Cobverting Watts to Amps SAFE HERP KEEPING 101

[JungleHabitats]

Ok well here is a FAST easy way for everyone to be a Electrican .... and fire check your herp rooms for power overloads which can lead to devistating results if you have a problem.


Converting Watts to Amps

The conversion of Watts to Amps is governed by the equation Amps = Watts/Volts

So lets say your herp room has 10 4x2x1 cages .Each of your cages has 60watts of heat on them , this gives you a total of 600watts of heat on those 10 cages.

So now lets say you have 3-4 lizards who like it HOT and lets say they have a 60w heat pad on the floor and a 100w bulb on the cage and you have lets make it 4 of these setups. Thats 4 x 160 watts which is 640 watts.

Ok now we have a 1500w space heater to help heat the cool room there in . so we now have the following wattage total in things WE know are plugged in which are as follows

Now we have 10 cages using 600 watts , 4 cages using 640 watts , 1500watt space heater to give us a total of 2740watts of things we have plugged into likely only 2-3 outlets with no less then 2-3 powerstrips in use right ?

Wattage / Voltage = Amp Load
EXAMPLE : 2740 / 120 volts = 22.8 amps


Now Who see a problem here if you are on only a 15amp breaker / fuse for that much wattage ?

Remember a 15 breaker is made to carry only a 80% load on it at all times whcih means on that 15amp breaker you should be carrying no more then 12 Amps on it , now we see with whats listed above we have already maxed the capacity of the breaker 2x's over almost.

Now lets say we have a 20amp breaker even given that there should be no more the 16 load amps carried at all times and the above layout of a typical setup is still over that capacity to carry a powerload as laid out .



Also there is a reason Fire marshalls turn down store inspections or write them up for drop cords .. most drop cords in stores and even home use are the small lamp cord styles 14ga - 16ga wire thats stranded which heats up FASTER then a thicker ga wire say like #12ga / #10 ga. If you MUST use drop cords getyourselves some good EXPENSIVE ones that are MINIMAL 12gauge grounded cords they will handle a load better then a lamp cord does .

Surge Protectors -

These can be got rather cheap now days to plug in your cords to , any power fluctuations they kick off power to the devices plugged in (THESE ARE NOT POWER STRIPS) .


Ill ad more on this later as im going to be putting together a page on m,y site outlinging these things , Nicole i would like to ask permission to use your photos as a picture of what can happen if things become overloaded . I think seeing the graphic images of that room will surely make ppl become aware of what they use and how they use it ... maybe even spend a few hundred dollars to have a lisc electrican come out and add a few outlets in rooms where people have there herps , and also ad many fire dectors to the rooms , if you use a LP gas heater add 02 detectors to the room ... thats all for now ...

[Heidi]

Is there a way to tell if the strips we are using now are surge protectors or just power strips? My concern is my home computer and work computer both together. I have two outlets and two power strips (that I don't know if they are surge protectors or not) in use for these two computer systems.

[JungleHabitats]

Well technically they call some power strips "Surge protectors" because have a reset switch on them but the problem is that most people will run a small 6ft lampdrop cord and plug in a larger wire gauge power strip cord into a thin lamp cord so you have a larger wire size at the source ( heat mats /lights etc) plugged into a ------------------lamp cord then going to a slightly larger wire in the 15 circut wiring thats a 14/2 gauge meaning that all the wires are #14 ga wiring on 15 amp circuts.

ill look up and post pics & links to a surge protector vs a power strip surge protector.

[Heidi]

Thanks, now I've got my kids having me test all the fire alarms and I can't get them to quit beeping every minute. Grrrrr... what a great night work I'm having.

[stu]

Where did you get your 120 volts number from?

[JungleHabitats]

Originally Posted by stu

Where did you get your 120 volts number from?

Thats a average number and actually since you asked it can vary the actual #'s when doing the conversions but not enoguh to make a difference in the overall outcome .


120 volts is the "Average power that most households in the US or atleast in the Southeastern region run to your outlets . This can vary in cities and towns across by anywhere from average of 119 volts upto 132 volts. Thats why many incadescent light bulbs are made 130v now due to power fluctuations on the grid system in the US a 120v bul will burn our fasterthen a 130v bulb will in normal use.
If you want to get anal and do a actual reading buy a digital meter for like $30 ( a decent one not a pocket meter type ) and stick it a outlet (READ INSTRUCTIONS IF YOU DO THIS ON THE METER) and check im sure you will fall between 115-125 volts AC current flowing in the walls .

Biggest thing i think that causes the largest number of fires is the use of drop cords in homes , herp rooms id tend to think it depends on whats kept in them . lizard keeprs are more pront having lights get knocked arounf on a cage and having a basking lamp in it sitting covered on a cage top be it wood , plastic (PVC / HDPE/HDPP/Wood ) what ever the material is a fire if not found in time this happens ALOTwith herpers and heat lamps placed on cages or cut outs forthem. Ask yourself if you have ever tripped or snagged a cord on a heat lamp dome on a cage /tank didnt think it moved and find it later that it did and was over the stack of news papers ? on the roll of paper towels ? or just sitting on the cage and heating up thats how fast a fire can start and there are more ways , heat pads that dont have airflow over then can build up ALOT OF HEAT! not saying its the pads fault but substantial heat build up can cause a fire hazard also so many things we take for granted in herp rooms are potential disasters waiting to happen.

Im gonna take pictures of some wiring do's and donts and post up here in the thread so people can see visually what to look for when checking these things for there cords etc .