Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a question; how many watts are you running in your house for your reptiles?Would I need anythin special if I was running 400 watts of electricity in one room to keep anythin from catching fire or is it perfectly safe to run 400 watts in one room?I ask because I want to get another animal but its probably gonna need 100 watt bulb and I am a little paranoid about the amount of electricity I am using( not because of cost or anything like that I just wanted to know if it could start a fire having that many watts runnin)

thanks

thanks

i have several, and by several i mean upwards of a dozen light bulbs running for just my 'tiles alone. most of those bulbs are between 75-150watts. I havent had any problems. Not yet anyway....
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1.0 green iguana-Deitrich
1.1 Common Boa-Un-Named, Ursula
1.0 Ball Python-Anabell (go figure!)
1.0 Red Tegu-Uteg
1.0 Albino Cal King-Pig
0.1 Mexican Black King-Morticia
1.1 Bearded Dragons-Unnamed, Hanabil
1.0 Albino San Diego Gopher-Unnamed
0.1 Hermans tort-Esio
1.1 JCP-Milton, Medusa
1.1 Reverse Okeetee Corn-Unnamed
0.1 Snow Corn-Unnamed
1.0 Hypo Okeetee Corn-Unnamed
0.1 Motley Okeetee-Unnamed
1.0 Western Hoggie-Wyrm
0.0.1 Rose Hair Taruntla-Unnamed
2.0 Leopard Geckos-Reptar, Pogo
4.1 cats-Tucker,Poe,Abhib,Emerald, Felicity
0.1 Bullmastiff-Asha

If you over load a circuit the breaker will just kick off. Take a look at you or your wife's hairdryer... 1600watts.
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"Nothing happens in contradiction to nature, only to what we know of it."

That's not true at all.... I have seen breakers "weld" together the contacts on the inside and were unable to turn themselves off even for maintanence on the circuit. It's not as uncommon as you'd think. Not an everyday occurance but still not uncommon. That's why you shouldn't push the load limit of a circuit. You could end up homeless or worse........

Later,
Robert
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A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds,
adored by little statesmen, philosophers and divines.
Ralph Emerson

What the max load of each circuit is will depend on how much amperage and wattage it can handle within safe limits. As I am far from a electrician my only advice would be to call your hydro company an ask. You can get an electrician to inspect your powerbox and inform you what sort of load you can put on safely. Having an electrician come over will of course cost something, but if you are in an older house it may be worth it in the long run. Old circuit breakers that are fused should be replaced and if they are not visibly noticeable, the only way you can tell would be to have them inspected and tested. If you still have a fuse box, that is something else to check.

If you get all that done, get the papers from the electrician stating everything is to standard and let your insurance company know. They may lower your insurance payments slightly, because you have up to date breakers.

I don't think 400W would be a problem on a single circuit. Most basical appliances use at least that if not more.
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PHLdyPayne

At 120 volts 400 watts would put a load of roughly 3.25 amps....... Since a pareticular circuit is protected by a 20 amp breaker and most wire is rated for 25 amps you should have no problems with that. Unless, however, you are running a bunch of other things on this same circuit. It would still be harf to over load a 20 amp circuit.

If you are in an older house that has say aluminum wiring or an older trailer that only has 15 amp breakers you may want to be a little cautious about running say 3 times what you would be pulling at 400 watts. Aluminum wiring is very well known for overheating andf starting fires so you wnat to be carefull with it.

If you are in a newer place ( post 1980 ) you shouldn't have any problems whatsoever running 400 watts and whatever esle you could stick on that circuit as well. except a microwave..... they should be on their own circuit.

Later,
Robert
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A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds,
adored by little statesmen, philosophers and divines.
Ralph Emerson