We have a thermostat for the heater in the bathroom (electric baseboard heat). The thermostat was getting no power. I have no idea where the power was supposed to be coming from( old house, wiring is…somewhat sporatic. Someone probobly cut it at some point ), but that line was dead, so I figured I could jump a line off of the light switch power supply.
I spliced into the line running to the lightswich, but the line I spliced into to power the thermostat and heater only has power when the light switch is in the off position. Turn the light on and the power to the thermostat cuts out
I can get power to the thermostat all the time by grounding it separately - the hot lead would be coming from the light switch and another wire would be screwed into the metal box the thermostat is mounted in. I’m wondering if that would cause a problem.
I donno what you are doing or trying to do, but stop doing it - sounds very dangerous to me messing with the water heater. Are you trying to take power off a light bulb circuit ? (the circuit may be rated for lower voltage/power).
Old house, haphazard wiring, and you want to run a separate neutral…
Tip: in an old house, the switch is not necessarily on the hot wire - it may be switching the neutral.
Before playing, get an indicator which will identify hot and neutral - then find a matched set - DO NOT PLAY MIX-AND-MATCH.
And, while you’re at it, install a GFI outlet, and run the heater downstream.
IOW, you’re in for a real fun time trying to trace a line all the way back to the main panel. It would probably be easier (and safer) to run a new circuit - but unless you have an unused c/b, you don’t want to do that - you might overload the existing circuit.
Disconnect your heater from the lighting circuit a.s.a.p.
There are plenty of reasons for it, not least that if a fire occurs it could well affect your insurance.
You will need to run a separate supply right from the box, or maybe oick up your power from a wall socket.
p.s. - the capacity of a circuit is determined by the service AND the guage of wire used - don’t think of replacing the 20 amp c/b - that is a house fire waiting to happen (which, if the insurance investigator finds, invalidates your insurance)
p.p.s - if you pick up the line at an outlet:
is the outlet switched? probably not
verify the polarity of the lines - something drawing 20 amps is not to be played with.
The baseboard heater that was in the bathroom has been disconnected for a few days. There are no wall sockets in the bathroom, so he can’t run power from there.
I’m freezing my toes!
The heater most likely needs a dedicated circuit. In other words, it needs its own 20 A breaker and 12 AWG wiring.
Do not hook one of the heater’s current-carrying conductors to the earth ground connection.
At a minimum you’ll need a hot and a neutral. I’m not sure about the chassis; it is usually connected to earth ground, but in some cases it is wrong to connect it to earth ground (e.g. heaters with exposed elements). Perhaps someone can shed some more info on this.
Is it at all possible that this thermostat is not intended to switch line voltage but is instead intended to be switching a control-voltage circuit (i.e. 12v or 24v)? Certainly something (probably bad) will happen if you run line voltage thru that circuit, which may or may not explain some of the behaviour he is seeing. I could be way off base, but I am sure some thermostats are for line voltage (I’ve got one at home) and some are only for control circuits.
Weirddave, electricity, especially in a bathroom, is not a good candidate for learning by trial and error. Disconnect whatever you’ve done, and call an electrician.
Let me make it clear that I haven’t done anything other than splice a line into the light switch, one that dosen’t go anywhere yet. When I came to something I didn’t understand, I posted this thread.
The heater may have been disconnected for a reason. Also, is the heater 110volts or 220volts? It may require two hot wires to make it work properly, not just one. If it was 220v. one of the hot wires may have run through the stat and the other went directly to the heater. We can`t know without seeing and testing the circuit. Please call an electrician to verify what you have, then make the determination to fix it or not.
It sounds like you are getting a ground threw the the light bulb and when you turn on the light bulb the resistance of the bulb changes and you are unable to have enough ground to run the heater. Or I could be wrong. Come off a plug circuit. Make sure it is fused or has a circuit breaker. You dont want to turn the wires into a heater it will burn your house down.