Another crawl space heat question...Electricians?

Lakesrider · 11-11-2012, 09:46 AM

Sorry. No. What I had was a 30 amp breaker on a 12/2 wire. Someone installed a 20amp 240V outlet, then cut off the 30 amp plug on the cord and installed a matching 20amp 240V plug. So the plug over-heated and melted. I thought it was a 20 amp dual breaker because it was labeled Basement heater. Well come to find out The 30 amp was on. Not labeled. ( I did relabel everything) I found that out by the tingle in my right arm when I touched the white wire and the ground at the same time. Now I had tested the wires with my meter and got nothing. It seems one side of the 30amp dual was burned out but the other side of it was not.. I bought a new 20 amp ( to replace the 30Amp) dual breaker, new outlet, and installed a 20 amp 4,000 watt heater. It has been running fine for the past few days. I did add drywall to the ceiling for a good portion of the area around the heater too. Nice and warm in there now. I have the heater set to the low setting which is only 9,000 watts.

Rusty · 11-11-2012, 11:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lakesrider

Sorry. No. What I had was a 30 amp breaker on a 12/2 wire. Someone installed a 20amp 240V outlet, then cut off the 30 amp plug on the cord and installed a matching 20amp 240V plug. So the plug over-heated and melted. I thought it was a 20 amp dual breaker because it was labeled Basement heater. Well come to find out The 30 amp was on. Not labeled. ( I did relabel everything) I found that out by the tingle in my right arm when I touched the white wire and the ground at the same time. Now I had tested the wires with my meter and got nothing. It seems one side of the 30amp dual was burned out but the other side of it was not.. I bought a new 20 amp ( to replace the 30Amp) dual breaker, new outlet, and installed a 20 amp 4,000 watt heater. It has been running fine for the past few days. I did add drywall to the ceiling for a good portion of the area around the heater too. Nice and warm in there now. I have the heater set to the low setting which is only 9,000 watts.

WOW!! 12/2 wire going to a 30 amp dual breaker. You are lucky that the only thing that happened was a burnt outlet.

Now you have a 20 amp dual breaker that goes to your 20 amp 4000 watt heater. So my question is: What do you have hooked to the other side of the dual breaker? Do you have a dual breaker because you ran out of room in your panel for a single pole breaker?

KDL · 11-11-2012, 04:11 PM

I agree, permanently installed baseboard heat would be the way to go. I would install an 8' high density 2500W, or two 5' 1250W units on each side, with it's own thermostat and own 15A 240V circuit. Two of everything would give you redundancy in the unlikely case one would fail.

A 20A circuit for a 4000W heater is under sized, especially for a cord and plug connected heater.

Lakesrider · 11-12-2012, 03:42 PM

It is what was called for in the instructions. It only draws 16amps at the high setting and I am leaving it on the low 1500 watt setting. Sorry not 9,000 like I posted above.
Been several days and it is still fine.
I won't do anything else to it. I will get a lic electrician if it should need more work.

Can't have a single breaker on 240V. Needs two legs so a double breaker.

SIKSUKR · 11-12-2012, 04:29 PM

Double pole breaker.

willcastner · 12-27-2012, 12:58 PM

Looks like you got lucky there. With a crawl space of basement there is a few different ways to insulate. if there are plumbing pipes or heating system down there the walls should be insulated. Many people insulate the ceiling of a basement or crawl. In MOST cases this is the wrong way. By insulatiing the ceiling you are pushing the plumbing and/or heating system out side the heating envelope. This cause efficiency/comfort issues due to unused heatloss from any heatsource and pipes to freeze.

This can be something you can address and often times by fixing eleminate the need for a heater down there all together.

11-12-2012, 04:29 PM	#5
SIKSUKR Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 5,075 Thanks: 215 Thanked 903 Times in 509 Posts	Double pole breaker. __________________ SIKSUKR

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11-11-2012, 09:46 AM	#1
Lakesrider Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 2,129 Thanks: 380 Thanked 1,016 Times in 345 Posts	Sorry. No. What I had was a 30 amp breaker on a 12/2 wire. Someone installed a 20amp 240V outlet, then cut off the 30 amp plug on the cord and installed a matching 20amp 240V plug. So the plug over-heated and melted. I thought it was a 20 amp dual breaker because it was labeled Basement heater. Well come to find out The 30 amp was on. Not labeled. ( I did relabel everything) I found that out by the tingle in my right arm when I touched the white wire and the ground at the same time. Now I had tested the wires with my meter and got nothing. It seems one side of the 30amp dual was burned out but the other side of it was not.. I bought a new 20 amp ( to replace the 30Amp) dual breaker, new outlet, and installed a 20 amp 4,000 watt heater. It has been running fine for the past few days. I did add drywall to the ceiling for a good portion of the area around the heater too. Nice and warm in there now. I have the heater set to the low setting which is only 9,000 watts.

11-11-2012, 04:11 PM	#3
KDL Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 120 Thanks: 0 Thanked 15 Times in 12 Posts	I agree, permanently installed baseboard heat would be the way to go. I would install an 8' high density 2500W, or two 5' 1250W units on each side, with it's own thermostat and own 15A 240V circuit. Two of everything would give you redundancy in the unlikely case one would fail. A 20A circuit for a 4000W heater is under sized, especially for a cord and plug connected heater.

11-12-2012, 03:42 PM	#4
Lakesrider Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 2,129 Thanks: 380 Thanked 1,016 Times in 345 Posts	It is what was called for in the instructions. It only draws 16amps at the high setting and I am leaving it on the low 1500 watt setting. Sorry not 9,000 like I posted above. Been several days and it is still fine. I won't do anything else to it. I will get a lic electrician if it should need more work. Can't have a single breaker on 240V. Needs two legs so a double breaker.

12-27-2012, 12:58 PM	#6
willcastner Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2012 Posts: 13 Thanks: 0 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	Looks like you got lucky there. With a crawl space of basement there is a few different ways to insulate. if there are plumbing pipes or heating system down there the walls should be insulated. Many people insulate the ceiling of a basement or crawl. In MOST cases this is the wrong way. By insulatiing the ceiling you are pushing the plumbing and/or heating system out side the heating envelope. This cause efficiency/comfort issues due to unused heatloss from any heatsource and pipes to freeze. This can be something you can address and often times by fixing eleminate the need for a heater down there all together.