Here's an electrical question I was hoping someone could answer.

I am upgrading my home theater system and it looks like the contractor who built my house probably didn't do me any electrical favors back in 1996 when he built it.

I currently have just one 15 amp breaker supplying just about everything electrical in my living room, den and dinning room. Four duplex wall outlets (one on each wall) in the den. Plus the light on the ceiling. Five duplex outlets in the living room plus five 60 watt flood lamps on a rack in the ceiling. Four duplex outlets in the dinning room plus the light in the ceiling.

I didn't even know this until this evening when I started turning off breakers in the garage to see what was connected to what.

I am upgrading my system to two Definitive Tech BP 7002s which have a 300 watt powered subwoofer in each speaker and a Definitive Tech CLR 2500 which has a 150 watt powered subwoofer. I will also be upgrading to the Denon AVR 3805. I have a Sony WEGA 36" CRT TV, 7 disk DVD changer, VCR, Dish DVR-510 sat receiver, and a cassette deck. I will also be installing a Richard Gray 400 RGPC.

Is this normal to have so many outlets and lights on one 15 amp breaker? Some say I won't have a problem tripping breakers others say I might. Will it only be an issue if I start turning on all the lights and cranking my system to near max power?

What are my options if power is a concern or if I start tripping the breaker? What would it cost to have an electrician wire a dedicated 15 amp breaker and wall outlet just for my home theater system? Are there less expensive options? Will the Richard Gray help stabilize the power load or does it just provide protection along with clean power?

I'm sure many of you deal with this on a regular basis. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Mitch

You dont have anything thats going to pull massive amounts of current. I can see you having problems if your maxing your system durring the summer with all the lights on, A/C Cranked, and blending a margarita while poping microwave popcorn in your motorized recliner......

If the home is Piped, Upgrading the Circuit should not be too hard(I'm sure larry will chime in on this) if you feel the need. But I would go with a 20 amp circuit if your going to do any upgrading just to have the fluff...... Maybe even a 220 for the Kick ass RGPC sub station..........

have an electrician come out to the house and have a look. It's possible that the previous guy pulled an extra leg to those rooms, or at least an extra one collectively but just didn't see the need to tie it down based on what the requirements of the rooms were at the time.

If you can, add a new dedicated 20-amp circuit. If this is not cost effective -

Remove or have your electrician remove one of the outlets in the room and note whether the wires are pressed into the back of the outlet or attached to the sides of the outlet with screws. If your outlets are wired via the back, replace all of them with the side wired type & method. Further, replace your 15-amp breaker with a new 15-amp breaker. A lot of old breakers have been through a lot of stresses over the years and can introduce noise as well as not performing up to spec.

Just adding up the total watts of everything does not take transient spikes into consideration, and are kind of pushing the envelope as far as power goes anyway, just don’t run the vacuum while you are watching TV

Mitch, it doesn't matter how many receptacles are on a circuit, only how much power is being used. The dining room receptacles should be on a 20-amp circuit, and are probably on one (or both) of the kitchen appliance circuits, which are 20-amp circuits.

Idling current of modern electronics is rather low these days, and I was running my entire setup on one circuit when we were renting this house; somehow, I didn't need to upgrade the power until we bought the house. Isn't that wierd how that happens?

In any case, I wouldn't worry about it until you try the setup. If there's an overload, you'll see it in the lights dimming to the beat of the sound. As for the cost of running a circuit, there's no way to give more than a price range without coming there.

An electrician would have to see how the new wires would run from the panel to the new location, and you'd have to decide where and how many new receptacles to install. It's possible to re-feed an existing receptacle, or just add a new one.

Larry
www.fineelectricco.com

Mitch - I 2nd the call to have any back-stabbed outlets rewired. Get a dedicated circuit if you can. Depending on the length of the run you might want to consider using 10 ga. wire with a 15 or 20 amp breaker. Total overkill but hey that's what this is all about isn't it?The equipmnet you listed won't blow the breaker but in conjunction with other loads it just might go at the wrong time. If you ever get a large screen TV that uses a bulb you will definately want a dedicated circuit. they don't respond well to sudden power loss.

