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Need to run an CFGI outlet, need help.

V

volk23

Guys, I need to install another outlet(CFGI) in the living room, im not an electrician, but i can follow instructions pretty well. Can someone tell me what kind of wire and circuit I need to buy? Im only going to run the following:

100w of T5
4 power heads
2 heaters
10w PC for plenuim
top off

so i think 20amp should be fine for this?
 
Phyl

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
No, wire is either 14 or 12 guage. I'M NO ELECTRICIAN, but I'm pretty sure you want 12g wire for a 20amp breaker.
 
J

jazzsam

Treadingwater said:
Yes, you need 12 guage wire for a 20 amp circut. What you need to look for is 12/2 wire.
Click to expand...

To be more specific i would think you want 12/2 WITH ground. You can buy with with or without but you want WITH.
 
B

billyr98

if you install 20 amp breaker then 12 wire and 14 wire for 15 amp..

also u need a gfci never heard of cfgi.. any questions pm me.. I do it for a living
 
V

volk23

got it, gfci. No wonder i couldn't find anything in the search :)

so all i need is a breaker, wire and the outlet, thats it?
 
S

Subliminal

NJRC Member
I believe amps are watts times volts.

You have maybe ~600 watts there. Divide that by 110 (standard AC power in the house), and you really need ~5 amps total. Maybe some more for overhead.

I work with mainly 12v, though, so could be off on something there. Either way, you'll have plenty of protection for that particular outlet (overhead?).
 
mfisher2112

mfisher2112

Hey Volk, I'm no expert either, but from what I understand (and was told when I did mine) you need EITHER the GFCI breaker OR the GFCI outlet, not both.

I installed the outlets, not the breaker. It was cheaper, and everything I was told said it would do the same thing as the breaker, but at the outlet side as opposed to the breaker side.

I would also make sure that the outlet is dedicated. Meaning, don't splice off an existing run, run the outlet straight to the breaker, and don't use an already existing breaker, make sure you use an empty one.

And make sure you label the breaker! LOL! I made that mistake and forgot which one was which after I had done the work. Of course, I installed 7 different breakers at once, and was in a time crunch, but you get the idea.

Self: Hmm... Is this the bedroom or the bathroom? *(Flip)*
Wife: *(Explitive deleted)*
Self: Ooops. Guess that was the bathroom. ;D
 
V

volk23

well, yes, that was my plan to run a new outlet, the tank will sit next to tv, there is only one outlet there, things that are plugged in there now are: tv, dvd, phone, tivo, directv. Adding a tank with 6 more outlets might be too much, right?
 
mfisher2112

mfisher2112

Sorry, wasn't trying to be condescending. I learned along time ago in consumer electronics field to never assume any step is understood. ;D (you know, it's the old PC tech issue where the tech always starts with "is it plugged in".) ;D
 
J

jazzsam

You would be suprised how much a circuit can take but in a PERFECT world you would not put everything on one circuit. I would love to have balacned my load across two circuits but I could not do that at the time.
 
V

volk23

so what are you saying? dont run another wire? I dont really want to, to be honest with you, plus i have no idea how to cut the hole in the wall, my house is about 40-50 years old, downstairs dont have sheetrock, has those cement with plants walls.

If possible i'd rather just replace the standard outlet with GFCI outlet and run tv and tank on them. I just dont want to burn the house down, or whatever damage it could make.
 
mfisher2112

mfisher2112

My house was scary when I bought it. The entire house was running off of 2 30 amp FUSES. One ran the 220 volt lines (stove, dryer, heater/boiler, hot waterheater) the other ran EVERYTHING ELSE.

That was the first thing I ripped out. When I replaced the service, I installed a 200 amp box, and ran independant circuits to every room. My father and brother-in-law tried to convince me it was overkill, that multiple rooms could survive on one circuit with the limited amount of draw each would have, but I figured the walls were ripped out, the runs were easy to do at the time, and I had the room in the box, so why not? I isolated each room in the house on its own circuit. Makes service and repair easier too because I can just isolate that room when I need to work on it.
 
J

jazzsam

I have my tank with 3 large pumps, heaters, and all running on 1 15AMP circuit AND that runs to other rooms also! Look at the math above, you really probably only need 5AMPs.

If I COULD run a new run to each room I would love that but running the wires is really not fun to do at all.
 
mfisher2112

mfisher2112

Definitely run the new drop.

If you have an existing outlet there already, you can pull that outlet and box and use the existing hole to fish the new drop through. Then just run the new drop behing, over, under whatever the existing outlet box to the new outlet box and place it right beside the old one.
 
B

Brian

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
You can always plug everything in and see what happens!

If it all works you can get a GFCI powerstrip to give the tank (and you) extra protection.
 
B

billyr98

where are you located... we could always take an amp reading on the circuit that is there, and see if you have the available amperage... i am in south jersey...
 
C

Carlo

volk23, you could try a couple of things.
1. just replace the present outlet with a gfci outlet
2. don't mess with the electric outlets at all if you aren't comfortable doing it. Plug in one or two of these into your present outlet: http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=TW39013 They also have them with cords on them (inline). Just search GFCI in the search box at that site.

I picked up a few of these and I can tell you they work faster then the typical gfci outlet does. I've had 2 trips in my new house and both were plugged into gfci outlets which never tripped. Matter of fact, one of them kept tripping the other night and I discovered a heater was leaking current into a QT tank. So they are pretty cheap, super easy to install and work really, really well.

3. If after putting some type of gfci at the outlet (1 or 2 above) you trip the circuit breaker because of to many watts you could change out the breaker in the box. If you are presently at 15 you should be able to go to a 20 without problem. If you look at the wire going into the slot where the breaker is you should be able to tell if it's 12 or 14 gauge wire. If 12 you could probably push it to a 30amp breaker if the 20 wasn't enough. I however wouldn't try a 30amp unless you have 12 gauge wire.

Realistically with the equipment you listed earlier you should be able to run all your present AV equipment and the aquarium stuff on the same 15 amp circuit as it doesn't seem like that much. I'd just put a couple of the GFCI inline devices (one for the AV side and one for the tank side) in use.

In my new house I have 4 sets of lights (2 halides, 2 PCs, 2 T8, 8 powerheads, Mag 9, Mag 24, Mag 36, 2 skimmer pumps, several small pumps on one circuit that also is used for attic fan, garage, porch lights, backyard lights basement lights and sump pump. It's a 15amp circuit and does trip once in a while if multiple outside lights are on and the sump comes on. I did pick up a 20amp breaker that I'll install over the weekend for good measure.

But based on everything I've got running on the 15amp I don't think you are going to have any problems with some type of GFCI inline.

Carlo
 
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