I could use some electricity help

Hopefully you can help me! Im living in a new(new to me) home. I have a very VERY basic knowledge of electricity and its working. I understand Amp/Volts/Watts and how they relate. I also understand my circuits are 15-20 Volts all labeled in the Circuit Box. What I have been trying to figure out is where exactly the circuits all go. They are labeled very basic. "10& 12 Air Conditioning, 11 Garage, 9 Washing Machine, 8 Lights, 7 Lights, 6 Lights, etc"... The numbers are corresponding to the circuit. There is also none labeled anything like "basement". So im pretty in the lost on where the circuits all go. What would be the safest way to go about figuring this information out? Would I be able to just turn off my electronics, turn off one breaker, then just go around testing all of the outlets to see if they are on or off?

My next question is this. I have a space radiator. Those kind on wheels that roll from room to room. They are excellent! Easily heat a whole floor. Up until now I have been running a 600w light, 2 High power inline fans, a couple other fans, and occasionally a few cfls off of the same circuit. I just tonight discovered that the space heater is rated at 12.5V!!! HOLY SHIT. All of these things cant be running off of the same circuit since its around 20v then... Do you possibly know if those space heaters run at 12.5v if they are at MAX HEAT or something? Maybe they run at a lower voltage when the heat isnt blasting?

Any help provided would be greatly appreciated!

For the circuit breaker, yes you will have to just do trial and error. Turn all the lights on and then flip the breakers off one by one and see which circuits are affected. And I think you mean 15 or 20 amp breakers, not V.

Volts is analogous to water pressure. High voltage is high pressure. Household in usa 110v or 220v.
Amps are analogous to a flow rate. Higher amps means more electricity will flow.

Yes the rating on the heater is the maximum draw. A lower setting will use less electricity.

They make tools for finding what circuit does what, but for the most part you can do it with a plug in lamp. Turn off the breaker, head around with your lamp (and a piece of paper cause if you are on this site your probably gonna forget) find what works and what doesn't then move on to the next. Other than that guy incognito is spot on

Yeah, get a piece of paper and draw a diagram of all the breakers so you can label each one as you go.

Thanks for the reply! I have some guess n check work to do.

You shouldn't be touching ELECTRICITY!
And NO, you don't have the basic knowledge....You don't even know the difference between Volts and Amps, this can be very dangerous!
I am not saying this to you to be an ass or even humorous! I am an electrician now for 13yrs. and it is dangerous! Please do more research or find a buddy that does this kinda of work.
Happy to answer any questions.....but I will not walked you through so you can do it yourself!

But i will tell you how to do it yourself!!! Cause i am not an electrician who thinks no one who isn't an electrician can work on anything electrical.

get a portable radio, plug it in, in any room, turn it up & go to your breaker box & turn them off & back on till you turn one off & the radio stops. leave that breaker off, go move your radio to another room & plug it in. if it comes on you have found another circuit, may take a couple tries/rooms. if you keep your grow op & your heater on diffrent circuits you'll be OK. peace jack

dr2brains said:

You shouldn't be touching ELECTRICITY!
And NO, you don't have the basic knowledge....You don't even know the difference between Volts and Amps, this can be very dangerous!
I am not saying this to you to be an ass or even humorous! I am an electrician now for 13yrs. and it is dangerous! Please do more research or find a buddy that does this kinda of work.
Happy to answer any questions.....but I will not walked you through so you can do it yourself!

Click to expand...

LOL. Not trying to be an ass, but ya definitely sound like one! My bad for mixing up two words. Does that mean I don't understand them? No....
I successfully, and very easily mind you, was able to figure out which circuits all of my lights/outlets were now tied too Took all of about 20 minutes and I have a very detailed diagram of the house electrical now. Not to mention I said very VERY basic. So no thanks for your help!

So my suspicions did end up true, and I am a bit baffled as to how. I have a 600w light/ballast using 5amp, two inline fans using around 1.5 total, and two other small fans using less than 1 im guessing. BUT I also have a space heater that is rated at 12.5 amps on it too. The circuit it a 15 amp circuit. How in the world has this been running like this for 2 months without any circuit break or fire etc etc? Anyone have any ideas? My only idea would be that the heater might only use 12.5 when it is heating to the MAX (which in my closet it only has to adjust a couple of degrees). Regardless I will be finding an alternative outlet to plug it into from now on. Im just confused!