Easy Math For The Breaker Box
Do you have a toaster that trips its breaker every time you use it. Here is some simple math to help you out with this problem.
** Electrical law for finding Amps from Wattage and Voltage is: >>
Watts/Volts = Amps
Household voltage is usually 120V for plugs and lights and 240 for the dryer ,AC/Heat, Oven. The most common breaker is the 20 amp breaker for 120 volts. Here is an example of an overloaded circuit.
– Toaster 1100Watts/120Volts = 9.17Amps
– Microwave 1500Watts/120Volts = 12.5Amps
– Total Amps = 21.67Amps
If you were using a regular 20 amp breaker it would trip every time you used the microwave and toaster at the same time (a 1500 watt microwave is not very common, usually they are 800-1000 watt).
If you are having breaker problems, try to determine how many appliances you have plugged into a single circuit. You may be able to move some appliances to different plugs to alleviate this problem.
Here is a link to determine common appliance watts. Appliance Watts
![[Google]]( http://www.popssurvivalguide.com/wp-content/plugins/easy-adsenser/google-light.gif)
Luke, Remind your readers that you can’t solve the problem by increasing the rating of the breaker from say a 15 amp breaker to a 20 amp breaker. The wire gage to the outlet may not handle the increased load and could cause a fire.
Yes, that is correct. If you have a 15 amp breaker it is possible that the contractor used 14 gauge wire in some areas that may need 12 gauge…14 gauge is ok for lights, you should never use it for outlets, but some contractors get skimpy and do it anyways.
Luke