We just moved into a brand new building. I have always been cold blooded and had a space heater sitting underneath my desk. It ran all the time that I was at my desk in the old building – both in winter and in the summer. Now I’ve been told that I can’t have this heater because the new building “isn’t wired for these type of devices.” Can that really be true? I don’t know anything about wiring/electricity, but the bottom of my heater says 120V 60Hz 1500W. Will this blow a fuse? Is this more than a copy machine or a refrigerator, which the building apparently is wired for? If I run my heater through a surge protector then could it really bother anything?
Not that anything anyone says will make a difference to management, but I am really curious if what they say is true or if they are just making pointless rules (again).
Thanks sdmb! I love this board, I’ve been reading it for months now, but haven’t had a burning (hehe) question that I’ve needed to ask until now.
That rule has nothing to do with building wiring-they don’t want you to use space heaters, period. For every safe application of a portable heater there are twenty unsafe scenarios, and the building owner (presumably) is merely covering their assets. Telling tenants that space heaters are banned because they’re too often involved in fires invites a litany of not my heater, I don’t do that, etc. so it’s easier to lie about the building wiring and be done of it.
It’s certainly not a wiring issue, and I doubt that it’s even a safety issue. Most likely they turn the thermostat down (in cold weather) in order to save money on the electricity, and if you bring a space heater that sucks electricity all day, they don’t save as much money. And you running your heater when they have the air-conditioning on doesn’t save money either.
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I’m sorry, not an electrician, and can’t really answer the question, but I just wanted to say the same thing happened in my office. And I did actually blow a fuse a couple of times. The office manager ended up confiscating my fan space heater and allowed me to order a heated footrest, which didn’t work as well as the fan heater, but is certainly better than nothing.
You could ask if something like that is a good alternative.
NEVER plug a space heater (or other heating appliance) into a surge protector under any circumstances. Surge protectors are not designed to be used with heating appliances or with major appliances such as refrigerators, and it could fail and cause a fire with little or no warning. It’s especially not good if you’re plugging your space heater into the same surge protector that you’re using for, say, your computer- that kind of thing can drastically reduce the lifetime of computer components.
Would the additional money spent on electricity negate the amount of money wasted by me pondering this and researching it online? Plus the additional amount of time I spend griping to other staff? Plus the expense of me looking unprofessional wrapped in a down comforter?
Just kidding, but seriously - can you explain to me the actual electrical information behind it (in simple terms) so that I can politely argue the “building’s not wired for it” without just saying, “nuh uh, you big fat liar!”
IF a building is not properly wired, or has too much load on one circuit, a 1500 watt space heater could cause the breaker to trip. Space heaters are definitely up there on the list of power hogs, along with hair dryers and other heavy-duty appliances.
In a new building, wired to code, this should not be a problem.
I don’t have anything technical to add to this discussion, but I can say that space heaters are fairly prevelant around our office, and we have been prone to blown fuses as a result. Still, people insist on using them. <shrug>
It can be done. I’ve seen installed space heaters that met the building’s safety code. They were metal cased, permanently attached to a wall, and connected to a dedicated electrical circuit via armored cable. Portable space heaters were banned as a safety hazard.
Local fire codes may have a say in this, in addition to the building’s wiring.
A normal “convenience outlet” circuit will be protected by either a 15 or 20-amp breaker. That 1500 watt heater will draw about 12 amps from the outlet. On a 15-amp circuit, that’s leaving just three amps for whatever else is plugged in. Chances are very good that you’ll wind up tripping the breaker.
Another thing to consider is that the outlets in an office are probably the sort that are built into the cube walls. There’s a plug-and-socket connector at the end of each panel, so if you’re at the far end of a set of cubes from the electrical feed, there could be a lot of connections along the way. Attempting to pull 1500 watts through this will result in quite a bit of power being lost along the way through all of those connections, and heat generated at each. Repeated heat-cool cycles of the connections tends to result in worse connections, more heat at the connections, and so on until one of them fails and the whole set of cubes goes dead.
The last time I saw anything in writing on the subject from this particular building was that high-draw devices must be plugged into receptacles in the building walls, rather than the ones in the cubes, and any sort of heating appliance is to be used only in the break rooms. By that, they mean space heaters, coffee pots, toasters and hotplates. Laser printers are exempt from that requirement.
I feel your pain. We aren’t allowed to have them in our dorm rooms, either, which sucks because the heaters provided don’t work well (and my roommate, who gets abnormally hot, keeps turning it off). I think it’s a fire hazard.
