Single 15A Circuit for Freezer+Fermenter Chamber+Kegerator?

[skidmark]

Tried searching, but no go ...

Due to wiring limitations where I need to keep everything, I need to put my 7 cu ft deep freeze (stock), controlled fermentation chamber (wine fridge), and kegerator all on a single 15A circuit.

I started scratching out a relay circuit to give priority to the deep freeze, then the fermenter chamber, then the kegerator, but stumbled on inhibiting the other outlets to prevent two from running at the same time. The real concern would be having two starting up simultaneously, and kicking off the circuit (bad, very bad for the freezer contents ...)

Has anyone already tackled this?

TIA!

 

[Gonefishing]

I don't think any of those things draw a lot of power. Check the data plates, you may be perfectly fine.

 

[skidmark]

I don't think any of those things draw a lot of power. Check the data plates, you may be perfectly fine.

Yeah ... not going to leave it to chance.

With my travel schedule it could be awhile before it would be discovered.

 

[Gonefishing]

Adding up the watts used by the appliances isn't exactly leaving anything to chance. If you knew the total you could calculate the amperage draw and that would tell you if you'll be safe or not.

 

[skidmark]

Adding up the watts used by the appliances isn't exactly leaving anything to chance. If you knew the total you could calculate the amperage draw and that would tell you if you'll be safe or not.

Only true under normal circumstances.

Really, I don't want to debate this. Can you answer the original question? Otherwise, thanks for your ideas.

 

[day_trippr]

The intrinsic issue is preventing simultaneous starting without having any pre-event hint to work with.
This could actually be solved with hardware mods to each unit to decouple the compressor from the compressor relay control circuit, and the addition of a smart agent to control everything.

One would disconnect the compressor relay control for each unit and send those controls through conditioning circuits on to a computer (or at least a microcontroller). That agent would then be responsible for actually switching each unit's compressor relay when it is "safe" to do so.

It knows who is on, who is off, and who wants to change state. If two devices call for cooling at the same time the agent can chose one (round robin?) and hold the other one off for a handful of seconds.

Yeah, it's a bunch of stuff. I'd be surprised if anyone pursued it

Alternatively....Can you step up the breaker on that circuit by 5A to give you some extra head room?
What wire gauge and distance is that circuit running?

Finally, I have a similar situation, perhaps worse even, with two 17cf top-freezer units and a 13cf keezer (plus a 100w heater for my cold season ferm chamber) all sharing a 12-2 Romex circuit with my oil furnace. I need to fix that one of these days but the 20A breaker has never tripped in 5+ years so motivation hasn't won out yet

Cheers!

 

[skidmark]

I'm thinking that I can tap the "run" light on the front of the deep freeze (or tap the compressor power directly) to control the coil of a relay feeding the fermenter chamber and kegerator. When the deep freeze runs it would drop power to the others.

I would rather have a batch ferment a bit warm than lose everything in the freezer - meat, seafood, that one annoying ex-girlfriend, hops, etc.

 

[day_trippr]

I'd be concerned that the kegerator and wine fridge would try to turn on together the instant the freezer shuts off.
Depending on the respective cycle times that might happen every time...

Cheers!

 

[skidmark]

Ah, very good point. Maybe a second relay with a delay-on-make module to stagger the secondary and tertiary outputs. That would get me to my original goal. I think that I'd better sketch it out - I always visualize it better that way.