Thirded. Sorry I missed the previous mention. In fact, new receptacles won't even accept #12 wire in the stab holes. The conductivity is not considered good enough to pass that much current reliably. I've had a fairly large number of trouble calls turn out to be overheated stabbe connections.

Larry
www.fineelectricco.com

Sounds like the first thing I should do is give it try and see what happens. If the lights start dimming in time to the music or I start tripping the breaker then I guess it will be time to add a dedicated circuit. Can any of you give me a ball park range in cost? I know it's difficult without seeing my house wiring but even a ball park figure would help.

Thanks for all the information. I do appreciate it.

It could be anywhere from $100 to $500.

Larry
www.fineelectricco.com

what's even better is to take an amp meter & measure the actual load on the circuit with everything playing. I realize that's a bit extreme for most home owners but a breaker can run right at the limit for a long time before it pops. I don't like to run my circuits that close to the limit so I check them out if I think their might be an issue. I also have a dedicated hall circuits for the vacuum.

Thanks for all the information. I'm going to hook it up and see what happens. That is when finally buy it which should be soon.

.......

Total you have 13 outlets and 7 lights on one 15amp breaker. This is not normal and would not even meet code in my area.

I would suggest a new 20 amp outlet at the equipment location irregardless of the 'try it and pray' approach. If your lights flicker your electronics will being SCREAMING FOR HELP!!! Larry - back me up on this one. The cost of a new DEDICATED outlet should be factored into system cost.

Westie,

I thought that quite unusual myself. Let me explain how I arrived at my conclusions. I turned on the ceiling lights in all three locations. I also plugged in a device to each of the outlets in each room. Then I went to the breaker box in the garage and turned off one breaker at a time. I went back into the house and made a mental note of which items in all three rooms no longer had power. The total was what you had quoted from me (13 outlets and 7 ceiling lights. After turning off just that one breaker I lost power to all 13 outlets and 7 ceiling lights. Is it possible my testing method is flawed?

I live in Washington state in Skagit County. My house was built in 1996. Is it possible my area has drastically different code then where you live? How can I find out what the residential electrical code is/was for my area at the time my house was built? If my wiring doesn't meet the code of when it was built I wonder if I have legal recourse to get the contractor to correct the violation in code?

oex,

I am also installing a "Richard Gray RGPC 400Mk11 to help tame the power demands. From what I've read it should help prevent my system from "SCREAMING FOR HELP!!!" Have I misinterpreted what I have been reading about the Richard Gray products?

Once again, thanks in advance for all your help.

I will if you stop using non-existant words such as "irregardles". :-D I may have even mentioned that visible dimming is a sign of excessive voltage drop somewhere.

Unless the original electrician really screwed up, and/or the house is very old, the dining-room receptacles should be on a 20-amp circuit, and permissibly (if that's a word) on one of the kitchen appliance circuits.

A quick history: When homes were first wired, they usually had a single, 30-amp circuit. The only loads were lighting, often a single socket hanging in the middle of the room.

Remember those taps that screwed into a light socket, a bulb screwed into the bottom, and two receptacles on the side? These were among the first electrical accessories made. People figured out that electricity could power more than light. Creature-comfort uses popped up all over, for heating and cooling.

Electricity begat appliances, appliances begat overloads, and overloads begat fires. Thus, the NFPA was born, and the NFPA begat the NEC, and the NEC begat electrical inspectors. Interesting lineage, no?

Now, back to our story: Most receptacles in a residence are considered lighting outlets, and are usually 15-amp circuits; the exceptions are two kitchen appliance circuits, a laundry circuit, and of course, any stationary or fixed-in-place appliances.

Anyway, I heartily agree that any relatively large load, such as a group of electronic equipment usually used at the same time, should be supplied via a separate circuit, and there's no good reason for it to not be a 20-amp circuit.

This is especially true in the case of an older home, where one or two circuits were considered enough to supply a typical home's lighting needs; they probably still are; it's just that we have so many gadgets that lighting is no longer the largest power use in modern homes.

Larry
www.fineelectricco.com