Electrical advice-30A circuits

The short answer is if it is 14ga copper, it gets a 15 and if it is

Hopefully half the house isn't on that circuit, in which case it could be easily rectified. Sounds like it's time to get a pro in there, find out what all is wrong, before something bad happens.

Look at the size of the wires connected to the breakers. If #12 thena

You are using the tester correctly. They often beep if moved fast near objects. I seldom use one but if they do light up there is some kind of electrical field , even if it is static electricity like you get if you rub your feet acrost the carpet. I often just rub them on my shirt just to test them. Usually sticking it in one side of the outlet it should beep and not the other if there is power on the circuit, as one is the hot and one the neutral.

Americans make things so complicated. In the UK, we have all our outlets (or half of them, on two circuits) on a 30A breaker. Each appliance has a fuse in the plug, dependant on what that appliance is.

As pointed out previously, it took all the Queens horses and all the King's men a week to find the fault in Buckingham palace when one tea pot shorted out. Must be swell screwing around in the dark too, when all the lights go out because they are on one breaker. Why are you so backwards and cheap over there?

I bet you don't have 4.8 KVA homes as the defacto standard with some double that. We also have more required circuits. (2 in the kitchen, one in the laundry and one in the bathroom as a minimum plus the general lighting and appliance circuits. What is your typical main breaker?

Doesn't happen, as we have a fuse in every plug, rated lower than the main one. If my kettle shorts out, the fuse in the plug blows and everything else keeps on going.

No need for so many circuits. We typically have one (or two in larger homes) 30A 240V circuit(s) for outlets, one 30A 240V circuit for the cooker, one 15A 240V circuit for the water heater, and two 5A 240V circuits for lighting.

just for fun somone hangs a big picture and causes a short on a 30 amp circuit with 30 amp breaker.......

sounds like a excellent way to start a fire

You folks just do not have as many electrical appliances I guess. To start with I doubt air conditioning is that prevalent. In most of the US it is standard equipment. Our "cookers" (ranges) are typically 40a or maybe 50a. If you can't get natural gas, you will have electric water heaters and maybe even electric heat. Add a swimming pool, electric dryer, spa and perhaps a shop, then the loads add up fast.

Sorry I dropped a decimal place 48KVA.

In US terms we would call your ring circuit a feeder and the branch circuit is the cord beyond the plug. (last overcurrent device in the circuit)

Having any standard outlets on a 30A breaker is both dangerous and a code violation. There should be two 15A or 20A (single) breakers. Wire gauge determines if it should be 15A or 20A. #12 wire is 20A #14 wire is 15A

(15A breakers can be used on *either* wire gauge)

From what you said, I agree you need to have an electrician check out that wiring. It sounds like there are other violations and dangers, and they should be taken care of soon.

I like to advocate DIY repairs, but unless you're experienced with wiring, call an expert. It's a lot cheaper to hire an electrician than to replace a house and it's contents after a fire. (not to mention possibly loss of life).

My double electric oven is 40A, IDK what the electric cooktop is, but probably 30A? AC breaker is 50A, probably only pulls half that when it up and running. Hot tub is on a 40A. Electric dryer is 30A.

Like you say, mine is 48KVA, I have friends who have larger homes with 72KVA.

IDK that it's much different than doing the same thing with a 20A circuit. You'd get a bit more arc for milliseconds, but it doesn't seem that much worse at 30A.

Forgot that it's also 220V, instead of 120V, so I guess the available energy for arcing is 3X what it is here with a 120V, 20A circuit, so I agree, you have a point. How much more likely that is to start a fire in the milliseconds before the breaker trips, IDK. It would depend on what's around to ignite.

Cooktop is usually 20a but may spec a 30a circuit. A new 3 ton AC pulls 15-16a at the condenser (ampacity of conductor 19.5a, 35a breaker) and another 3-4a at the air handler with a typical 10kw heat strip (non coincidental with the AC) 60a breaker. My hot tub is on a

New 5 ton here. 50A breaker, and like I said, guessing maybe 25A, but maybe it's less. It sure uses a lot less electricity than the old one.

and another 3-4a at the air handler with a typical 10kw heat

Sounds about right. All of that info should be on the sticker on the condenser. That is the guide for sizing conductors and breakers. This is a link to the UL marking guide that explains what is on that sticker

I assumed it was due to what Tony644 said about ferret core transformers -- maybe the gerbil core ones were too short for the longer wavelength.

If you have one of those non-trip breakers.