Why do you think the power keeps going out in the back bedrooms?

[Yeshuasdaughter]

Hi, I am a professional electrician. Your circuit breakers trip when they are overloaded or wires are shorted together.
There is a 99% chance you have too many electrical devices plugged into that circuit. The other 1% is loose or frayed connections or gremlins (just kidding) Just about any air conditioner at minimum needs its own 20amp circuit in the US.30 amp or higher depending on the size and amperage draw of the device.
Assuming you have good connections and none are loose.
If you can get a new circuit run just for the AC that would be best.
Arc fault circuit breakers can be problematic with some appliances or devices.
If you have additional electrical loads on that circuit that trips, the wires are probably getting warm at minimum. Try turning off as much as you can on that circuit while the AC is in use.
Are there any lights on that same circuit?

Inrush current is another factor. When you plug in or turn on any electrical device it instantly draws a lot more amps than normal operating amperage (current). An AC compressor cycling on and off pulls a lot of amps. So does any motor.

Power strips allow you plug in more stuff. More stuff equals more amps. Too many amps trips the breaker.

In addition, loose connections cause heat which can be dangerous. Heat can eventually trip a breaker too, and damage its internals. There are specific jobs where all an electrician spends all day with a temperature reading laser pointing at every single breaker to identify overloaded or faulty circuits.

Most extension cords are made of cheap small wire that is not suitable for powering anything useful. At minimum any frequently used extension cord should be a minimum of 12awg wire as a safety precaution. They are mostly color coded these days. Quality sized cords are more expensive than cheap small ones. Never buy a cord smaller than 14awg if you can afford better. 12awg is better and good for 20 amps. 10awg is huge a fabulous, can handle 25-30 amps and is super pricey.

The wires of a circuit are sized based on the loads they serve, and the breaker is sized to the wire size and load. You cannot just put in a larger size breaker without increasing the circuit wire size, so don’t just add a bigger breaker to solve a problem.
Typical US sizes 14awg 15 amp circuits were most common for years for branch circuits (room outlets, lighting circuits)
14 awg = 15 amp breaker
12 awg = 20amp
10 awg = 30 amp
Specialty circuits might have larger sized wires and bigger breakers, like AC, oven, dryer, major appliances. Most refrigerators need their own 20amp circuit.

I asked our building's maintenance man. He said the circuits are 110 volts? amps? I can't remember. All I know is the number 110.

Our building is new, with many energy efficient features.

I use power strips that have on off switches and little black circuit breaker buttons on them for all my big drainers (electronics, a.c.'s, portable washing machine).

Do the power strips help lower the drain on the circuit?

Does the strip itself have its own phantom load on the breaker?

It seems to me that when things are plugged into power strips, the breaker doesn't trip as often. Is this true? Why?

How do I check the awg of a power strip?

 

[Au Naturel]

11.5 amps? That's a decent amount of amp, that'll trip things when it's combined with other things using electricity. 16 amps is the most common circuit here, close to 11, but maybe it's different in the US. You guys have 120 volts in your sockets, we have 220 here.

In the US a typical house circuit will either have a 15 amp breaker or a 20 amp breaker, depending on wiring gage. US voltage varies by a bit. It is 120 VAC in name only. Sometimes, it drops to 110, usually something in between. I always use 110 for my calculations.

A 15 amp, 110 volt circuit with nothing else on it should be able to handle 1650 watts, which is why we have so many appliances rated at 1500 watts. It gives a small safety margin. Blow dryers, space heaters, window AC units, etc., often max out at 1500 watts. If you run something else with more power than a light bulb on the same circuit, you will almost certainly pop the breaker.

Breakers also age and can fail in various ways and need to be replaced. I never rely upon a power strip breaker for high current draw appliances. The breakers in power strips can be unreliable and overloading one can cause a fire without the house circuit breaker popping. (I have seen it happen.)

 

[Au Naturel]

I asked our building's maintenance man. He said the circuits are 110 volts? amps? I can't remember. All I know is the number 110.

Our building is new, with many energy efficient features.

I use power strips that have on off switches and little black circuit breaker buttons on them for all my big drainers (electronics, a.c.'s, portable washing machine).

Do the power strips help lower the drain on the circuit?

Does the strip itself have its own phantom load on the breaker?

It seems to me that when things are plugged into power strips, the breaker doesn't trip as often. Is this true? Why?

How do I check the awg of a power strip?

Never plug an appliance like an AC unit into a power strip. It is a serious fire hazard. The breakers in a power strip can fail in the powered position, and the internal wiring is not always designed to handle high current draw. I have seen fires start that way. The main breaker doesn't pop, neither does the strip, but the power strip still catches fire because it gets too hot inside.

If you must use an extension cord, it needs to be the shortest one you can get that uses 14-gauge or thicker wire.

Always plug your AC unit directly into a wall outlet and ensure it is the only thing plugged into that outlet. (Ideally, it should be the only thing running on that entire circuit.)

