Topic: Recomendations for a good breaker to handle all of my rigs. (Read 1818 times)

Hephaestus is correct! 100%.

Do you know what happened before breakers (and the fuses that preceeded them)? A crap load of house fires.

When your house was wired, a certain gauge (size) wire was used for each circuit that was run to a breaker that would PROTECT that wire from being overloaded and causing a FIRE within your walls where the wire is run next to (most likely) WOODEN studs.

So when I needed more power for a setup I had an electrician put in a couple more independent circuits in the computer room. Buy a power meter (example a "Kill-a-Watt" available for less than $20) and measure your actual usage. Don't exceed 80% of that usage continuously for that circuit or you'll have popped breakers due to heat problems. The electrician was cheaper than my home owners insurance deductible... If there is a fire, will your insurance cover you when it is determined that dangerous electrical modifications were made to your house/apartment/shack?


BTW I'm not an electrician, but minimal research will show you I'm right. Those breakers tripping are saving you and your house from a potential fire. While I'm on my soapbox....do your smoke detectors work? Do you have a fire extinguisher readily available in different parts of your house?

Of course they can handle it "better" but that does not make it safe.

Breakers on power strips are irrelevant, they only protect what's plugged into the strips.  They do NOT protect the wiring in your wall.

How many times does everyone in this thread have to repeat DO NOT USE A BIGGER BREAKER, IT IS A FIRE HAZARD?

If you're having this much trouble with it, have an electrician install additional circuits.  I had a large outlet installed right next to the panel in the basement, and I run a subpanel off it.  Hell, just have two or three 20A circuits installed there and move your rigs to the panel.  But for the love of all that is in your house, don't go putting bigger breakers on things because they're tripping.

No offense, but if you have to ask these types of questions, you really need to get an electrician. It is obvious to me you don't know what you're talking about.

I mean come on.... your question about if you needed GCFI breakers was so lol. You are going to hurt yourself or someone else.

Usually the next greater amps rating breakers handle the the load of the lower amp breakers well.
Just make sure you are not overloading the circuit amps rating by checking wire gage, and metering your power usage of your circuit.
 Also if u have good power strips, they themselves will limit power drawn at each socket due to a reset switch which pops, so that should take care of some simple overloading anyways.

Speed limits are there to keep you safe. Better drive below the speed limit.

If the wiring gauge supports the given amps it does no harm to reach the limit. 

Slight warmth in circuit breakers is normal if you are operating the circuit continuously at near the max current. Circuit breakers have a thermal cut out that heats up when there is any current going through it, the more current the warmer it will get, up to a certain point, when the circuit exceeds the rated amperage, then it will trip. But, circuit breakers should never get "HOT", so you should definitely replace it. Also, be sure to check the wires feeding the circuit breaker to make sure none are loose, that is often the cause of heat/fires. (And, I agree with you, if you have a little experience and you're comfortable with it, you don't need an electrician. Replacing a breaker is probably easier than replacing a light switch or electrical outlet. )

If you want to be really safe, get a CAFCI breaker, but they are expensive and it is really not necessary, the regular ones you get at Home Depot are fine, but after continuous operation at near the max load, they may eventually have to be replaced.

As for a replacing with a higher rated breaker ***I would strongly advise against doing this***, but the code requirement is to have 12-gauge wiring throughout the ENTIRE circuit. Most 15-amp circuits use 14-gauge wire, which is a pretty serious fire hazard if operated at 20amps.

Good luck.

I have 8 cards hashing atm with a cheapie window ac unit keeping it all relatively cool in my bedroom. One side of my room is 10+ degrees hotter than the other side. Its rly weird to move 2 feet and feel the temp change. Laying in bed its about 75f, sitting at my computer by the rigs its atleast 85f. lol


I've changed breakers b4, I was just looking for something better than the ace/homedepot $10 special. You don't have to know a hell of a lot to change a breaker.

As an interim solution, I would split your rigs in 2 clusters and make sure you run one cluster from a different fuse.

I'm planning on taking over the spare guest room (different fuse).

I've already taken over the office. Muhahahaha !

My wife complains that "It's a different microclimate" in there.

Duh ! There's 4 graphics cards hashing !

 

+1 Assuming you even figured out which one to purchase, watching you try to remove the old one would probably give me a heart attack.

+1

THIS IS THE WORSE POSSIBLE ADVICE - DO NOT DO THIS. 

Breakers are there to stop the wires in your wall going on fire.  Replacing a breaker with a higher rated one leaves you at risk of burning your house to the ground.

goto home depot and get a new breaker with next greater amps rating.

Not trying to discourage you, but if you're asking these types of relatively simple questions, then you may need to:

Would it be worth it to get a GFCI breaker?

Something like this.
http://www.globalindustrial.com/p/electrical/circuit-breakers/molded-case-circuit-breakers/siemens-breaker-20a-1p-120v-10k-qpf-gfci-5ma?utm_source=google_pr&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=VL-Molded-Case-Circuit-Breakers-google_pr&infoParam.campaignId=T9F&gclid=CNOIve2A0bcCFWcV7Aod5GQAgA

+1 this.

If I'm remembering correctly, most residential-grade breakers aren't designed to run at 100% of their rated capacity all the time.  Ask for commercial grade, perhaps.

Get an electrician.

My current breaker gets hot and doesn't trip when it blows, power goes out and switch is still on -.- , I'm worried about this breaker causing problems so I'm going to replace it. What should I be looking for? I don't want to just go to ace and pick up a cheapie, I want one that is going to do good by my rigs.

Looking for recommendations.