I am adding a shower to an exisiting half bath. Part of the project is
to add a combination heater/ventilator/light near the shower. The
heater portion of the combi unit draws 1500 watts. The present circuit
is #12 TW, about a 10 foot run from the breaker, which is 15 amps. It
presently feeds the light over the bathroom sink, two in-ceiling lights
and a porch light (all of which are now the screw-in fluorescent
"bulbs"). My questions a

1. Should I provide a separate breaker for the combi unit? (The reason
that I haven't just DONE IT rather than composing and posting this long
question is that the panel is maxxed out - all breaker positions taken -
and is so old that I'm not sure I can get a half-width breaker to
substitute for one of the full width ones. The brand is Federal, from
the 60's. Also, while the wiring run is just the 10 feet noted, it goes
around several corners and thru at least one box (the one with the light
over the sink) before it gets to the location where the switches for the
combi unit will be.)

2. Or, should I just go the easy way and replace the existing breaker
with a 20?

3. Last question. I want to put a wind-up time switch on the wire
feeding the 1500 watt heater. Will an Intermatic FD/FF series time
switch (rated for 20 A) last a long time, or will the heavy load eat the
contacts?

Thanks,

Henry