Is your heat press on a dedicated circuit?

[knucklehead 530]

  Just got through giving a long winded reply to BigTracy, about why not to use an extension cord on a heat press. Got me to thinkin, how many of you have your press connected to a dedicated circuit? and that doesn't mean, the heat press is the only thing plugged into that outlet, or worst case, using an extension cord, or a power strip? Do ya'll know what a dedicated circuit is? Do you know what happens when wires are overloaded, and overheat inside of your walls? If you can't give a definite YES, to the subject of this post, then you need an appointment with a qualified/licensed electrician. Thanks  Mike

[Guest fivestar]

If you can't give a definite YES, to the subject of this post, then you need an appointment with a qualified/licensed electrician. Thanks  Mike

Or just know what the hell you're doing. Yes mine is on a dedicated circuit.

[swaneejuggalo 0]

Mine is but there's no reason to scare people off  electric is not that hard i guess for the common person but don't most presses pull less amps than a electric stove

[pungohboy 0]

Yes mine is on a dedicated 20amp circuit.

[knucklehead 530]

Not trying to scare, anyone off, but if I "scare" one person into getting proper wiring, and maybe not burning their house down, with the children in it, well just call me Mr.Scary. I posted this for the beginners that want to buy a heat press, plug in the nearest outlet in the room, not thinking anything about all the other stuff running on the same circuit, at the same time, or running a hundred foot extension cord out to the shed. Next time you see a fireman, ask him/her, what is the biggest cause of house fires today? How many of these folks purchasing heat presses, are qualified to run a new wiring circuit? How many even know what a dedicated circuit even is? And Mr. Fivestar, if heaven forbid, anything happen to your wiring job, and causes a fire, you turn it in to your insurance company, after they investigate and find out you did it, and you're not a qualified/licensed electrician, they're gonna tell you, you should have spent that 150 bucks or so, to have an electrician do it. 

[Dakotagrafx 7,297]

A local nurse that used to teach lamaaze and fire safety (stay low stay calm, etc) at the hospital a few years ago had a house fire because they thought they had big enough extension cord for their christmas display.  The house caught on fire and she was in the upstairs beedroom.  she called 911 to report the fire and was very coherent, she had an escape ladder under the bed but they later determined she was afraid to use it.  This was a person that was trained and did training for others.  My point is Just be carefull whatever you do. I don ot want to get into the whole competent homeowner and license electrician thing (I have seen the work of licensed electricions that I would not let work on my house . . .what ever course you decide just use extreme caution when working with heavy loads.  an electric stove is also supposed to be on a 220 dedicated circuit.

[knucklehead 530]

I also posted this question on another forum, here is a good answer;    Hi. I have about four short extension leads 'chained' in sequence in my work room, giving me about twelve sockets. The two presses are at the end of that chain.

Before someone says that's dangerous, I am a fully qualified electrical engineer and only have one press operational at a time. The computers, cutters and printers only draw a small currrent and everything has graduated fusing.

[Rodger 527]

A local nurse that used to teach lamaaze and fire safety (stay low stay calm, etc) at the hospital a few years ago had a house fire because they thought they had big enough extension cord for their christmas display.  The house caught on fire and she was in the upstairs beedroom.  she called 911 to report the fire and was very coherent, she had an escape ladder under the bed but they later determined she was afraid to use it.   This was a person that was trained and did training for others.  My point is Just be carefull whatever you do. I don ot want to get into the whole competent homeowner and license electrician thing (I have seen the work of licensed electricions that I would not let work on my house . . .what ever course you decide just use extreme caution when working with heavy loads.  an electric stove is also supposed to be on a 220 dedicated circuit.

talking about the nurse in the past tense means she didn't make it ?

  I have my heat press on a circuit that is not used by anything else " while "  I'm using the heat press . Do you think that is safe enough ? It has never tripped the 15 amp breaker , but I have not used it much either .

regards , Rodger

[Dakotagrafx 7,297]

No she did not make it . . .

