Do you have weird electrical problems from your PC?

[Rizen]

First off, this is a serious thread, lols.

When I vacuum my house with my main gaming PC running, it sometimes trips the circuit breaker, especially if it's doing anything like actively running a benchmark or a game. I was testing overclocks by looping Metro 2033 benchmarks and decided to clean the house while it was running, and it shut off the breaker to my bedroom.

Has stuff like this happened to anyone else?

What would a legitimate way of fixing this be? Calling an electrician? hah

 

[madhatter340]

A legitamite way of fixing it would be:
a) run thicker wire through the walls, safely allowing a higher amperage breaker on that run
b) use a different run to power your computer/vacuum (most of the time as simple as plugging the vacuum into the plug in another room)

Do NOT just replace the breaker with a higher amperage breaker. It is rated at that current for a reason, given the gauge of the wire running to the outlets.

Alternatively, don't vacuum while benchmarking. Analogous to going to the doctor saying 'My elbow hurts when I bend it this way', and the doctor's response is 'Well, don't bend it that way then'.

 

[Rizen]

A legitamite way of fixing it would be:
a) run thicker wire through the walls, safely allowing a higher amperage breaker on that run
b) use a different run to power your computer/vacuum (most of the time as simple as plugging the vacuum into the plug in another room)

Do NOT just replace the breaker with a higher amperage breaker. It is rated at that current for a reason, given the gauge of the wire running to the outlets.

Alternatively, don't vacuum while benchmarking. Analogous to going to the doctor saying 'My elbow hurts when I bend it this way', and the doctor's response is 'Well, don't bend it that way then'.

Yeah, it's not a problem 99.95% of the time, so I don't typically worry about it. My only concern is that I have a LCD TV and a 7.1 home theater on the other side of the wall and I believe that wall and my bedroom are on the same breaker, so when I eventually install a larger TV I don't want to have any issues. I also have a 2nd i7 PC, why typically sits idly but if that's ever doing any work, I don't want weird issues then either.

 

[BababooeyHTJ]

It's not a big deal. The circuit breaker is just doing it's job. You have a very power hungry rig and a vacuum (especially and older one) can draw quite a bit of juice as well. I wouldn't worry about a tv on the same circuit.

If you really wanted to you could hire an electrician to run a dedicated circuit for your computer.

 

[Tudz]

Its no big deal, you're simply trying to pull too much power through one circuit breaker. If you tried plugging 2 or 3 electric heaters into a power point you'd blow out the fuses or trip the breaker, the wiring in your house isn't designed to cope with that much power.

I dont know what its like at your house, but at my place I have half a dozen fuses in the fuse box. If I can't run 2 things in one part of the house (which is rare) I run an extension cable to an outlet which goes through a different fuse.

 

[Elmy]

Most bathrooms have a 20 amp circuit in most newer homes that were built in the last 20 years. So if you fall in that catagory then plug your vacuum into the bathroom outlet. Most bedrooms are only wired with a 15 amp circuit and only are capable of 1800 watts. That vacuum cleaner is probably pulling around 1000-1200 watts when its running. There should be a UL sticker on the vacuum that tells you how many amps or watts its pulling. If its in amps say 10 times that by 120 ( your voltage ) to get your wattage.

Hope this helps.

 

[Tudz]

Most bathrooms have a 20 amp circuit in most newer homes that were built in the last 20 years. So if you fall in that catagory then plug your vacuum into the bathroom outlet. Most bedrooms are only wired with a 15 amp circuit and only are capable of 1800 watts. That vacuum cleaner is probably pulling around 1000-1200 watts when its running. There should be a UL sticker on the vacuum that tells you how many amps or watts its pulling. If its in amps say 10 times that by 120 ( your voltage ) to get your wattage.

Hope this helps.

Unless you're in a hardcore country like Australia where we use 240 volts and usually a 10 amp breaker.

 

[plugwash]

You should make yourself aware of the limitations of your electrical system. Then you can decide whether to live within those limitations (which may be as simple as plugging things in in different placeS) or upgrade your electrical system.

The first thing to do is to turn off breakers one at a time and go round testing sockets. This way you can build up a map of what sockets are on what breakers. Then given the breaker ratings and the mains voltage where you are you can calculate the power available on each circuit.

Then you would look at the power requirements of the equipment you are using and hence determine a course of action.

 

[xmech]

Can't you just plug the vac in a different circuit? I'd shut the breaker off to the pc and find a live outlet somewhere else in the house and use a 16/3 rated extension cord. Ideally put the pc on dedicated 14/3 wire.

 

[QuothTheRaven]

I've had problems like that when running LAN parties. We've solved the issue by getting a long extension cord to run to power outlets on different circuit breakers and splitting the PCs up.

 

[Dark12]

What you need to do is get separate power lines for each of your gtx580s and plug each one into its own dedicated circuit. It may help if you sneakily run an extension cord from your neighbor's house.

 

[BababooeyHTJ]

What you need to do is get separate power lines for each of your gtx580s and plug each one into its own dedicated circuit. It may help if you sneakily run an extension cord from your neighbor's house.

I loled.