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Small Cabin Forum / General Forum / Electric wall or baseboard heater?
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Brettny
Member
# Posted: 1 Mar 2022 18:49 - Edited by: Brettny
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Quoting: WILL1E
Half way between the dark blue rectangle and the corner.

So it's in the bedroom? If so put a 240v heater right by it. 25ft of 12/2 or even 12/3 is prety cheap.

Reading through the thread more. 14g vs 12g. Use 12g. Theres not alot of cost savings in going with smaller wire. Also you need to use a double pole breaker for 240v. Tandem breakers are for 120v circuits only.

First thing to do is to pick a heater and thermostat.

Also 14 spaces fill up real quick dont they?

I have a 1500sqft house and have a 40 space pannel, no electric heating and prob only have 4 spaces left. Technically things like a microwave, fridge and washing machine should be on there own breaker..this dosnt include every bathroom, bedroom outdoor lighting and the kitchen outlets being on 2 circuits. Adds up quick. Being that your building a cabin I wouldnt do a home run on everything. My house is only 50ft long yet I used about 2000ft of 12/2 wire.

WILL1E
Moderator
# Posted: 2 Mar 2022 07:49
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Yeah, when i bought the panel I had it in my head i could use all the spaces, not realizing the 2 next to the main were not usable.

I may combine all the ceiling lighting onto one circuit, that will save me at least 1 spot.
That will then give me 5 spots left for the bathroom (lights, outlets) and kitchen (micro, fridge, counter outlets).

Nate R
Member
# Posted: 2 Mar 2022 08:15
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I was going to say something along those lines....not sure the loft lighting AND loft receptacles need to be 2 separate circuits, for example.

Might be good to look at your semi-realistic loading of each circuit and see what can be combined. that helped me lose a circuit or so, by adding up my worst case lighting/fan loads and combining more than I otherwise would have together.

Don't forget, NEC assumes 3VA/SF for general lighting and receptacle loads. That's like a SINGLE circuit for general lighting and (non-specific) receptacles for your whole place. You're already at...4?

WILL1E
Moderator
# Posted: 2 Mar 2022 11:58
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Agree. And the way things are wired so far, adding the loft lights to the loft outlets would be easiest. Biggest load the loft outlets would see is an in-room a/c unit if it gets to hot up there in summer.

The heaviest load on the living room outlets will be the pellet stove in winter and maybe an in room a/c unit in summer. Otherwise it's low load things like LED lamps or TV.

Not sure if exterior outlets can be on same circuit as interior ones as long as they are GFCI'd or if they need to be on their own (code wise)? If they can share interior ones, that would save a spot in the panel and alot of wire as i could just run a drop below existing interior outlets to where i want the outside ones.

Nate R
Member
# Posted: 2 Mar 2022 13:05
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AFAIK, there's no requirement for exterior outlets to be on their own circuit, just that they exist and have GFCI protection.

That's what I did on my place, both exterior receptacles I put in are connected to other interior circuits.

WILL1E
Moderator
# Posted: 2 Mar 2022 13:50
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Well that would free up another spot. I only planned on a couple. 1 on each end of the cabin and 1 where i hope to have a deck someday.

WILL1E
Moderator
# Posted: 3 Mar 2022 11:56
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Just realized that my loft outlets are wired with 12/2 and i currently have a 20amp breaker for them. The loft lights are wired with 14/2. So if i wanted to add those loft lights to the loft outlet circuits, i would have to drop that breaker down to a 15amp right?

If so, i might just use a couple more feet of 14/2 and chase those loft lights over the 15 amp light circuit for the other ceiling lights.

Nate R
Member
# Posted: 3 Mar 2022 12:38
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Yep, would have to make that 15A otherwise. So yeah, I'd keep the lights together on a 15, and leave the 20A outlets.

WILL1E
Moderator
# Posted: 4 Mar 2022 07:56
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Picked up that Cadet heater last night, man, alot smaller than i expected!

@Nate R the instuctions show only mounting the case of the unit to a single stud on the side. Did you frame yours in more than that for added rigidity? I swore i saw pictures from a distance that looked like yours was framed in more.

Nate R
Member
# Posted: 4 Mar 2022 08:08
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Mine is larger, the Cadet Twin, so it's 2 of your heaters wide. But yeah, I framed mine in more....had to as well, since it's set up to go over the drywall ideally, and I didn't have drywall to use the flanges on the box to hold it yet.
I also wanted to make sure the box didn't vibrate too much, noise wise.

WILL1E
Moderator
# Posted: 4 Mar 2022 08:37
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That's what i planned to do as well, even though it's smaller. I was just worried if the added framing would could issues heat wise since it's being boxed in more. The instructions didn't elaborate much about that type of install.

Nate R
Member
# Posted: 4 Mar 2022 08:57
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With the fans in the heater, I find the outer box doesn't even get warm to the touch after hours of running, and with R5 foam against the entire back. (I have the 3000W heater in my garage at home, too.)

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