Advice needed

[roberts26]

Hi,

Not sure If Iv posted this in the right place. Anywayzz I want a small advice. I have two computers in my room, of which one is a high end gamming PC and the other one is a standard pentium 4 with no fancy cards and stuff. Most of the time's both of my PC's are running in parallel. Now I am really worried abt the protection of my stuff. I knw there usually is a circuit breaker which prevents ur equipment from getting damaged bt I was hoping if it is possible to install individual circuit breaker for my PC's other than the one which is placed in the electric panel.

I dnt knw if it my question is legit or nt bt this is why I asked at the forum before calling in the electrician and than gettin embarassed infront of him.

 

[MikeMl]

Let me dispel a misconception for you; a breaker is not placed in the panel to protect equipment that is plugged into an outlet; it is there to protect the wiring running between the panel and the series of outlets powered by that circuit. If a branch circuit is overloaded due to too much being plugged in, or because one item plugged in develops an internal fault, it is the job of breaker to prevent your house from burning down. The last thing you want to have happen in the event of excessive current draw, is for the wire to heat up, melt off the insulation, and start a fire somewhere in the wall, attic, crawl space, etc where the wire is routed on its way to the outlet.

Breakers are sized to match the wire. 20A breakers usually feed 12AWG wire; 15A breakers feed 14AWG.

If you want "protection", make sure the power supplies in the computers have the correct sized power supply. Plug each computer, its monitors, printers, into its own multiport outlet-strip which has a built-in thermal breaker, and transient protection.

 

[roberts26]

Thx for ur prompt reply Mike and for clearing my concept abt circuit breakers. I am pretty sure that the power supplies are correctly sized. One more thing is it possible that If the breaker associated with my room trips I dnt want my computers to trip with it as well. Like it should not effect my computer. Coz sometimes when I switch on the light to my room everything trips which really annoys me as my computers are switched off as well.

Any ideas??

 

[roberts26]

Thx for ur prompt reply Mike and for clearing my concept abt circuit breakers. I am pretty sure that the power supplies are correctly sized. One more thing is it possible that If the breaker associated with my room trips I dnt want my computers to trip with it as well. Like it should not effect my computer. Coz sometimes when I switch on the light to my room everything trips which really annoys me as my computers are switched off as well.

Any ideas??

 

[smanches]

If turning on the lights causes the breaker to trip, then you have too much on that circuit. A typical house circuit can only handle about 1500 watts. Sometimes 2000 in newer houses. Count up everything attached to that circuit and make sure it's not more than that. If it is, move some of the items to a different circuit.

The breaker is doing it's job by tripping. You DO NOT want to bypass that.

 

[superfrog]

Are we talking resettable fuse or RCD there ?

 

[MikeMl]

Sounds like you need to hire an electrician to install a new branch circuit into your room. This requires that there are unused slots in the main panel, and the service to your house will supply the new circuit. You may have an older house that has only a 100A service. If the service/panel is maxed out, electrical codes prevent the electrician from installing new branch circuits/breakers.

 

[tcmtech]

If two computers and a light are tripping a 15 amp or larger circuit breaker they must be very high power drain systems or its one massive light! If that circuit is shared with other systems in the house it could be why you are having problems as well.

As for the power backup thats what UPS units are for.