* ATTN ELECTRICIANS* Doubling a 15 amp 120V circiut... Possible?

[XXXJAYXXX]

Hey everyone, just wanted to reach out to the electricians on here with a bit of a technical question.. I have a friend who is setting up a room that has 3 x 15amp circiuts run to it with standard 15amp 2wire cable. He wants to pull about 20-25 amps through his timer.. but we are trying to avoid running a new wire if possible. Just wondering if it would be ok to wire 2 of the 15 amp circiuts together at his timer so that he can run up to 30 amps from it? Thanks in advance for your input!

XXXJAYXXX Reviewed by XXXJAYXXX on 06-02-2013. * ATTN ELECTRICIANS* Doubling a 15 amp 120V circiut... Possible? Hey everyone, just wanted to reach out to the electricians on here with a bit of a technical question.. I have a friend who is setting up a room that has 3 x 15amp circiuts run to it with standard 15amp 2wire cable. He wants to pull about 20-25 amps through his timer.. but we are trying to avoid running a new wire if possible. Just wondering if it would be ok to wire 2 of the 15 amp circiuts together at his timer so that he can run up to 30 amps from it? Thanks in advance for your input! Rating: 5

[Shovelhandle]

sorry, no. He needs to use the correct wiring and circuit breaker. BTW, What are the details of this timer that will handle 20-25 amps 'through' it?

[XXXJAYXXX]

Thanks for the info! Its an intermatic T-104 timer.. rated for 40 amps ;-)

[Shovelhandle]

That's a nice industrial timer and should work for a long time without any trouble. The rating is for a resistive load. That means there is no surge in current on start-up. Coil and core type ballasts are an inductive load, which does have a current spike on startup. None the less, that timer will easily handle 20-25 amps continuous HID lighting load. A 20-24 amp load will need # 10 awg wire and a 25 or 30 amp breaker, a 25 amp load would be just a little over the limit for that and code requires the next size wire (#8) and breaker (35 or 40 amp).

FYI, a 30 amp rated wire can only feed a 24 amp load (80% max). If you put 30 amps on a 30 amp breaker you are on the trip current and that's not what you want to happen.

[TANKJR]

Right On Shov! Also make sure to use a HVACR time delay type breaker...you'll have fewer nuisance trips if you do.

[XXXJAYXXX]

He is actually running Induction Lighting... Which to my knowledge has very little spike on start up... But thanks for the info!