I just read Black & Decker's Home Wiring Guide in an effort to understand how the service panel distributes electricity, but they use the word "circuit" to mean the wall socket / receptical sometimes, and alternately to mean circuit *breaker* and it isn't clear to me when they mean one or the other. Consequently I am not clear on the following concept:
Simplistic Hypothetical: ------------------------------------------
Circuit Breaker #1 on the service panel is a 20amp 120v circuit.
It's wired to *four* wall circuits [recepticles]. Each recepticle is now a 120v 20a outlet.
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Confusion point: The book states that a full load for a 120v 20amp circuit is:
120v x 20a = 2400 watts x 80% (safe capacity) = 1900 wattsDoes that mean each one of those recepticles can have up to a 1900 watt load on them *simultaneously* without tripping the breaker, or that *collectively* at any given time their load in summary shouldn't exceed the safe capacity of 1900 watts total?
The reason I ask is this... the book also says that microwaves and large appliances should have a "dedicated circuit." Do they simply mean a dedicated wall outlet, or a dedicated circuit *breaker* -- meaning no other outlet is wired to that circuit breaker but the one the appliance is plugged into...??
Because the way I read it, is I need a separate *circuit breaker* for my washer/dryer outlet... one for my 1700watt treadmill (which can also run a TV and lights in the garage, but then reaches the 1900watt safe mark)... one for my garbage disposal and one for my microwave...
and the circuit breakers just keep adding up...!
Or do they mean a single circuit breaker can *share* outlets with major appliances because each outlet it services has a *simultaneous* capacity for a 1900 watt safe load?
Was that confusing enough??? :)
Jane