Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a new freezer for rodents and, unfortunately, have to plug it in on the same outlet that my snake room runs off of.

So on that breaker/circut I have:

1) Standard upright fridge/freezer

2) Oil-filled, radiator style heater. So far it's been heating room on only the 600 watt setting and the thermostat is not cycling much at all even though it's cold.

3) Small ceiling fan (this could easily be shut off for the winter.

4) 4' shop light on timer for the snake room.

The room is in my garage but is insulated. Still, if the breaker were to trip early in the night I could have frozen snakes by morning.

There are some additional lights on the same circuit in the garage but they are rarely used.

If I'm asking for trouble with this setup I could move the fridge inside for the winter. Not ideal, but better than a bunch of sick or dead snakes.
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Current snakes:

1.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

3.4 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

2.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

Hey chris heres how to rate a breaker .

standard scale for rating a breaker / fuse
a 15 amp circut breaker or fuse would be only rated at 12 amps by the NEC ( national electric code ) they way that this is figured out is the amperage of thebreaker / fuse is multiplied by 80% the resulting figure is the maximun rated amperage that the breake / fuse can carry.I use to have my NC electrical liscense but it has sincelapsed and personally i havent been upto date in 5 yrs or so on code changes which change like underwear lol .

Now as to the 12 mp rating that is driven my things like maximum surge startup etc things like motors , compressors etc may be rated at say 20 amps butthe running amperage may only be 10 amps what this means isthat when that motor / compressor first starts up fora fraction of or a few seconds its getting its biggest amperage pull then drops to the running amps.Under noraml situations its rare that you would have several maximum loadstart ups all hit at the same time if so this would likely causethe breaker to trip or fuse to blow.I will look back on some things and post how to get your amps on things like wattages there is also a formula to add up watts and multiply by a number but right now i just draw a blank.This would allow you to add up wattages of your heating devices etc and come up with your max ampoerage ratings.
hope this helped you a little and didnt muddy the water lol take care
Alan
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Buisnesses come and go everyday, what keeps you here is how you treated the customer the day before....My Boa Can Kick Your Boas _ss!www.cheapcages.com
Visit the new website while the Jungle gets made over.

There is an easy formula to figure out amperage usage, but I cant remember it either.
It's real simple math!! Ok..time to do some research.

wattage divided by voltage = amperage.

So watts divided by 120 or 115 will give you amperage.
Check your appliance and see the voltage, use that to divide.

Light bulb for instance...

100 watts divided by 120 = total amperage.
In case you were wondering, there is no "divided by" symbol on my keyboard.

Chris...my advice for what it's worth... if your service box is not too far from your herp room. For a lot less than $50 you can run at least one dedicated 20 amp circuit.
Better safe than sorry.15 amp is ok for small appliances, and lights, but when you talk about heaters and such...even ceiling fans, they have a larger startup usage.
especially the heater.
Figure 1500 divided by 120 just for the heater.Most modern heaters today are 1500 watts.
It probably would'nt be too hard to prove my formula for figuring amps is wrong, but that formula is what I came up with after research.

........................a product (can't remember what it's called)that plugged into a outlet and had a adjustable temperature guage and a plug in on the unit.when the temperature falls below your preset degrees it powers the outlet turning on what ever you have plugged in it.in your case you could power the unit from another circuit and have a red light or a bell go on when temps fall too low.have fun!

>>wattage divided by voltage = amperage.

Oh yeah, I remember that formula. I knew it was something easy like that.
>>Chris...my advice for what it's worth... if your service box is not too far from your herp room. For a lot less than $50 you can run at least one dedicated 20 amp circuit.

My herp room is very close, just a few feet away. In fact, everything on that ciruit is within 11 feet or so.

Is the distance important because of the type of wire?

In other words, if the outlets, etc. were a long distance away then it would not be worth a 15 amp circuit?

I'm starting to think it will be easiest if I move the fridge indoors, turn off the ceiling fan (I really don't need it in the winter anyways), and just run the space heater and a couple of lights off the outlet.

