Space Heater + Computer on same Circuit? (U.S)

[Collinator24]

Hey guys,

It's quite cold here and I wanted to plug in my space heater, with my computer on the same circuit and I'm not sure if that's okay. When I turn it on, my lights dim slightly. 

[BrinkGG]

1 minute ago, Collinator24 said:

Hey guys,

It's quite cold here and I wanted to plug in my space heater, with my computer on the same circuit and I'm not sure if that's okay. When I turn it on, my lights dim slightly. 

Need to know the wattage of your PC and Space heater. 

Max is 15 Amps at 120 volts. AKA 1800 watts. 

[Collinator24]

I have an 800watt pay, pcpartpicker says 414watts, which is likely untrue but that's what it says (i7 9700k, rtx 2080, etc) the space heater is a Dyson hot+cool and it says 1500watts. I have lights, a surge protector, a laptop, and a 10 watt lamp.

[Mira Yurizaki]

1500W is pretty much the limit that is allowed for home circuits. Though this assuming the heater is pulling the maximum its allowed to all the time.

 

So basically, no, don't use a space heater on the same outlet as a PC. Or maybe anything else.

[Uttamattamakin]

Don't do it.   If by outlet you mean.  Wall socket, surge strip, comptuer and heater on the surge strip DON't Do it.    If your wiring is to code and you live in a country where such codes are strongly enforced, a circuit breaker will trip long before having them on different sockets of the same outlet would matter. 

In short trust the wiring in your house WAY more than the wiring of any extension cord. 

Have to remind my mother of this every year.  Every year she puts a space heater on the same surge strip as our main TV and every year it just about causes a fire.  

 

 

[Bitter]

You SHOULD NOT have a 1500W heater connected to a surge protector strip, especially if it's a cheap one. The switches in them are often not capable of handling that kind of current and will melt/smoke/fire/bad.

[Founders]

You could grab one of these for $20. Measure your computer's usage at full load and the heater separately and make sure their combined consumption doesn't push past 1800 watts 15 amps. Your PC should be on a UPS and the heater should be plugged directly into the outlet with nothing else. Running both on one circuit/breaker isn't ideal but as long as you're safely under 1800w 15a you should be OK. 

[Donut417]

3 hours ago, BrinkGG said:

Need to know the wattage of your PC and Space heater. 

Max is 15 Amps at 120 volts. AKA 1800 watts.

Its acutally closer to 1400 watts because House hold breakers can really only do 80%, they can peak up to the 1800 watts but they can only hold a load at 1400 watts from what I have read. 

 

 

[amdorintel]

3 hours ago, Collinator24 said:

Hey guys,

It's quite cold here and I wanted to plug in my space heater, with my computer on the same circuit and I'm not sure if that's okay. When I turn it on, my lights dim slightly. 

 

3 hours ago, BrinkGG said:

Need to know the wattage of your PC and Space heater. 

Max is 15 Amps at 120 volts. AKA 1800 watts. 

 

3 hours ago, Collinator24 said:

I have an 800watt pay, pcpartpicker says 414watts, which is likely untrue but that's what it says (i7 9700k, rtx 2080, etc) the space heater is a Dyson hot+cool and it says 1500watts. I have lights, a surge protector, a laptop, and a 10 watt lamp.

what country are you in because it matters if you are on 110 or 220V

51 minutes ago, Mira Yurizaki said:

1500W is pretty much the limit that is allowed for home circuits. Though this assuming the heater is pulling the maximum its allowed to all the time.

 

So basically, no, don't use a space heater on the same outlet as a PC. Or maybe anything else.

 

[Donut417]

3 hours ago, Collinator24 said:

have an 800watt pay, pcpartpicker says 414watts, which is likely untrue but that's what it says (i7 9700k, rtx 2080, etc)

All you need to do is put a load on the computer. It will act as your space heater. 

[JZStudios]

I have to run an extension cord from another room, because for some stupid, godforsaken reason 2 of the bedrooms are tied together, and if I plug in the heater it trips the breaker.

Also US.

 

But that's going to 2 rooms, with mine running my PC and the heater, and the other room running it's own heater and PC. At worst your breaker will trip, if it does, just flip it back on and break out an extension cord, preferably a heavy duty one with a ground plug.

