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malspapa1

11:00PM | 05/21/07
Member Since: 05/21/07
2 lifetime posts
Bvelectrical
I have a 5 cubic ft. 115 volt 5 amp 60 Hz freezer. Was wondering if I could plug it into the outlet that my sump pump is connected to, rather than adding additional outlet and breaker. The outlet is wired with 12/2 and on a 15amp breaker, dedicated for sump pump, no additional load on it. Sump pump is 115v 5.7amp 60Hz

TimBonham

03:09AM | 05/22/07
Member Since: 01/09/07
197 lifetime posts
The wiring can certainly handle this additional load. As can the breaker. Even with both of these plugged into this circuit, you are probably using only about 2/3rds of the breaker capacity. (Which is probably under-rated -- 12/2 would normally be a 20A breaker.)

The only problem might be if both the pump motor and the freezer compressor motor were to come on at the very same time -- they often draw a much higher current when first coming on. This might happen, for example, if the power was off and then came back on.

But this is only related to the physical wiring. There might well be something in the code, or your local code, that requires dedicated circuits.

malspapa1

04:57PM | 05/22/07
Member Since: 05/21/07
2 lifetime posts
I'll check to see if putting them both on the same will be to code here. Since I have the 12/2 I could change the breaker from a 15A to 20A to eliminate the possibility of any future problems. Thanks for the input.


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