"Plugging an air conditioner into a power strip can pose significant safety risks and should generally be avoided. Power strips are not typically designed to handle the high power demands of air conditioners, which can lead to overheating, electrical malfunctions, and potential fire hazards."

The Compatibility of Air Conditioners and Power Strips: Safety and Recommendations

 

[Rocco]

I asked our building's maintenance man. He said the circuits are 110 volts? amps? I can't remember. All I know is the number 110.

Our building is new, with many energy efficient features.

I use power strips that have on off switches and little black circuit breaker buttons on them for all my big drainers (electronics, a.c.'s, portable washing machine).

Do the power strips help lower the drain on the circuit?

Does the strip itself have its own phantom load on the breaker?

It seems to me that when things are plugged into power strips, the breaker doesn't trip as often. Is this true? Why?

How do I check the awg of a power strip?

110 is the voltage. 110,115,120 are all the same thing ultimately. The specific amount fluctuates but all of them will power most of what you plug in (unless it’s 220v to 240v)
Amperage what matters most for your problem.

Your circuit breaker panel, or electrical panel should be located in your apartment so you have access. There are numbers on the breakers, 15,20,30, 40, and so on. These define the allowable amperage on the circuit they power.

Power strips do not help with amperage problems, they ADD to the problem. Each thing you plug in to an outlet adds a “load” to the circuit.
Like putting rocks in a basket. If you put extra rocks in a smaller basket which you then place into a bigger basket, the weight increases. Same with thing when you plug into a power strip.

When it may seem like the power strip helps the breaker not trip, it is in fact the opposite. The only thing a power strip can possibly do is give small protection against a power surge or lightning strike (lightning is a big maybe) it does not increase the allowed amperage of the circuit. It’s just adding more “rocks to the basket making it heavier”.

The power strip itself only puts a tiny load on the circuit, like maybe 0.0x if it has an indicator light or super small wires. Power strips should be used sparingly. Adding one between a larger appliance (washer, dryer, refrigerator) and the wall is generally a bad idea because 1 it’s unnecessary, 2 the wiring in power strips is usually very small and unable to properly supply bigger appliances. 3 fire hazard, strips are not made to handle large appliances.
Never use power strips with heaters, air conditioners, refrigerators, blow dryers, or any large appliances.

In addition, any item used for 3 or more hours is considered “continuous duty” and to calculate the amp draw you must multiply by 1.25. For example of your ac unit is using 10amps and you use the ac for more than three hours, it is considered to be drawing 12.5 amps, not a simple 10 amps. 10A x 1.25 (125% load) = 12.5

These types of calculations are essential when designing any energy efficient system (house, factory, store, car)
Basically for your place, it sounds like they did not allow for normal devices to share a circuit with a portable AC unit. If you have central AC use that instead.

That would have its own dedicated circuit like the two 20 amp breakers tied together in the photo below. That “double pole” breaker supplies an AC unit. The other double pole in photo supplies an FAU (force air unit / heater) It also gives 220-240 volts to the ac unit, which uses HALF the amperage that a 110-120 volt circuit would use. In my industry we use 208 or higher volts (208,220-240,277,480v) whenever possible with motors because motors are horribly inefficient and drain/draw a LOT of amps

The awg (American wire gauge) of a power strip is largely irrelevant in your situation for general small items. It should never be used with an AC unit. The wires size for a strip should be on the UL tag attached to it.

The wire size is mainly critical for the circuit (wires in your walls) and for extension cords.
All wire has resistance known as R, ohms, or the omega sign. Extension cords add resistance to a circuit. However, larger sized cords (wire size not length) have more wire surface area to allow for more current (amps) to flow. Increased resistance lowers Available amperage when added to a circuit. This is why it’s bad to use long extension cords that are sized too small, for anything.
To expand on this the formula for ohms law
E=IxR or voltage equals current (A, amps/amperage) multiplied with resistance (R, ohms)
110v=20A x 5.5 ohms
110v= 15a x 7.33 ohms

Also E / R = I
E/ I = R
So you can find any value if you know two of the other values. (E I R)

On a given circuit you can only increase one aspect by lowering the other

A circuit uses amps to power a device. Power is typically watts or wattage which is loosely explained as volt-amps (voltage multiplied by amperage) 1650 watts = 110v multiplied by 15 amps.

Watts over a time period are what you actually pay for on your electric bill. Kilowatt hours KWh. In the example below the breakers are marked either 15 or 20. These are the amps allowed. Look at your AC nameplate and see how many amps it says it uses. Most modern portable ac units ask for a dedicated circuit which means only that ac unit is allowed on the entire circuit

Below is a nameplate for a device. I circled the Amp load of this device in red. The example I used draws 0.2 amps, next to nothing. An AC unit probably uses 13 or more amps all by itself. Which is the majority of any average 15/20 amp breaker.