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adding fireplace

poorboy
Explorer
Explorer
thinking about adding electric fireplace in cabinet below the tv. I only have 30 amp not 50 amp.
my questions are, has anyone done this, and are their places in the fuse box to add this? my brother has a factory built-in fireplace, but trips the breaker if he uses the fireplace and microwave at the same time. I have almost average intelligence, so I am comfortable doing the carpentry and electric install myself, but would like input from anybody that has done this.
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17 REPLIES 17

DrewE
Explorer II
Explorer II
Electrically, the fireplaces are usually just space heaters. If you can run a typical electric space heater, you could run the fireplace.

Assuming you want it on its own breaker, you'd have to see if there is space for a breaker or the option of swapping a single breaker for a twin breaker in your electric panel. As Dusty suggested, if you don't have room for another circuit in the panel, tying into the air conditioner circuit makes some sense as you generally would not be using both simultaneously.

I think you should be able to microwave and space heat and run the converter simultaneously if the batteries aren't really low and no other significant loads are present. It could be handy to put in a little AC ammeter panel of some sort to monitor your actual current consumption; I have installed one of these in my motorhome. I did put a low-amperage fuse in where the voltage sense line connects to the 120V system to protect the wires going to the meter in the case of a short circuit somewhere. Some of the EMS units also give a reading of current on their displays.

Bill_Satellite
Explorer II
Explorer II
You are going to need about 10 amps to run the heat in the fireplace. If you just want the ambiance it takes almost no power. On 30 amp service you will pop a breaker running the microwave, fireplace and your inverter/converter but might squeak by if nothing else is running.
What I post is my 2 cents and nothing more. Please don't read anything into my post that's not there. If you disagree, that's OK.
Can't we all just get along?

Dusty_R
Explorer
Explorer
I put in a toe kick electric heater, It's really a small electric furnace, and hook it to the same breaker as the air conditioner, that may sound strange but you are not gong to run them both at the same time.

As long as the electric fire place uses about the same amount of amps as the ac, not more than 80% of the breaker, it will be fine.