I had a "shocking" experience..

Jace

Jace

Well-known Member
The other night...it wa little chilly..
so sittigh in the family.room..
I turned on a little electric space heater..
In a.bit...then it stopped, the halogen pole light "went dark

I had blown a.fuse

two major.plugs were effected

when I went.to flip the switch on the fuse.box...it wouldn't go back (reset)

Oh! No..what to do?

I waited..

Then.it reset

Now, I'm reluctant to use space heater..that it will keep happening

Anyone have any suggestions?😉
 

What amp rating is the breaker? 15 AMP? If so, your heater may very well be up near that limit and popping the breaker would be a very normal thing. If you have an outlet on a 20 AMP breaker, try that one. Also, often these heaters have several settings which allow either more current or less - if so try the lower setting. For example, you can use only 600 watts, only 900 watts, or both together for 1500 watts, which would be 12.5AMPS. You would avoid using both together.
 
Sometimes you can overload a particular circuit. When we got our new air fryer we plugged it into the same outlet as our microwave and the microwave power immediately went out. We now have it plugged into another outlet and have had no problems.
 
Jace said:
when I went.to flip the switch on the fuse.box...it wouldn't go back (reset)

Oh! No..what to do?

I waited..

Then.it reset
Click to expand...
That would scare me (it not wanting to reset), the only time I had a breaker that wouldn't reset was when a part of the septic pump system fell down into the bottom of the tank. From my understanding it didn't want to reset because whatever it would do was still bad.

I'm glad it reset for you after a bit, I wonder if the heater was somehow still 'on' when the fuse wouldn't reset and then somehow was 'off' after a bit?

Does the fuse flip off for other appliances of similar power consumption (I don't even know the right words, wattage?), if you plug a vacuum cleaner in that plug-in does it make the lights blink to turn it on?

Personally I'd be scared to try to use the heater again, but maybe something else was on at the same time.
 
Do you have fuses instead of breakers?

If you have breakers, the amps will be clearly labeled as 15A, 20A, etc.

At any rate, I have popped a 15amp breaker when running a space heater set at its highest setting of 1500 watts. It is not unusual. Does the breaker reset if the heater is not plugged in? If not, then you may need a new breaker.
 
Update:
well.I thought I 'got it right--but..
I plugged the before-mentioned heater
Directly.into wall socket
with nothing else connected..
and..it still ' blew.the fuse'(nbreaker)

So...Don't know that.it can ever be used

O.K...you Aces...explain to me
Why heater is manufactured to meet higher standards?😉
 
Just because nothing else is in that wall socket does not necessarily mean nothing else is connected, especially in an older home. There can be multiple rooms and outlets on that one circuit. It is crazy how some of the circuits in our home include multiple different rooms! Tracking them all down can be difficult although an electrician should have a tool to help with this.

Did you notice multiple settings on your heater that allowed you to use less current?

What is the make and model of your heater?
 
@Sichael Z ..T Y
it's a DeLanghhi safeeHeater dfh132
And I looked -up.
Owner\'s manual
And..I was doing-it-all-wrong
I readjusted knobs
And..see.if.it's right
 
Last edited:
I see a high and low setting for heat. The high setting, at 1500 watts, may trip a 15A breaker. Use the low setting at 750 watts.

To use the high setting, you would need a 20 amp breaker, which would require rewiring with a heavier gauge (12 gauge) wiring - this would be a very expensive upgrade to the outlet you are now using. Your 15A circuit is most likely the lighter 14 gauge wiring. Or run a brand new 12 guage, 20A circuit just for a heater which is a little cheaper but still plenty expensive to hire an electrician.
 
Michael Z said:
I see a high and low setting for heat. The high setting, at 1500 watts, may trip a 15A breaker. Use the low setting at 750 watts.

To use the high setting, you would need a 20 amp breaker, which would require rewiring with a heavier gauge (12 gauge) wiring - this would be a very expensive upgrade to the outlet you are now using. Your 15A circuit is most likely the lighter 14 gauge wiring. Or run a brand new 12 guage, 20A circuit just for a heater which is a little cheaper but still plenty expensive to hire an electrician.
Click to expand...
TY.thats what.I did ..👍 and.it ran fine
 
I've taken a chance.
and plugged it into a strip plug
at a.low setting
Seems to be o.k.
 

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