Maybe someone more qualified could answer for sure ( I know ther are a couple fo firemen out there) but I would think if it is on a circuit that nothing eles is used on at the time should be ok - as long as the breaker is appropriate for the wiring size run to the item. the itdea is to not overload the wiring which would cause the fire.  House fires spread so quickly . . .it just pays to be cautious.  I plan to use mine on a 20amp circuit.  See how much your press draws to see if the circuit is large enough

[knucklehead 530]

Rodger, that's gonna have to be your call. A heat press is pushing that 15 amp circuit by-itself, if you want to calculate the amperage something pulls, divide the watts, by the voltage= amperage. My press pulls 1800-1900 watts, when heating, then it drops to around 1100-1500 just to keep the heat. Lets figure average 1500 watts, divided by 110 volts, gives and average amperage draw of 13.6 amps, that's just for the press, a circuit in a house is pretty much referring to rooms, how much other stuff is running in the room?; lights, radio, tv set, computer etc. etc. Is this wiring relatively up to date, old house= old wiring, 12 gauge/14-16, copper, aluminum???  Don't take my word for it, I'm not an electrician, "electrical engineer", or nothing, just trying to inform some of the new-comers to the world of heat presses, that there's more to it than just plugging the sucker in, and letting it rip. I haven't used mine a whole lot either, but one thing I've noticed, it would be REAL easy to forget to turn it off at night. Applause for you and BigTracy, all I wanted to do was to get one person to think about their wiring, and electrical load, and maybe not burning their house down. I really wish we could get a rep. from one of the manufactures to chime in on this, I think it would go a lot further than my ramblins'. Thanks for Thinkin'.   Mike

[Rodger 527]

Hey Mike , ( it's alot more fun to call you Knucklehead  ) ,

I agree .. oh thats another thread  ... but I do agree it's best to be safe than sorry . I have 12-2 wiring & since i have higher amp breakers on the same sized wire , not tripping the breaker makes me feel ok using mine as I do . I have seen some people just put a bigger breaker in when it trips too much .That i would be worried about .

Regards , fellow Knucklehead Rodger

[mustangconv85 0]

here if anyone wants these are from the 16" x 20" Hotronix

[laras4labs 4]

Hi.  Please don't think that I am an idiot, because I am newly single and I don't know much about electricity except that it shocks the crap out of you in water and it causes fires and it sucks when it goes out during a storm.  I do know not to stick a fork in a toaster. 

My question is.... my house is only a year old, the standard plugs on the wall, can a heat press be plugged in just by itself or do I need to have someone come here and check my breaker box first?  I know there is some heavy duty 4 plug thing in the basement with the freezer plugged into it.  Is something like that okay? My ex used that for powertools and a miter saw. Like I said, please don't make fun of me, I really don't know and I know if I called him, he would make sure that I would burn the house down, even though he is the one that wanted me to keep it, (long story and nobody cares anyway).  Thanks in advance

[knucklehead 530]

Lara, you should be OK, as long as you don't have a lot of other things running in the same room, and try to plug the press directly into the wall, by itself, instead of an extension cord, might have to do a little re-arranging, then if ya start tripping the breaker you'll know you're overloading the circuit, and need to make an appointment with an electrician, maybe an also newly single electrician. Other than that, all I would suggest is to maybe get someone to check and make sure the outlet you're plugging into is properly grounded, even though your house is new, and should have up to code wiring, that don't mean the electrician(s) hooked up all the wires properly, my house isn't that old either, and I had to go behind the electricians, and fix a few outlets. Have fun with your press!

[sprocketbox 0]

Along this vein I am considering getting a Sunie heat press and was wondering if it would do okay in my office, plugged directly into the wall. After looking at the house plans I believe the room I am in is on a 15 amp breaker. The information on the heat press is here: http://sunie.com/store/sunie_viewItem.asp?idProduct=3440

If I buy this and try it out, I'm not going to set my dog on fire am I? 

Thanks