How many appliances should be on one breaker?

[devnull]

Are you using 14ga wire on a 30 amp breaker?

[expert.electrician]

Maybe the wire got old and just ran out of electrons!

[DerbyDad03]

For the OP:

Just to be 100% clear, backstabbed wires will go into holes in the back of the receptacle. The screws are not even involved. Newer clamping style receptacles may have wires that are not wrapped around the screws, but instead inserted into the clamps that are tightened by the screws.

Since the wires do indeed come in from the back, and are essentially "stabbed" into the clamps, the uninitiated might be confused.

This is a backstabbed receptacle:

This is newer clamp style receptacle. Note the "stabbing" (sort of) but also note the location of the wires vs. the traditional backstabbed receptacle.

[FromTheRafters]

Yes. There is at least one nymshifting poster here who asks inane questions and then adds more questions as the thread progresses. IOW, another troll.

[philo]

Three minimum

one for lighting

one for refrigerator (and not a GFC)

one for all the rest.

I recently rewired my kitchen to put every single appliance on it's own circuit. (Plus a few spares)

For me it was an easy job as my 200 amp panel had plenty of spare slots and it is directly beneath the kitchen

[trader_4]

An 80% rated breaker may trip if it's subjected to greater than 80% current, but it will take a long time. It depends on the temp environment the breaker is in, how much above 80% the current is, and how long it continues at that level. If it's a typical kitchen and the toaster pushes it to 90% for 5 mins while making toast, it's not likely to trip unless the breaker is already in a hot environment.

Not only recommended, it's code in most cases. An exception would be the refrigerator, which isn't a large load at all and can be on a shared circuit, though it may not be a good idea for obvious reasons. Most new ones are under 100W continuous.

[01001100110]

It's 12 gauge copper wire throughout the house.

[01001100110]

The overhead light is on the same circuit.

[01001100110]

Bill you're about as helpful as hemorrhoids.

[01001100110]

12 gauge wire on 20 amp breaker.

[01001100110]

I guess it's a good thing I bought the new breaker box with 20 slots. I'll take your advice and put them on separate breakers.

[gfretwell]

There are rules about acceptable loads on a breaker but if you look at the curve data on a breaker you will see that it should hold 100% of the rating pretty much forever at 40c. There will be some variance due to manufacturing tolerance but it ranges from ~.95% to 1.25% There is an example of a trip curve graph here.

The code only addresses fixed in place equipment. For example, that would include a microwave built into a range hood or bolted to a cabinet but not one sitting on the counter.

[trader_4]

How about washer/dryer? I thought code required a separate circuit for laundry and a separate circuit for an elec dryer.

[Bill]

Sorry, but, if you are not a troll, I can tell from your post that you are in over your head. Someone who doesn't know an amp from a volt shouldn't be in charge of your situation. Get a professional to come in and fix things for you--you certainly are not going to remedy the situation yourself, even with Internet help. You're more likely to end up hurting yourself or your property--perhaps permanently.

[gfretwell]

Since the electric dryer is 240v and most washers are 120v they will be on different circuits anyway but if you are talking about a washer and gas dryer (motor and igniter), they can both be on the laundry circuit.

Some might argue that they are both "fixed in place": because they both connect to something on the wall (water and drain for the washer, exhaust for the dryer) The code would be silent on one of those portable washers that roll up to a sink, connect to the faucet and you drop the drain hose in the sink. I haven't seen one in 60 years but my sister had one in an apartment in the late 50s. The "dryer" was a rope on pulleys out the window.

[DerbyDad03]

What does the code say about the gauge of the rope that must be used for the dryer? ;-)

[trader_4]

But noth "It is recommended to put large appliances on it's own circuit, such as stove/range, refrigerator, washer, dryer and even a microwave."

Can you put a stove/range and dryer on the same circuit? I don't think so. Washer dryer on the same circuit as a stove? I don't think so, etc. And as I said, the refrigerator isn't even a large appliance, current ones only pull like 100W. My main point is that there is a lot of code that forces stoves and a washer to be on separate circuits, it's not just about being "recommended".

[danny burstein]

In [e-mail] writes: [snip]

Not quite, and this is a way to get lots of head scratching.

I've measured my own refrig/freezer and yes, the running current draw is roughly 100 watts. (Don't recall exact reading, but that's within the range).

However, and this is a BIG HOWEVER, when the unit goes into its "automatic defrost" cycle, the heater pulls about 500 watts.

Yes. Really.

And that's a big enough number to cause grief on any moderately loaded circtui.

[trader_4]

IDK about causing grief on any moderately loaded circuit.

500W = ~4 amps. But you have a point, I guess they do draw considerably more when doing defrost.

[Ralph Mowery]

The biggest thing is if something else trips out the breaker and you do not know the refrigerator is on the tripped circuit. Same with a freezer. Put them on a seperate circuit without a ground fault if you can.