This is getting rather Roo'd

OhSoCheesy and anyone else doing this or considering doing this.

Please be careful!

That 15amp breaker is there to protect the wiring inside the walls of your house.
Replacing a 15amp breaker with a 20amp breaker just means the wires will get much hotter, possibly causing a fire, before the breaker pops to protect you and your home and let you know there is a problem.

The wire size you need will depend on the amp load of all computers/devices being used on a circuit.

<15amps, use #14 or larger wire (maximum 15amp breaker)
<20amps, use #12 or larger wire (maximum 20amp breaker)
<30amps, use #10 or larger wire (maximum 30amp breaker)

If a device only shows wattage, divide that amount by the voltage and increase that amount by 25% for safety.

example: 1300 watts / 110v = 11.8 X 1.25 = 14.77. A 15amp breaker and 15amp wire is required.
example: 1500 watts / 110v = 13.6 X 1.25 = 17.04. A 20amp breaker and 20amp wire is required.

YMMV - I am not a professional electrician, use this advise, or not, at your own risk.
I'm sure there are others here that are, and they would agree that replacing a 15amp with a 20amp breaker is not a smart idea if your wire gauge is not sufficient to carry the amp load.
Think of that wire as a long version of an automobile cigarette lighter or a space heater and you'll be wiser.
 
OhSoCheesy said:
Well I've been waiting for a chunk of money that is 6 months late, but should be here tomorrow. So over the next two weeks I'll be ramping up. I replaced my 15A breaker with a 20A one so I can put more boxen in my office without burning the house down. So heat be damned (its over 100F here in Texas) I'm going to ramp up right in the middle of summer. That'll show those Roo's :D
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nomad8u is correct, NEVER NEVER NEVER CHANGE THE BREAKER TO A BIGGER ONE WITHOUT CHANGING THE WIRE. MAKE DAMN SURE THE WIRE IS 12 GAUGE OR YOU'LL BURN THE HOUSE STILL.

Some builders will oversize the wiring to 12 gauge in all constructions and use 15A breakers so it's ok but this is the minority. The majority is penny pinching and just putting the strict minimum and that mean that most houses with 15A breakers will have 15A wires.

Instead of changing the breaker, try to spread the boxens over a few circuits and use power extensions if necessary.

 
If you do add a breaker and pull wire specifically for folding boxen, pull a 220V circuit. All PSUs can run on it and they are more efficient that way and take smaller wire.

I think I caught the bug because the other day I had a dream about attempting to overclock my cat........Now where is that tube of AS5 I had.
 
flogge said:
If you do add a breaker and pull wire specifically for folding boxen, pull a 220V circuit. All PSUs can run on it and they are more efficient that way and take smaller wire.

I think I caught the bug because the other day I had a dream about attempting to overclock my cat........Now where is that tube of AS5 I had.
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Ask jws2346, he have a lot of experience with cat overclocking using catnip :D

 
nomad8u said:
I think he just keeps the cat around so he can share the catnip.... :D


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:eek: Drat :( my secret is out, the pet store people were wondering why I used so much catnip (I even sprinkle it on my boxen, no discernible effect though (it's also "hell" on the fan filters) :(

I imagine my cat would get better PPD if she didn't sleep so much, clean herself so much (how she gets so dirty is beyond me :confused:), eat so much (only kiddin') and last, but not least, answer the "call of nature" so much (she's wearin' out the cat box :eek:)

The only thing I can say is, if OCAU keeps on advancing on us (Congrats OCAU :D) there's gonna' be a run on toasters around here ;)

Borg them thar' toasters, cats, microwaves, cell phones, anything, the mighty [H]orde needs the pernts :p

Thanks everyone for FOLDIN'

 
Thanks for the info guys!! I haven't added anything yet. I'll have an electrician come make sure of things. My girlfriend wouldn't want the cords going through the house, so I'll need to make sure its right. We had a bad breaker for the garage, which was the stimulus for the project. I had a long orange extension cord running from my bedroom to the garage because my fiber optic internet connection has the battery backup in the garage. She didn't think much of it, so I fixed it.

So any advice on telling what gauge my wire is? Do I have to pull a socket apart (yes, I know to turn the power off :D)?
 
Overtake increased to over 2 years. Keep it up people! :cool:

 
Absolutely! I'm waiting for the stats update and will be updating the numbers in the OP.

Great job everyone! Keep pushing.


 
Edited OP to update stats through 8/4.

We've clawed our way back up to 2.2 years lead as of the last update on 8/4. Good showing for the Team and an awesome job everybody!

Thanks Apollo for bumping this back up and reminding me to do the stats update... :)


Keep Folding ON!


 
2.3 years.


216
 
OhSoCheesy said:
So any advice on telling what gauge my wire is? Do I have to pull a socket apart (yes, I know to turn the power off :D)?
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Well if you can track where the wire goes from the outlet back the breaker box and can actually get a close up look at the wire it'll say the gauge right on it. If I had to guess though if it's a 15amp circuit it'll be 14 gauge if it's 20amp it'll be 12 gauge.
 
Normally, the breaker box will have wires getting out of sides. You can look there but if yours is encastred and covered by drywall, then the only option is to look at a outlet and check (It's a good idea to ask your hardware store for a sample of gauge 12 and 14 wires to give yourself a idea and to compare).

 
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