Power Issues

[lelliott731]

Ok, I've seen numerous threads around here about power issues, etc. And I'm tired of searching through them all to figure out how to solve my problem.

So here is the entire story about my dwelling and the issues I'm having.

I live in a multi-unit, multi-level, condominium structure. We live on the bottom floor with one side facing across a little grass area to another condominium structure and the other side looking out at our parking lot. We live in Maryland, so we tend to get really hot & humid summers & not very cold and snowy winters, more like miserable cold rain.

Our main issue of circuits tripping is in our living room. Here are the things that are plugged into the living room:
1) 42" Plasma TV
2) Apple TV
3) Mac Mini (Running F@H 24/7)
4) Playstation 3 (Running F@H 24/7)
5) TiVo 2
6) Ion Air Filtration Unit
7) Monster Surge Protector/Power Cleaner for TV, etc
8) MicroATX Case/Motherboard with Q6600 (Standard Clock), 8800GTS 512MB 678/1496/972. Running 2 SMP & GPU2 Clients 24/7
9) MicroATX Case/Motherboard with Opteron 185 (Standard Clock), 8800GTS 512MB 678/1496/972, Running SMP & GPU2 Clients 24/7
10) Dell 530s with E8500 (Standard Clock), 8600GT (Standard Clock) Running SMP & GPU2 Clients 24/7

Anyway, I am having lots of problems with power. Even though I'm in a condominium, can I have an electrician come out to install a bigger breaker/fuse/circuit for the room that keeps flipping? And can they also install a bigger one for the office which is going to become the place that houses ALL of the computer equipment that I was going to order with my brother's inheritance, but now I'm afraid to because of the power issues.

In a condominium, do I have that ability? Or do most "Associations" forbid you from upgrading the electricity in your unit? If I’m already maxed out on the cable that runs into my unit, would the electric company run a new line to where I’m at considering I’m the one that is going to be paying the higher bill for a few years?

Can you just upgrade the circuit? Or would we need to upgrade the wiring to the different jacks as well?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Sunin]

Having this same issue... my solution was to run 4 12gauge 15amp 50 foot extension cords into my data center.

I now have enough power for:

12 Quads
17 GPU Clients
and 1 A/C for transitions from summer to winter and spring to summer!

You can't just upgrade... wiring is generally different. What they can do is generally rewire wire it with wiring rated at the amperage you need probably 20-30amps and then put in a circuit break of that size as well. Cost will be fairly big, guessing 500 plus.


My suggestion is that you go to Ace or some hardware store and get a Power Circuit Detector. I got mine for 45 bucks and it help me identify each outlet and where it ran to my circuit breaker box and thus I knew what the max wattage was. I generally like to stay about 400w under the max, so for a 15amp circuit its 1875 watts and I won't go above 1400, on a 20 amp your talking 2500 watts and I won't go above 2000 watts there...

Hope some of that helps.

 

[Xilikon]

To answer the question of your association, you are technically the owner of the private areas within the layer of paint. The layer behind the paint is not owned privately but owned in common (it's part of the building) so for any changes, you need to run with the association to get the permission. Depending on the charter you have, you may not have a problem but some will have problems. First check the charter and ask the association about your project then go from there.

You are like a clone of me... I own a condo, bottom unit and my breaker tripping problem is also the living room with this list :

1) 42" Plasma TV
2) Playstation 3
3) Scientific Atlanta Explorer 2200
4) My main PC + Dell 2007WFP monitor + all-in-one HP printer
5) Foot lamp (5 25w lightbulbs for a total of 125w) + 60w table lamp.
6) Q6600 File server
7) Q6600 HTPC with 8800GTS
8) 2 switches, modem and wifi access point
9) HP T7200 laptop

If I try to plug the vaccuum cleaner in one of the living room outlets, it trip for sure so I'm forced to plug on the countertop outlet or bathroom outlet depending how far I can go. That's why I ended up moving a boxen in my bedroom to offload the power and reduce the heat generation. I will also move another box in the laundry room (dedicated circuit as long as I don't use the cloth iron ).

 

[lelliott731]

Yeah, I think if I don't have an electrician come out to do some stuff before I get the stuff from my brother's inheritance, I'm going to have to set up each of the 2 or 4 boxen in separate rooms. My wife is really warming up to this whole Folding@Home idea, so I think it might be possible. But first I'm going to do what Sunin said and map out what circuits have what AMP's & Wattage, then go from there.

 

[SmokeRngs]

Damn, I live in an older and crappy apartment and I think I have more power being sucked down than either of you. The only thing you have on me is the 42" TV which I don't have a TV that I use. Otherwise, I have the following in my living room:

Q6600@3.6 & 8800GT overclocked.
Q6600@3.6
Q6600@3.51
X2 4000+@3.0Ghz
A couple P3s at stock and and XP-m 2400+@2.4Ghz.
Cable modem, 4 port router and 8 port switch.
Network laser printer.
24" LCD, 19" CRT, 2 17" CRTs
Assorted keyboards, mice and trackballs.
5.1 and 4.1 speakers.
Yamaha receiver.
Floor lamp with 2 75w bulbs.
Some other assorted electronic gear too tedious (and I'm too lazy) to list.

I can have all of that on and still haven't tripped a breaker yet. I still don't know how the hell I've done it, but I have. The only thing I can think of is that there are two circuits going to this room. However, I don't feel like messing with the breakers to find out for sure.

 

[tkam]

lelliott731, plasma TV's use quite a bit of power, for 42" depending on brand and model it could be using anywhere from 230W to 300W when it's running and if the ps3 is one of the original models it's also using roughly 300W when running f@h. So if thats a 15 amp circuit your already using a pretty good chunk of it with just those two devices.

As to getting additional circuits added, you should really talk to the condo administration people and see what they say before you do anything on your own.

 

[Xilikon]

tkam, a PS3 don't take more than 210W with the old generation and 130W with the newer ones.

 

[nomad8u]

My wife is really warming up to this whole Folding@Home idea, so I think it might be possible.

Cool! Now get her signed up and we'll have 3 FF's on the team and you'll have the opportunity to help her ramp as well...

Family folding FTW!