I have a breaker which connects to a small room and a built-in electrical heater in the wall in the restroom. When the heater in the restroom is turned on, the breaker will trip even if nothing is being used in the small room. I understand how to change breakers but I'm not sure how I can separate the heater to an independent breaker. How should I go about doing this?

 

Welcome to the forums! What is the wattage of the heater and the amperage of the breaker protecting it?

 

Thank you! It's a 1500 watt heater and a 15 amp breaker that's protecting it.

 

Assuming the heater is running on 120V, 1500W is 12.5A - which actually already over the (12A) you can have on a 15A breaker, without any of the other lights or receptacles factored in.

Is this an "in-wall" heater? Or is it a "Heatolator" - combination heater/vent fan/light?

Do you know anything about how the room is wired? As in do you know which fixture or junction box the cable goes to when it comes out of the heater?

Have you opened the heater up to see what size cable was used to wire it? How about the rest of the outlets in the room? It would be helpful to know if there was #12 cable used on the entire circuit, because if there is you can change the 15A breaker to a 20A.

Is there an unfinished attic or basement above or below the room you could use to run a new cable from the breaker box to the heater?

 

Thank you for the reply! I'll be taking the heater apart by next weekend (or sooner) to take a look inside. I don't know which junction box the cable goes to when it comes out of the heater yet. I'm thinking I may have to get a new cable just for the heater and a 20A breaker. The good news is that the wiring should be relatively easy as it's in the basement with drop down ceilings that can easily be temporarily removed. However I've never done this before so any advice/tutorials would be great.

 

Reading Wiring Simplified before starting your project should help give you a basic idea of wiring.