass and frankly design flaws, as a low voltage breaker (we're talking like 5 amps) exist and are more durable. Also you get guys who diy and slap in a 10 amp fuse to replace a 1.5, which ain't good.

1 hour ago, LadyCrimson said:

Thanks. I spent an hour net searching and as usual now mostly got useless and/or unrelated "how 2 pole breakers work/why people use them" essays (remember when net searching felt more useful?). I think I got more stat info looking at Amazon product pages listing stats on products, haha

Pretty much a double pole is there for 230v circuits, ie two hots instead of a hot and a neutral, and often subpanels. If a device allows either 115 or 230, 230 will draw half the amps and use significantly less electricity. But you also run into needing gfci breakers (like 6x the cost and fail quicker) with 230 for some things, whereas a 120 could just use a gfci outlet.

Not sure what yours runs, 125 amps sounds like it'd be used for a sizeable subpanel to me.

1 hour ago, LadyCrimson said:

Of course like any house you buy into, never know about the accuracy of the panels or the labeling past people have done so more detective work required. Ideally I'd wish for two of our bedrooms to be on separate breakers/circuits - or even more ideally, redo all the electrical/new circuit panel many more wall outlets entirely etc - but that would be an expensive labor/and possibly permit job. I wouldn't be too concerned except I do run that window A/C in summer which is ... a fair amount of wattage. >.>

In my experience, you'll never really know what each breaker does without tripping it and seeing what goes off. Half the time it isn't even labeled.

[LadyCrimson]

A little more investigation (and now hubby's awake) makes it appear that the double pole is actually the main breaker, something you'd flip to turn everything off at once? *small brain, lost*

And yeah I plan on checking the breakers one by one and relabel anything that's not accurate but it's difficult to find a time where I can get hubby to power off his workstations in his office room etc. Just want info re: bedrooms. Hubby's stuff isn't too power hungry I think, no beefy rigs. He does run a space heater in winter (I open his door and it's a blast of 82F air, blargh) but it's fine since I don't run the A/C then, we're opposite poles, heh. So it's just heater in winter, A/C in summer, computers, tv's/monitors mostly. We rarely even have the lights on, monitors cast enough light.

[Sarex]

2 hours ago, PK htiw klaw eriF said:

Not really, at least on relatively new stuff. Circuit breakers have been the norm for as long as I've been working with electricity.

I do see fuses in specific devices but they're glass and frankly design flaws, as a low voltage breaker (we're talking like 5 amps) exist and are more durable. Also you get guys who diy and slap in a 10 amp fuse to replace a 1.5, which ain't good.

Figured as much, over here it's mostly in old buildings. Even when you renovate and put automatic breakers and fid switches, what's outside next to the meter are these old style fuses.

Edited Saturday at 01:12 AM by Sarex

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

3 hours ago, Sarex said:

Figured as much, over here it's mostly in old buildings. Even when you renovate and put automatic breakers and fid switches, what's outside next to the meter are these old style fuses.

Yeah, I haven't been involved in renovating anything really old yet, but sometimes getting the power company to deal with their old infrastructure is a challenge.

[Sarex]

5 hours ago, PK htiw klaw eriF said:

Yeah, I haven't been involved in renovating anything really old yet, but sometimes getting the power company to deal with their old infrastructure is a challenge.

The state electric company puts in new digital meters, but these fuses they don't touch. And it's not like they are unsafe per say, it's just that people change them out of convenience. The issue is that they tend to blow pretty often because electricians don't tend to balance out the load over each phase (three phase is the norm here), so people change the control wire, in the fuse that melts, to something thicker themselves and they don't put the sand back in it, which is not that big of a deal but it does make them less safe.

Edited Saturday at 10:21 AM by Sarex