I'm shopping for a house so it really does not make sense for me to put too much money into this.
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Current snakes:

1.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

3.4 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

2.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

Chris...stop it now! the distance vs. powerloss thing is another equation...lol
No...I was asking the distance because if it was close enough.
A couple of new receptacles and work boxes, one or two 20 amp breakers, and a 50ft coil of 12ga Romex cable, and there you have it, a couple heavy circuits to handle all your needs.This assuming your board has room to grow.Ohhh...dont forget GFI outlets, if your electricity is close to water.
I wish my room was 11ft away. I went through floor joists,ceilings, around furnace vents.And then there was the sheetrock patching.
I put in 9 outlets on 3, 20amp circuits for around $138.And my box was clear on the other side of the house.I used around 300ft of cable

Sorry been a very hectic day here so havent had much time doing major renovation on one of my websites lol

As to the question you had for voltage drop that wouldnt be a factor unless ur running some HEAVY equipment . of you have room you can install a 20a breaker depending on the panels for about $20 or less, 12/2 romex w ground 50 ft or the cheapiest way it to buy the 250 ft rool sounds like over kill for a simple stretch of 11 ft but trust me the difference in price atleast here is not alot for what ya have left for more projects lol.If you dont have any open breakers spaces you can buy a " piggy back" breaker this is a breaker that would replace a single breaker say like that 15a you have and put one that would have a 15/20 breaker in the same space they cost a little more but worth it if the security bothers ya . for actual device wiring you would be looking at about $10 for a box , device ,wall plate etc so even buying a big roll of wire you should still come in for around $75.00 or so depending on breaker used and have ample wire for other projects ... like the new outside snake building ... lol
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Buisnesses come and go everyday, what keeps you here is how you treated the customer the day before....My Boa Can Kick Your Boas _ss!www.cheapcages.com
Visit the new website while the Jungle gets made over.

Chris if its that close and there is room in the breaker box for more breakers you could cheaply and easily run two dedicated circuits for the fridge and heater.

I would suggest using 20 amp breakers they aren't much more than 15 amp in cost. Romex or BX 12/3 cable, a couple of boxes, recepticles and covers. Kill the main breaker to the box and install the two new breakers and hook up the wires from your cables. Turn main back on but leave the new breakers off. This should take all of about 20 minutes. Run the cables to the new locations and hookup everything to the service boxes then the recepitcles. Plug fridge into one, the heater to the other and leave the 15 amp for the fan and lights. Mark the label on the inside of the breaker box to identify the circuits for future occupants and turn on breakers. You know enough about wiring to handle all of this no problem. $50.00 and an hours time your good to go.

BigT
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Hope this helps.

BigT
There is a difference between ignorance and stupidity. The ignorant can be taught, stupidity is beyond our control.

Which will hopefully be soon. I can't see putting anymore money into a place that I may be leaving by the new year.

Especially when I can turn off the ceiling fan and move the fridge indoors.

Even better, my local petstore is giving me a 25% discount on frozen rodents if I buy a whole pack of any give size. This means I really don't need to order the quantities necesary to warrant the extra freezer space.

It's worth the extra money for now, and I know the circuit can handle my space heater - my main concern for the winter.
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Current snakes:

1.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

3.4 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

2.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

Chris...
How about if we all came over and helped?...lol
Find a new house with lots of outlets.
You cannot have too many outlets!

Bob

Well you're welcome to come over, but I'm living in a rental so I'm not going to make any further modifications. Don't want to push the compromises with the landlords.

Have you made any decisions re. buying vs. building your python cages?
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Current snakes:

1.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

3.4 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

2.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

Yeah I did...for my first cage, seeing as it is getting cold here, and trying to get a cage finish to dry is impossible, and all my other chores leave me no time, I went ahead and ordered a cage from Monster Cages.
The difference in price between their cage, and my plans was'nt all that much.
The price of the RHP killed me as well ( $190 )
Come spring, I'll try again.
Maybe a cage for my beardeds. I'll start small.

The formula to convert watts, volts or amps is: Amps x volts = watts. So a 15 amp circuit x 120 volts = 1800 watts. The NEC (National Electric Code) states that you can not exceed 80% of a branch circuit rating to allow for the start up of motors or other devices with higher initial loads. It also prevents the wiring from overheating, which can happen if loads exceed 80% continually. You can look on the refrigerator to get the maximum watt or amp rating and use the above formula to convert it as necessary. Your heater is 600 watts, the fluorescent lights are probably about 40 watts and the ceiling fan is maybe in the 100 watt range. Any other lights can be determined by what wattage bulb and how many. Add everyting up and see if you are within the 80% calculation (1440 watts). If you are, no problems, if not, you will have to change something.

Bob @ Pro Products
Pro Products