Question about power...

[MikeP]

Wow, lots of good info here guys. Yes everything is fine at the moment and I'm not having any problems but I got thinking about all that power needed from those two plugs and figured I'd educate myself. I looked at the circuit breaker panel last night and everything is labeled (by the home builder) but it's pretty vague. I will have to flip some breakers to figure out what's what. I'll start looking into a dedicated circuit and GFCI. Any electrician reefers in Calgary want to help out

[mike31154]

If the electrical contractor that wired your home was on the ball, he may have split some of your room receptacles between different circuit breakers. It's a good practice and many electricians will ensure it's done that way. You'll find out soon enough when you start tripping breakers.

Vague is usually the best you'll get wrt labeling on CB panels. There's not much room for writing on those tiny tags. But it should at least provide you with some idea of what room(s) you're dealing with. This always amazed me when compared to aircraft wiring, where each individual wire is labeled every few inches with a circuit designation. From that code you can decipher exactly which equipment the wire is associated with.

Anyhow, check the other receptacle in your room and if it happens to be on a different circuit breaker, there's really no need to run another circuit. Just install a GFCI receptacle in the box and you're good to go.

[slakker]

If you do other electrical work once in a while as well, it may be a good idea to invest in an amp meter. One of those clamp on types that doesn't need to be inline with the circuit. Then you will know exactly the draw you're pulling on the circuit.