Stupod question about breaker boxes and circuit loads.

[6cuda6]

So i have a real stupid question about circuit breaker boxes and circuit loads....as i stated before im not a household electrician i am a vehicle
technician so please bare with me....

Question.....i thought the sum of all the circuits could not be more than the "main" or feed...so if you had a main feed of 30amps your circuits tied
into the box could not be more than that.

The reason i ask is i have a 30amp main but 7 other circuits ranging from 15 amp to 20....so a/c is on 20 the other 6 are 15. Now i know that they
usually arent all on at one time but if you combine the A/C and fridge i gather you'd pop the main breaker like this coach will.

What am i missing? What is the coach missing or has been changed....learn me something new today friends!

--
Rich Mondor,

Brockville, ON

77 Hughes 2600

 

[Rich Kinas]

So the breakers are meant to protect the wiring, keep it from melting and
starting a fire. So you can have a main cable of 40amps, with a main
breaker of 30amps. Your instantaneous load, if it exceeds 30 amps should
trip the breaker. (I say should because old breakers that do not exercised
every once in a while have been known to stick from time to time, which is
why I open and close all my breakers at least once a year. This may or may
not help but it does make me feel better.) The amount of load that the
30amp breaker is servicing cannot exceed 30amps in total without the
breaker tripping. Although some breakers take into consideration inrush
current and will allow an over-current for a second or two (not enough time
to damage the wire). Just remember that breakers are there to protect the
wiring, to that end if you had a 30amp main breaker, you could have 3 15amp
breakers that provide power to say a frig, A/C unit, and heater and as long
as none exceed 15amps they will not trip their individual breakers and as
long as the sum of their amps is less than 30 they will not trip the main
30amp breaker. Everything works and no wiring is overloaded. The issue that
I see is that many people think that if a wall outlet is available to plug
into that it should carry the load they want to plug into it. I try to
explain that somebody could design a system that way however it would be
extreme overkill and be very costly.

Rich Kinas
1976 Eleganza II
Orlando, FL

On Sat, Aug 17, 2019 at 8:22 PM tonka6cuda6--- via Gmclist <

> So i have a real stupid question about circuit breaker boxes and circuit
> loads....as i stated before im not a household electrician i am a vehicle
> technician so please bare with me....
>
> Question.....i thought the sum of all the circuits could not be more than
> the "main" or feed...so if you had a main feed of 30amps your circuits tied
> into the box could not be more than that.
>
> The reason i ask is i have a 30amp main but 7 other circuits ranging from
> 15 amp to 20....so a/c is on 20 the other 6 are 15. Now i know that they
> usually arent all on at one time but if you combine the A/C and fridge i
> gather you'd pop the main breaker like this coach will.
>
> What am i missing? What is the coach missing or has been changed....learn
> me something new today friends!
>
>
> --
> Rich Mondor,
>
> Brockville, ON
>
> 77 Hughes 2600
>
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