You must find the reason the existing breaker is tripping and fix it. If the circuit is overloaded, you will have to either move some of the load to a different circuit, or have the WHOLE circuit upgraded, including wiring and breaker.
You will need a licensed electrician to do any repairs or upgrades. You are not qualified to do this work.
IF YOU ARE NOT ALREADY SURE YOU CAN DO THIS JOB
SAFELY AND COMPETENTLY
REFER THIS WORK TO QUALIFIED PROFESSIONALS.
If you do this work yourself, always turn off the powerat the breaker box/fuse panel BEFORE you attempt to do any work AND always use a meter or voltage indicator
to insure the circuit is, in fact, de-energized.
Yes, if the load is above 15 amps, and below 20 amp., then obviously can go for 20 amps. If the tripping is not due to the Internal wiring fault. Be careful with the above answer. If the wire feeding the 15 amp breaker is only #14 then putting a 20 amp breaker on the same circuit will allow the #14 wire to become overloaded. A better solution is to fine out what is causing the breaker to trip. Check out what other loads are connected to the same circuit and try removing them. Then does the breaker trip. Experiment by moving some of the loads to other circuits. Motors starting amps are 300% of their running current. If there is a motor connected to the circuit and the circuit is almost at maximum load the motor starting might be enough to trip the breaker.
Absolutely not. If the existing breaker is a 15 amp breaker then the wiring that breaker is protecting is AWG # 14 gauge wire. A 20 amp breaker is used to protect AWG # 12 wire. Installing a double 20 amp breaker is just asking for a fire.
Yes, the 15 amp breaker can have "20 Amp" (12 Ga.) wire run from it, but it would be a waste of money as 14 Ga. wire is less expensive.
Yes. but the load rating of the circuit will be reduced to that of 15 amps.
No tandem breakers are of the same value.
If the 12,000 BTU A/C only requires 20 amps to run then yes you can use the same 12 gauge wire but you cannot change it to a 15 amp breaker. You will need to install a 20 amp double pole breaker. If it requires more than 20 amps you will have to replace the wiring and breaker.
A 15 amp receptacle is protected by a 15 amp breaker. The 15 amp breaker will trip on any current over 15 amps. So if the 20 amp machine draws a full 20 amps, then the answer is no. Due to some operations of machines they will not draw the full nameplate amperage until they reach a certain point in there cycling. The machine may run at the start but when it reaches that point it could trip the breaker. If the machine is not hardwired but plugged in, you could not run a 20 amp machine on a 15 amp receptacle, due to the different pin configurations on the plug cap.
If the full load amps rating of the motor on the name plate is exactly 15 amps you need to use # 12 wire. If it is a longer run you may have to go up one more wire size. The breaker size you need is 30 amps.
A 15 Amp extension cord can be plugged into a 20 Amp circuit. It is important that what you're extending does not require more then 10-12 Amps.
Yes, provided that you don't really need 20 A on the circuit.
No tandem breakers are of the same value.
If the 12,000 BTU A/C only requires 20 amps to run then yes you can use the same 12 gauge wire but you cannot change it to a 15 amp breaker. You will need to install a 20 amp double pole breaker. If it requires more than 20 amps you will have to replace the wiring and breaker.
A 15 amp receptacle is protected by a 15 amp breaker. The 15 amp breaker will trip on any current over 15 amps. So if the 20 amp machine draws a full 20 amps, then the answer is no. Due to some operations of machines they will not draw the full nameplate amperage until they reach a certain point in there cycling. The machine may run at the start but when it reaches that point it could trip the breaker. If the machine is not hardwired but plugged in, you could not run a 20 amp machine on a 15 amp receptacle, due to the different pin configurations on the plug cap.
If the full load amps rating of the motor on the name plate is exactly 15 amps you need to use # 12 wire. If it is a longer run you may have to go up one more wire size. The breaker size you need is 30 amps.
A 15 Amp extension cord can be plugged into a 20 Amp circuit. It is important that what you're extending does not require more then 10-12 Amps.
For typical residential house wiring 12 AWG wire is required for a 20 Amp breaker. If you change out the breaker for a 25 A breaker you would have to rewire the circuit with 10 AWG. In that case you could up the breaker to 30 Amps. All outlets and switches should be rated at the same voltage and current as the breaker.
A minimum of 15-amp breaker is "needed", but a 20-amp is often required by electrical code for that situation.
14 gauge will handle it with a 15 amp breaker. If you use 12 gauge use a 20 amp breaker.
Look on the heater and see what amps it is pulling. That will determine the wire size and breaker size. It must be on a dedicated circuit. 15 amps = AWG # 14 wire with 15 amp breaker 20 amps = AWG # 12 wire with 20 amp breaker 30 amps = AWG # 10 wire with 30 amp breaker 40 amps = AWG # 8 wire with 40 amp breaker
no. the breaker is 40amps.fire hazard
A circuit breaker protects the wires that the devices are connected to. If the devices that are connected to the circuit are 20 amps the wire size should be #12 wire fed from a 20 amp breaker. This breaker should not trip unless the circuit is overloaded or a fault occurs on the circuit. If the devices that are connected to the circuit are15 amps the wire size should be #14 wire fed from a15 amp breaker. This breaker should not trip unless the circuit is overloaded or a fault occurs on the circuit. Putting 20 amp sockets on this 15 amp circuit will work but the circuit is limited to the amount of load that can be plugged in. You will not get the full capacity of the 20 socket because the breaker will trip at 15 amps.