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STEP 3 OF 6 · ELECTRICAL

Basics of your home’s electrical system

The heaters run on your home’s own power. Ten minutes with your electrical panel before treatment day means fewer tripped breakers and a room that heats up faster.

ELECTRICALAbout 6 min read

Illustration of three wall outlets with power cords plugged in

YOUR 10-MINUTE POWER CHECK

What to do before treatment day.

Renting? We bring every cord and an adapter for every type of outlet. Your part is knowing your panel, so the heaters get the power they need.

01Find your panelUsually in a hallway closet, basement, garage or laundry area. Make sure you can open it.

02Label the breakersFind out which breaker feeds which outlets near the room you’ll treat.

03Spot the 240 V outletsDryer, range or air-conditioner outlets give the heaters extra power.

04Free up circuitsUnplug what you can on the circuits the heaters will use. Keep the fridge and freezer on their own.

HOW POWER REACHES YOUR OUTLETS

Two 120 V lines, one panel.

Homes in Canada get power from the utility’s transformer as two 120 V lines plus a neutral. The lines pass through your electric meter to the main breaker in your panel.

From the panel, each breaker feeds one circuit. A single-pole breaker uses one line and gives you 120 V for ordinary outlets. A double-pole breaker uses both lines, which adds up to 240 V, for big appliances like a dryer or range.

Why it matters for your heat treatment: our heaters use both. They plug into ordinary 120 V outlets, and the bigger models add a 240 V circuit for extra heat. Compare the heaters

Diagram: the line transformer feeds two 120 volt lines and a neutral through the electric meter into the service panel, where single breakers feed 120 volt outlets and double breakers feed 240 volt outlets

READ YOUR PANEL

What the breakers tell you.

Open the panel door and you’ll see a main breaker at the top and rows of smaller breakers below. Each one protects a circuit, and the number on it is how many amps that circuit can carry before the breaker trips: a 15 A circuit gives you up to 1,800 W at 120 V.

1Main breaker. Shuts off everything. Its number is your service size.
2Single-pole breaker. One switch = one 120 V circuit, usually 15 or 20 A.
3Double-pole breaker. Two joined switches = one 240 V circuit, for a dryer, range or air conditioner.

Many apartment panels are limited to 100 A in total. That is why we heat one room at a time: it leaves enough power for your fridge and everyday appliances.

CIRCUITS HAVE LIMITS

One heater cord fills a whole circuit.

Each 120 V heating element draws about 13 amps, about the same as a hair dryer on high, but running for hours. Two cords on one circuit will trip its breaker.

A 15 A circuit can supply1,800 W

One heater cord (13 A element)1,560 W

Hair dryer on high≈ 1,500 W

Laptop charger≈ 65 W

Why it matters for your heat treatment: every cord needs its own circuit. The heater maker tells you to put each power cord on a separate circuit, with nothing else sharing it. See the heater guide

KNOW YOUR OUTLETS

120 V or 240 V?

The shape of the outlet tells you its voltage and amps. The two on the left are everyday 120 V outlets. The three on the right are 240 V outlets for big appliances.

120 V · 15 AStandard wall outletThe most common outlet in every room.

120 V · 20 AT-slot wall outletOften in kitchens, bathrooms and newer homes.

240 V · 20 AAir conditioner outletFor a wall or window air conditioner.

240 V · 30 ADryer outletBehind the clothes dryer.

240 V · 50 ARange outletBehind an electric stove.

MAP YOUR CIRCUITS

Find out which outlet is on which breaker.

1Plug in a lamp or phone charger at an outlet near the room you’ll treat.
2Switch off one breaker at a time until it goes dead. That breaker feeds that outlet.
3Label it on the panel door with the room name, then switch it back on.
4Repeat for each outlet, plus any dryer, range or air-conditioner outlet. A circuit breaker finder makes this quicker.

Why it matters for your heat treatment: outlets in the same room are often on the same circuit. Mapping them first means each heater cord goes to a different breaker, so nothing trips halfway through the hold time.

≈ $11

What does the electricity cost? About $11 (estimate only): 9.3 kW (BK10-3 heater) × 10 hours × $0.1187 per kWh (BC Hydro residential Tier 1 rate) = $11.04. The heater cycles off once the room is at temperature, so your actual cost can be lower.

IF A BREAKER TRIPS

Don’t panic. Reset it the right way.

STEP 1Unplug the cordUnplug the heater cord on that circuit before you touch the breaker.

STEP 2Push it fully OFFA tripped breaker sits in the middle. Push it all the way to OFF first.

STEP 3Then back ONSwitch it firmly back to ON. Power returns to that circuit.

STEP 4Move the cordPlug it into a different free circuit. If it trips again, call us at (604) 925-0353.

GFCI outlets (with TEST and RESET buttons) are common in bathrooms, kitchens and outdoors. If one cuts out, press RESET.

Never tape, hold or force a breaker ON. A breaker that keeps tripping is protecting your wiring.

Use only the cords we supply, fully uncoiled. No power bars and no damaged outlets or plugs.

WATCH

Breakers, GFCIs and circuit finders.

Start with our own guide to your home’s electrical system, also on our YouTube channel, then two short how-to videos. Those play on YouTube in privacy-enhanced mode.