I recentley discovered during a kitchen remodel that the sunporch that was opened up to the kitchen has two base board heaters. These two base board heaters are wired with #12 wire with a 30 amp breaker. I have always thought that a 30 amp breaker should use a minimum #10 wire. Should this be changed? Please let me know what you think.
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Yes.
Change the wire to #10, or the breaker to 20 amp.
What is the wattage of the heaters? Are they 120v or 240v ?
Dave
My guess is that the breaker is too large, vs the wire being too small. Look on the heaters and find there rating plates. Assuming the two are wired in series (vs, eg, having two 120V heaters on a 240V circuit), you can add the amp ratings of the two to find the total current requirements.
So long as it totals below about 17 amps you should be OK with the existing wire. If it totals more, consider running new wire to one of the heaters (using a separate breaker), leaving the other on the existing wire (with a 15-20A breaker).
Brain freeze alert - "Assuming the two are wired in series (vs, eg, having two 120V heaters on a 240V circuit), you can add the amp ratings of the two to find the total current requirements."If they are two 240 in PARALLEL then you add the currents.If they are two 120 in SERIES and the same wattage ratings them use the current of one.However, IIRC, they are all rated in watts. So, if they are connected correclty, add the wattage and divide by 240 to get the load current.