Increasing electricity load

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piranha786

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What would the process be of upgrading my plugs in the house.

The problem is that when I tun on the aircon, and kettle or microwave, the power would trip.

Whats the easiest, but legal, and safe route to follow to upgrade at least the plugs in one part of the house?
 
By getting a technician...

and installing higher amperage breakers?
 
I'd love to give advice but I know jack about electricity. Housewire is generally sufficient for most things besides the stove etc
 
Get an electrician to split that plug circuit into two
 
Cheapest is to run a 10m extension lead from an empty room, and plug the microwave into that (uses least power of the 3 devices). Every dwelling should have at least 2 different plug circuits, split into separate rooms. For more permanent solutions, see above (likely to cost R2-3K).
 
Todays artisans, you need to tell them what you want them to do.
I will get a electrician, but I at least want to have a idea what he should be doing.
 
piranha786 said:
Todays artisans, you need to tell them what you want them to do.
I will get a electrician, but I at least want to have a idea what he should be doing.
Click to expand...

Tell them you want two or more (double) plugs in the room, on separate switch circuits. They will need to run a new set of conduits and earth wires (to be legal). This may involve digging holes in the wall or floor, unless you are happy with surface mounted plastic, and the plugs happen to be near the DB. The extra switches and wiring must be done by an electrician, the holes in the wall or floor can be done by an artisan.
 
What trips, the breaker or earth leakage ?

Breakers are usually rated to.about 16 A which is a fair amount, so a bit funny that just those trips it.

Either way, I'd put the aircon on it's own breaker: Think it should be in dedicated power, no earth leakage.

Anyway; anything I said can and probably is wrong: get a sparky to have a look at it.
 
Betting your aircon is on the same plug circuit as the other devices.

It needs to be split out.
 
bin3 said:
What trips, the breaker or earth leakage ?

Breakers are usually rated to.about 16 A which is a fair amount, so a bit funny that just those trips it.

Either way, I'd put the aircon on it's own breaker: Think it should be in dedicated power, no earth leakage.

Anyway; anything I said can and probably is wrong: get a sparky to have a look at it.
Click to expand...

The breakers in our apartments are 30A X 2 for all the plugs, but there is proper wiring in the conduits (2.5mm diameter for both live and neutral). Never tripped in my case in 30 years, but others used 3 or more heavy appliances (kettle, tumbledrier and dishwasher) on the same circuit, with predictable results.

If you have 15A breakers and cheap wiring, you need an upgrade. This may vary with the age of the house (older installations were more robust). Either way you need an electrician (or a friend) to help evaluate.

If its the earth leakage, that's a whole different ball-game...
 
bin3 said:
Breakers are usually rated to.about 16 A which is a fair amount, so a bit funny that just those trips it.
Click to expand...

Breakers can go all the way from 6A, to hundreds of Amps. There's nothing typical. It depends on the wire that's used. A breaker is there to protect the WIRE from melting, not the appliance connected to it.


SauRoNZA said:
Betting your aircon is on the same plug circuit as the other devices.

It needs to be split out.
Click to expand...

+1 That is my feeling too.


Gordon_R said:
The breakers in our apartments are 30A X 2 for all the plugs, but there is proper wiring in the conduits (2.5mm diameter for both live and neutral). Never tripped in my case in 30 years, but others used 3 or more heavy appliances (kettle, tumbledrier and dishwasher) on the same circuit, with predictable results.
Click to expand...

Might not have tripped, but definitely not safe. 2.5mm is max 20A, not 30A. With a 30A breaker, you can overload the 2.5mm wire above the safety rating, and the wire could melt causing shorts. You more than likely have 4mm wire on a 30A breaker, not 2.5mm.

@OP - I suggest you put the aircon on a dedicated circuit. A 20A should be more than sufficient and it should not be too much of a pain to pull additional wires through the conduits.

Just a note, you're not allowed to run different gauge wires in the same conduit. If the plug is 20A / 2.5mm, put the aircon on a 20A / 2.5mm dedicated feed as well, with a seperate 20A breaker in the DB.
 
bin3 said:
What trips, the breaker or earth leakage ?

Breakers are usually rated to.about 16 A which is a fair amount, so a bit funny that just those trips it.

Either way, I'd put the aircon on it's own breaker: Think it should be in dedicated power, no earth leakage.

Anyway; anything I said can and probably is wrong: get a sparky to have a look at it.
Click to expand...

Sometimes the breaker only, but at times the earth leakage
 
savage said:
Might not have tripped, but definitely not safe. 2.5mm is max 20A, not 30A. With a 30A breaker, you can overload the 2.5mm wire above the safety rating, and the wire could melt causing shorts. You more than likely have 4mm wire on a 30A breaker, not 2.5mm.
Click to expand...

We are probably talking about the same wire gauge, though your response does not specify dimensions. Since it is easier to measure diameter, the sample I gave is 2.5mm (actually 2.8mm, but braided, so its hard to tell). This equates to 6mm^2 cross-sectional area, which is the traditional standard for a 30A breaker.

Not easy for a layman to tell the difference, but yes our wiring has been safe for 30 years. We have some more recent wires powering the garage(s), which are 1.5mm diameter, and they did melt once when overloaded (actually a faulty connector block...)
 
You may be lucky and have a few circuits on one circuit breaker that is wired to the main DB .
You know which circuit breaker is tripping , open the DB board and see how many circuits are wired to that circuit breaker , if a few, more than one and your DB has extra space for another circuit breaker fit another /have another circuit breaker fitted and divide the circuits connected to the affected circuit.
This would share the load between 3 circuit breakers instead of two ,
At the end of the day the best would be to identify the wiring that is feeding the aircon and if the load is to big a new circuit should be installed as mentioned .
 
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