I learned today that my 15 amp circuit breaker will not support all the watts produced by my electronics and I am wondering if I can have an electrician add another breaker or something to support more watts? and if so how much can i expect to pay? I am rather clueless on this topic so any input is welcome.
It depends
My SWAG would be somewhere from $250 to $3000, or more. It depends.
Your cost will depend on many factors.
Is there room for any more breakers in your panel? That is the first question.
Where do you live what is the pay rate in your area?
With a new breaker wire will have to be run from the panelto outlets, how far will that be?
What type of construction does your home have?
Can the wires be run under the house or will they lhave to be run through the attic?
It will depend on permit or no permit. How many man hours it will take. don’t forget show up time.
I would call an electriction and tell him you want a bid to add a new circuit. After you get the first bid if the amount is with in range then get two more bids and take the best one.
the way to get more current is to have an electrician add another circuit (breaker and wires).
if you have your circuit breaker in the basement and if you have an unfinished basement ceiling and the electrician can work there easily, then it shouldn’t be bad. easiest is going to adding receptacles to the first floor; going to the second floor is a bit more work.
if the circuit breaker is on the first floor and you have an attic or basement to run wires in then it shouldn’t be much work.
how much the cost will depend on the nature of your circuit breakers, the distance the wire has to run and how much effort it will take to put it there. the simplest situation could take a few hours a more complex situation could a good part of a day. it is so much an all depends on your specific situation and how much people charge in your locality.
safe is to have an electrician add a circuit. unsafe is to add a bigger breaker/fuse. extension cords from another circuit could be used very short term but they are a hazard if used long term.
Also be ware of going with an option that is much cheaper than the other quotes. There are ways to cut corners, but they often are not safe. Code is there for a reason, and electricity isn’t something to be sloppy about.
I recently had a new 220 line run for my hot tub, and another new 220 line run for my instant hot undersink water system.
The electrician my GC brought in to do the work looked at some stuff for me that a previous guy did, and explained the problems in two parts - the code violations, and the safety issues behind the code in that area. I paid him to clean up the last guy’s work.
-D/a