Breaker size

[stork1025]

Right now I have a 120v 2250w boil coil and a mark 2 pump running on a 20 amp breaker. My question is if I can add another pump to my system or would it trip/throw the breaker?
Thanks!
Ivan

 

[pdcm]

Hmm, so with W=V*A you're looking at a max of 2400w on that 20a 120v circuit. but from my understanding it's not recommended to pull more than 80% on any given breaker - having said that, I'm totally not any sort of expert in this field, so hopefully someone else chimes in.

Anyway, at any given time you're probably not actually pulling the full wattage on your boil coil and pumps, startup draw/surge for the pumps and coil (?) could push it over the limit?

 

[Gibberoni]

You are already pretty close to the amperage limit of the circuit with the boil coil and pump. You usually want to have a 10% buffer between your average load and your breaker (ex: if you draw 20amps during normal operation, and 25 amp breaker would be needed). With 1 pump and a 2250w system your already right at 19 amps. Pumps also draw a lot of current at start up. You may pop the circuit, you will be running at max load though.

 

[stork1025]

Thanks guys. I figured it wouldn't work. I'm trying to go from a breweasy setup to herms but keep it at 120v. I'll just see about switching out the 20 amp breaker for a 25 amp breaker. Thanks again
Ivan

 

[pdcm]

Do you have any other circuits nearby that you might be able to run an extension from, just for the pumps or other things? I would suspect that the existing 20a circuit is run with 12/2, which wouldn't really support just swapping out the breaker.

 

[stork1025]

Its actually 10/3 wire. I actually thought ahead for once haha

 

[esdill]

With 10/3 you can go to a 30 amp breaker.