Wise Choices for You & Your Family
18
HOLIDAY STYLES
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Preventing Electric Overload
The holidays are almost here and you may have already
begun planning your outdoor holiday light display and
or plan on buying a new appliance when the holiday
sales begin. However, it is important to take steps to
keep the electrical circuits in your home from becoming
overloaded before plugging holiday decorations or
new appliances. If the electrical system in your house is
properly installed, an overloaded circuit will simply trip
the circuit breaker (or in older homes, a fuse will blow)
and cause the power in the house to go out. However,
if there is an issue with the wiring, an overload could
lead to a fire.
Here is how to prevent ending up in the dark due to
an overloaded circuit.
Map the circuits in your home to know which outlets
share the same circuit. That way, you will know if your
Christmas tree is sharing a circuit with a space heater
that you occasionally plug in and draws a lot of power.
HOO’s HELPFUL
Do the math to prevent putting too much load on individual
circuits. Look for the amperage for the circuit on
the breaker box. Residential circuits are typically 15 or
20 amps. Multiply the amperage by the voltage (typically
120 volts) and then multiply by 80% to get the
maximum load for the circuit, measured in watts. For
example, 15 amps x 120 volts x 0.8 = 1440 watts. Add
up the wattage of all the devices you wish to plug into
the circuit to ensure the total wattage of all the devices
does not exceed this maximum load for the circuit.
It is a good idea to plan on using less than the maximum
wattage for the circuit, so that you can plug in a
device temporarily when needed. If you want to add an
appliance to your home but can’t find a circuit that can
take the extra load safely, consult an electrician first to
see if it will be possible to add another circuit to your
home to power the appliance.
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