4 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

All you need to do is put a load on the computer. It will act as your space heater. 

...yes... but also no. Depends on how cold it gets, and your PC doesn't exactly blow it around the room.

[Animal901]

3 hours ago, Collinator24 said:

Hey guys,

It's quite cold here and I wanted to plug in my space heater, with my computer on the same circuit and I'm not sure if that's okay. When I turn it on, my lights dim slightly. 

You need to figure out how many outlets you have on that circuit. What all is plugged in.  Heaters should be plugged into the outlet by itself.  never a power strip or surge protector. Alot of houses have moved onto 20amp circuits. A dyson heater,  a moderm computer, and an led bulb should be fine.  It's normal if the light dims. That's why they started putting the lights all on 1 circuit by themselves, but modern code forced bedroom lights to be the same as outlets.. if you have a 15 amp breaker, make sure the outlet fits tight,  and don't put the heater on high.

[Bombastinator]

Can I argue for a more powerful computer on the grounds that they make great space heaters?

[amdorintel]

6 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

Can I argue for a more powerful computer on the grounds that they make great space heaters?

Not efficient heat though!

[Bombastinator]

22 minutes ago, amdorintel said:

Not efficient heat though!

Well... yeah....  but more computer! 

[Collinator24]

To clarify, they are not on the same socket. They are on different sockets, the heater is directly connected to the wall, and the computer is on a different socket through a surge protector. I have chosen that I will only run it when my computer is off, when I'm going to bed because my room gets quite cold. This is okay right?

[Dayglorange]

I live in an ancient house, and even in a modern home I would never run my computer and a space heater on the same circuit. I'm lucky, my computer does a great job at being a space heater on its own but most definitely NEVER run a space heater through a power strip/surge protector as they aren't designed to handle that kind of power. Unless you want this:

 

[GDRRiley]

2 hours ago, Caroline said:

Anyway I wouldn't do that if I were OP and had a outlet that can only output 1500W

now now now, some of us here have 240V service. or 20A+ breakers. While most of my house is 15A, I've got a back room that has 2 20am just for PC/servers

[amdorintel]

9 minutes ago, Dayglorange said:

space heater

thats what you get for buying at

Crap-O-Rama aka Any dollar store

on ebay/amazon/alibaba/aliexpress

 

re: burnt power bar

 

 

[Dayglorange]

3 minutes ago, amdorintel said:

thats what you get for buying at

Crap-O-Rama aka Any dollar store

on ebay/amazon/alibaba/aliexpress

 

 

LOL I custom built my computer myself, but nice try. Only reason its like that right now is because I'm stuck with an old GPU since my good one died and I'm a broke college student.

[Kisai]

4 hours ago, Mira Yurizaki said:

1500W is pretty much the limit that is allowed for home circuits. Though this assuming the heater is pulling the maximum its allowed to all the time.

 

So basically, no, don't use a space heater on the same outlet as a PC. Or maybe anything else.

One time, someone at the high school plugged in a space heater... into the main server UPS. Killed it, and took out the schools network. Fortunately this was 1996 and nobody really noticed since only the Library had much of a network.

[Mick Naughty]

Can’t say not knowing how the house was made and wired. 

I ran my old pc and the lights could dim throughout the whole house. 

Same with any large initial draw. 

 

Ended up upgrading as well as adding two dedicated quad boxes for the pc setups. No issues and power is a lot cleaner now. Up 10+ bolts too. 

[BrinkGG]

13 hours ago, Donut417 said:

Its acutally closer to 1400 watts because House hold breakers can really only do 80%, they can peak up to the 1800 watts but they can only hold a load at 1400 watts from what I have read. 

I think this depends on where the house is built and the building code he's in, but yes: In the US, most housing electrical circuits are 15 amp peak, not sustained. Usually around 13.5 amps from my experience. 

[Donut417]

17 minutes ago, BrinkGG said:

I think this depends on where the house is built and the building code he's in, but yes: In the US, most housing electrical circuits are 15 amp peak, not sustained. Usually around 13.5 amps from my experience. 

I’m pretty sure current code is 20AMP. But old houses will still only have 15 AMPs. 

[Some guy on the forums]

overclock your pc to increase the heat output and thus you get heat while gaming