Heat Press Electrical Issues In Apartments

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Heat Press Electrical Issues In Apartments

Post by Catspit Productions »

I was asked about a heat press running off an apartment fuse box.

“do you know/recommend any heat presses that would work in a standard household outlet, Jonathan? I was looking at the Ricoma's, and sadly they pull a little too much amperage for an apartment circuit =/”

I figured this should be a new thread so here was my response:

Yeah I’m not sure. I think the 120v 2200 watt unit would be like 18 or 19 amps which in my household circuit breaker is fine with the 15 amp breaker. If that is what you are referring to then I am unsure of any specific heat press to recommend. I think it would be a matter of finding the right unit with the electrical specifications you want.

I have a couple of items that draw heavily on the 15 amp breakers but as long as I am only using one item on that breaker I normally do not have any trips in the breaker. It’s only when I try to run an additional item off that breaker that it will trip.

For instance, my flash cure is 19 amps but I can run it on a dedicated 15 amp breaker. Now this may not be ideal, idealistically ;) but I think in the world of electricity it’s not that big of a deal.

All of the RICOMA heat presses I have sold so far would have most likely been running off household electricity with no special modifications. I have run heat presses in apartments here in Arizona as well but I never looked at the fuse box so I couldn’t tell you what it was.

But in general, I have never had any issues with tripping fuses with heat presses anywhere as long as they are the only thing on the breaker.

Maybe someone with some electrical know haw could add to this.
Jonathan Monaco
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Re: Heat Press Electrical Issues In Apartments

Post by Shamax »

That's the kind of news I was hoping for. I figured you could still run it if you're not doing anything else, but be careful about doing it for prolonged periods. ;) Being the dead of winter here in Appalachia, I've run afoul of our breaker limits from time to time (especially when my better half prefers the thermostat to be set to incubator-levels). I've priced some of the smaller units out there, and once you get up to 16x20 or 16x24, the Ricoma's don't seem to be much more than a Seiki/Sunie (and likely to last a lot longer I'd assume). I still look forward to any input the more electrically-minded may have since my knowledge doesn't extend far past "don't stick a fork in it" :mrgreen:
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Re: Heat Press Electrical Issues In Apartments

Post by Catspit Productions »

I'll second that Andy. And I'd love to hear more about it as well.

Electricity can be freaky.
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