Electricity

[Travis Stewart]

So I’ve had my tank up and running for about 3 years. Recently my breaker has been shorting out. Had an electrician come out and check the breaker. It is still good. I’m running my 75 gallon on a 15amp breaker. I also tried changing out the outlet that trips most of the time. Haven’t added any new equipment. Any idea what could be going on?

 

[Travis Stewart]

Equipment includes:
Apex junior
Skimmer
2x xr 30 gen 5 pro
5000 gph return
2x power heads
Doser
2x 200w heaters

 

[Woodyman]

Equipment includes:
Apex junior
Skimmer
2x xr 30 gen 5 pro
5000 gph return
2x power heads
Doser
2x 200w heaters

Is this a dedicated circuit for the tank/equipment?

If not electronics added onto the same circuit from a different outlet could be your problem.

 

[JReef3]

When you say the breaker is shorting out, do you mean it's tripping and you have to reset it? If the electrician said the breaker is good and you've swapped out the outlet itself, you may have some piece of equipment with an intermittent problem that is occasionally shorting out and causing the breaker to trip. That or a problem with your house wiring between the outlet and the breaker box; perhaps a mouse chewed a wire??

 

[Squidz]

I had a pump die and all it would do is pop the breaker

 

[o2manyfish]

The only way for the electrician to truly check a breaker is to put a full 20amp load on the breaker to see if it trips. I would bet a stalk of xenia your electrician didn't do that and only checked the connection to the box was solid and the wire connection was tight.

Breakers age and especially if you have a heavy load on the breaker. A 15amp breaker after a period of time will get warm and start popping before it reaches it's 15amp max. And this can be totally unpredicatable.

Breakers are cheap - put in a new 15 amp breaker and you have a better than 70% shot that it fixes your issue.

Dave B

 

[Travis Stewart]

Is this a dedicated circuit for the tank/equipment?

If not electronics added onto the same circuit from a different outlet could be your problem.

Nothing else on this circuit

 

[Travis Stewart]

The only way for the electrician to truly check a breaker is to put a full 20amp load on the breaker to see if it trips. I would bet a stalk of xenia your electrician didn't do that and only checked the connection to the box was solid and the wire connection was tight.

Breakers age and especially if you have a heavy load on the breaker. A 15amp breaker after a period of time will get warm and start popping before it reaches it's 15amp max. And this can be totally unpredicatable.

Breakers are cheap - put in a new 15 amp breaker and you have a better than 70% shot that it fixes your issue.

Dave B

Well when I use a heavy duty extension cord for some of the plugs, it all works flawlessly…

 

[Travis Stewart]

The only way for the electrician to truly check a breaker is to put a full 20amp load on the breaker to see if it trips. I would bet a stalk of xenia your electrician didn't do that and only checked the connection to the box was solid and the wire connection was tight.

Breakers age and especially if you have a heavy load on the breaker. A 15amp breaker after a period of time will get warm and start popping before it reaches it's 15amp max. And this can be totally unpredicatable.

Breakers are cheap - put in a new 15 amp breaker and you have a better than 70% shot that it fixes your issue.

Dave B

Thanks sir will try that. Def not an electrician so probably would need to hire that out huh?

 

[bklynreef]

Take the powerheads out, usually they are the shorting culprit unless its an ecotech mp pump outside the tank.

 

[JReef3]

A 15 amp breaker is about $6 at Home Depot I'd guess. They are very easy to swap out. If you're not comfortable doing it, you'd have to hire an electrician but if you are fairly DIY savvy, you could watch a YouTube video, be sure to shut off the main first, and then just swap it out in 5 minutes. This would eliminate the breaker as the issue. If you eliminate the breaker and since we know it is a dedicated circuit with nothing else on it and you swapped out the outlet too, then the only culprits could be the romex wiring between the breaker and the outlet or some faulty equipment in the tank. Good luck!

 

[olonmv]

Is the outlet that trips by any chance a GFCI?

 

[Travis Stewart]

Is the outlet that trips by any chance a GFCI?

Not a gfci outlet.

 

[Travis Stewart]

Take the powerheads out, usually they are the shorting culprit unless its an ecotech mp pump outside the tank.

Thanks, will also try taking these off line to see if this helps.

 

[Travis Stewart]

A 15 amp breaker is about $6 at Home Depot I'd guess. They are very easy to swap out. If you're not comfortable doing it, you'd have to hire an electrician but if you are fairly DIY savvy, you could watch a YouTube video, be sure to shut off the main first, and then just swap it out in 5 minutes. This would eliminate the breaker as the issue. If you eliminate the breaker and since we know it is a dedicated circuit with nothing else on it and you swapped out the outlet too, then the only culprits could be the romex wiring between the breaker and the outlet or some faulty equipment in the tank. Good luck!

Def diy savy. Will check it out!

 

[Travis Stewart]

Thanks all for the replies. I appreciate each and every one of you.

 

[kenbennedy]

Will be interested to see how this works out...

 

[olonmv]

Usually when a breaker trips more than 6 times it’s weakened. Someone suggested changing the breaker. If it’s a 15a breaker don’t be tempted to upsize to a 20a unless you know for sure that the wire guage is #12 or better. If the wire is #12 you can then upsize to a 20a breaker but you will also want to swap out the receptacle to match the breaker (20a).

 

[outhouse]

gfci on most of my outlets, you should to for safety and when equipment fails it lets you know.

Also getting a watt meter like killawat help so you can see failing equipment or how much AC you save when upgrading components.