It’s entirely possible that the building isn’t wired for space heaters. I was involved in providing the specifications for the last office we set up. We were asked what sort of equipment would be at each cubicle, and how much power was drawn by it. Actually, we determined the power requirements for a desktop PC and monitor that was typically in use and added a bit for an occasional fax machine or personal printer. Based on this, the electricians determined how many cubicles could be connected to each 20 amp circuit. We certainly didn’t allocate one 20 amp circuit for each cubicle.
As for the copy machines and refrigerators you mentioned, we did plan for those. We knew exactly where they would go (along with the locations for the big printers) and dedicated circuits were provided for them.
I had this problem just yesterday in my home office. I’m keeping the thermostat lower in the house these days, so I got a little space heater to keep me warm in the office. I was happily working away when I started a print job and the power went out.
At first I thought it was the whole neighborhood, but eventually I realized the power was still on in the rest of the house, and that I had just popped the breaker for the room. The combination of lights, computer, stereo, heater, and finally, printer, was too much for the 15A breaker.
So here’s my question for the electricians here: Every outlet in the room is on the same circuit. Is there a simple do-it-myself option for upping the load in the room without running an unsafe and unsightly extension cord from another room?
I assume that I can’t just replace the 15A breaker with, say, a 20A breaker, right? The wiring for the circuit would have to be beefed up to support the additional amperage, wouldn’t it? Or would it?
Am I right in assuming that circuits in residential wiring are looped together so that there’s only one line coming into the main breaker box for each circuit? So that if I wanted to isolate one outlet, it would require running a new line, which would be entirely impractical.
Minor nitpick: Upping the load isn’t what you want-you have an abundance, already. It’s supply that you’re needing. Extension cords aren’t the answer, as you’re using them in lieu of the fixed wiring of a dwelling, a NEC violation. Without knowing the construction of your home, it’s difficult to say how hard or easy it would be to split the supply, e.g. currently the 15A circuit feeds 4 duplex receptacles-isolate two of the four and feed them with a new 15A branch circuit.
Correct. Quick and dirty rule of thumb is 14/2 wire for 15A circuits, 12/2 wire for 20A circuits.
Typically, a branch circuit feeds several duplex receptacles, several light fixtures, or a combination of both, so in general terms, you’re correct. Isolating one duplex would require a new line, but I wouldn’t say it’s impractical, when contrasted with a) overloading the existing circuit, b) violating the code by using extension cords, c) courting disaster via a fire hazard.
You say it’s a new building. That means it’s up to standard code, and the current draw of a space heater is not an issue. It’s still not a good idea for the reasons outlined above. But if it was an older building, wiring could well be a factor. I work in a modern-looking facility that houses both TV, radio and recording studios. All the techincal areas are powered and grounded to the teeth. But last January it was a pretty cold winter here, and four of the ladies down the executive offices hall brought in new space heaters. The first time they turned them on, the power to all but the studios went out.
It was pointed out by the engineer that when the building was put up, people had maybe a desk lamp and a radio in their office, maybe an intercom. All the offices are on the same circuit, and no 30-year-old office wiring circuit is going to deliver 6000 watts of power at once. Now, they also had 6 computers and peripherals, plus copiers and fax machines, TVs and stereos, fridges and a Coke machine on the same circuit!
I worked most recently for a freaking power generation company and I couldn’t use the darn heater under my desk. It would on occasion randomly cause the computers to shut down. At a freaking power generation company for goodness’ sake. If THEY couldn’t figure it out, it must be a widespread problem.
Where I work, we had space heaters for a while, but eventually they were taken away – not specifically because they are energy hogs, not because they tripped a breaker now and then, but because people would leave them running on Friday and they’d go all weekend, unattended.
The agency is a safety agency. The potential irony of the safety agency burning down from this unsafe practice outweighed our comfort and the heaters were banned.
The power draw aside, one of the major risk problems with portable heaters is that people forget to turn them off. You get up at the end of the day, shove your chair under your desk and walk away; heater comes on, ignites chair fabric, and penis ensues. This happened at an office in my building, so it’s not an outlandish scenario.
Additionally, all UL listed heaters will have a kick-over switch that will shut off the heater if it is not sitting flat. Cheaper imports may not have this safety feature, it may have failed, or it may have been disabled.
Telling tenants that space heaters are banned because they’re too often involved in fires invites a litany of not my heater, I don’t do that, etc. so it’s easier to lie about the building wiring and be done of it.