Bumping up the power in room

[HFMedicinals]

So, quick question. I have a room in the basement that is secluded. I am running two tents inside the room. I have I believe about 6 outlets in the room along with the standard room lights. There may or may not be other outlets on the outside of the room that are tied to the same circuit/breaker in the box.

In the two tents I have approximately 1500 watts total running in them. That's air pumps, small fans, inline fan, and LED lights. This winter, I noticed when plugging in a space heater that the breaker tripped, which I am not surprised as it definitely went well above the 15amp breaker capacity.

My question is this. I want to bump up the breaker to a 20amp if possible because I am unsure if I will need to add another LED light in the future for my flowering tent as I want to expand it a little bit more. I was thinking of another 900w LED.

Can I bump up from a 15amp to a 20amp breaker without issue, or should I try and split the outlets and run wire to a whole new 15amp breaker? Swapping breakers is definitely easier than running a whole new line, etc.

Any tips or suggestions appreciated!

 

[Aksarben]

Swapping out a breaker for higher is a formula for a fire. The wires can only handle so much amps / watts at a given time. Exceed the breaker safety and you risk melting the insulation off the wires and starting a fire within the confines of the wall, which is not good. Run another wire and another breaker at 15amp for 12-2 copper wire with ground.

It is better to have less draw on a breaker and subsequent wiring than to run at or above the current (not pun) wiring limits.

 

[umbra]

I ran 220v @ 100A to my flower room for this very reason. Wire a new circuit for 20A with the correct wire gage and breaker to match.

 

[hollowpoint]

Stated amps is the max load as well....safety requires 20% less than max for the constant load...15 amp breaker 12 amps max....20 amp 16 amps max. I tend to lean to the over kill on safety side when it comes to electricity..I ran 10/2 grounded to flower room with 30 amp breakers. Also if you have any water concerns in grow room....please use GFCI outlets for your safety.

 

[umbra]

So you understand the math, 10A @ 120v = 5A @ 220v, power wise. The wire is all rated at 600v but then the current rating, so if you use a higher voltage it requires less current for the same power rating.

 

[hollowpoint]

Yes...when I bought my split level AC I had a choice of 110v or 220v...choose the 110v...was a bit cheaper but less efficient than the 220v. 220v splits the loads between the 2 lines so half the amps on each line in.