I was vacuuming when the power went out in the room. I checked the circuit breakers, but they all seemed to be on. What should I do?

It sounds like you might have a tripped individual circuit breaker - check the circuits carefully... sometimes a tripped breaker handle does not move to the center position when tripped. You have to move the handle to OFF first and then back to the ON position to reset a breaker. 

Now, if your breakers are OK and you only have part of a circuit out, then it's possible that there is a loose connection somewhere. Usually a heavy load (such as a vacuum) will make the situation worse, causing you to lose power on the rest of the circuit downstream of the loose connection.

I have a device that runs on 115 volts  DC. Can I plug it into a 115 volt household outlet?

No - this would damage the device. Household receptacles operate on anywhere from 110 to 120 volts AC (alternating current). A DC device requires direct current, such as what is supplied by a battery. It can only be used on a household receptacle if it is connected through an AC to DC converter first.

I have an electric heater on the same circuit as my plasma TV. Whenever the heater turns on, a white band scrolls across my TV. What can I do to fix this problem? Would a surge suppressor help?

The lines are probably being caused by a temporary dip in power when the heater kicks on and surge suppressors can't do anything about voltage drops. The easiest and cheapest way to solve this problem is by plugging the heater into a receptacle on a different circuit than the TV. If it still happens, then you might have a problem with loose connections in the panel that is being reflected in the disturbances on the TV.

Lastly, if plugging the heater into another circuit is not an option, then you could purchase an uninterruptable power supply (UPS) and plug the TV into that. This device will eliminate noise and surges and can also supply additional power if there is a voltage drop.

I have two 120 volt circuits combined for my water heater. The circuit breakers say 30 on them. Is that amps? I am upgrading to a tankless heater that requires two 60 amp circuit breakers. Can I simply remove the 2 30 amp breakers and replace them with 60 amp breakers or is there more to it?

No - if you do this, you will risk starting a fire.
A new circuit would have to be run using the appropriately sized conductor to handle the maximum continuous load of the water heater plus 25%.

I bought an electric tankless water heater that requires three 60 amp circuits. I have a 200 amp service in my home. Is this going to use too much amperage?

Amperage is an on-demand value. An appliance will draw only the amount of amps it needs for operation, and no more. Voltage is a different story. An appliance must be matched to the correct input voltage or it may be damaged.

Check the manufacturer’s instructions for the total current (amperage) draw of the device. Just because it has three 60 amp circuits, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it will draw 180 amps. However, if it did, then you might have occasions where the main breaker for your house might trip from overload.

I have a 3 wire 220 volt connection to my electric range. I would like to move the stove to the other side of the kitchen. Is it possible to place a junction box in a cabinet where the old range was and run a cable from the junction through the toe-kicks under the cabinets to the new range location, where a new socket would be installed behind the range?

Sure, just be sure to use armored cable to protect the wires from damage since they won't be concealed in the wall.

More Appliance Questions