Household current requirements

[rolls_rapide]

We have, according to the circuit breaker ratings:
2 lighting circuits, rated at 6A each;
2 ring circuits for the sockets, rated at 32A each circuit;
cooker circuit 32A;
hall, kitchen, lounge storage heaters, each on separate 16A circuit;
2 bedroom convector panel heaters on one 32A circuit;
lounge storage heater 'on demand convector' and electric fire, 32A;
'off peak' water heater, 16A;
'on demand' water heater booster, 16A;
bathroom shower 32A.

 

[MrX]

Here's ours:

Socket outlets:
10 X 20A radials (RCD Protected)

Lights:
5 X 10A Radials

Water Heater:
20A Radial (RCD protected)

Cooking:
32A (Oven)
32A (Hob/Cooktop)

Miscellaneous:
Bathroom fans and lights : 10A (RCD protected)

Central Heating (Pumps, controls, boiler etc)
16A Radial (RCD protected)

Shower Pressure booster Pump:
10A (RCD protected)

Main breaker (Max total allowed to flow) 100A

(Irish panels always have a main fuse or main breaker on the panel)

There is also a sealed power company owned main fuse just before the meter and a sealed isolator switch just after the meter which the power company can use to isolate the entire installation e.g. before installation / when you move out etc..

RCD = Residual Current Device (same as a GFCI in the US)
RCDs have been obligatory here on all socket outlet, water heater and similar circuits since the late 1970s. They're installed on the panel rather than on each individual outlet, and protect groups of circuits.

Also, bare in mind that air conditioning is totally unnecessary in a residential environment in Ireland or the UK, so it would be highly unusual to have the kinds of loadings that you would get in the US in summer.

Also, electric heating's relatively rare. The vast majority of homes in Ireland are heated by gas-fired hydronic (water circulated through radiators) systems. Others use pressure jet oil-fired systems burning heating oil, which is quite similar to "red diesel". Heavier fuel oils are illegal to burn here for such purposes.

 

[toggleswitch]

*WOW* sounds like Italy is extremely serious about limiting simultaneous /contemporaneous demand.

NYC does that with BUSINESSES (never residences, so far) by penalizing financially (through insanely high rates)commercial users for their highest 15 or 20 minute continuous wattage draw.

Along the same lines....
A neighbor moved to Cyprus and said that with her newly built house the electrician was trying to save her money and under-installed amperge. Due to air-condtioning (the first in her area in a residnece) she need greater incoming serivce ameperage to handle it. The new service was ripped out and re-done. What I got out of the conversation was that it appeared that her monthly usage charge would be greater just for the "priviledge" of higher incoming amperage. Perhaps someone can clarify!

 

[dj-gabriele]

Oh, that's about the same here in Italy. If you want to get a higher amperage you have yo change the tariff from D2 (residential uses) to D3 (other uses and high power) and the fixed fee just flies to around 30 euro per billing cycle... it's convenient only if you use more than 4000/4500KWh in a year.
With the base tariff you pay in various steps according to the power use, with D3 tariff you pay a fixed price (a little more than the averange of the other pricing steps). With both of these tariffs the price is always around 0,23 € per KWh and there's a planned rise in price for this november...

 

[DADoES]

Main panel outside.

 

[DADoES]

The garage dryer circuit was a spare for adding a pool, which I'll never do that. It ran to a box on back of the garage. We added a subpanel back there with a 30A 220v circuit to run a dryer, with room to add another 15A or 20A 110v.

 

[DADoES]

Subpanel inside house.

 

[DADoES]

"Big" circuits inside.

 

[DADoES]

Tankless subpanel. I'm not understanding why there are eight 40A breakers (320A) when the tankless is rated at 120A. I've not looked inside the panel, maybe they're not all used.

 

[toggleswitch]

Clear as mud, is it?

It appears that the two 60a 220v circuits are broken into 4 x 40a 220v feeds into the heater itself.

There may be 40a breakers and 40a wire to protect what is actually 4 x 30a heating elements. (120a). Therefore there would be 2 x 30a heating elements per primary line (60a).

Normally the load permissible is 80% max of the circuit's rating. In terms of the overall 60a breakers I'm guessing it very rarely (if ever) draws 60a per circuit.

I'm also guessing your tankless/instantaneous electric hot water heater runs @ stage-1 (30a) and stage-2 (2x 30a) a lot more than stage-3 (3 x 30a) and stage-4 (4 x 30a).

If you'd e'mail to me a link (or post it here) to the owner's manual and the intallation manual, I will research and reply.

Great to see you posting again, Glenn!

Based on your panels:
a) You have a large house.
b) Texas is indeed hot. Biggest circuit I had ever seen (till yours) for A/C is 40a in a residence.

 

[paulg]

Thanks to all

What a plethora of information! Actually the diversity of usage due to global interest in this website makes the topic actually very educational.
Y'all have a very fine Thanksgiving. 23 people are due here soon. With the smoothtop, double electric oven, two modern refrigerators, one Crosley Shelvador, one Westinghouse roaster (with clock) and two Sunbeam 1960s 30 cup coffeemakers going (one caf, one decaf), - all seems to be going well.
May we all live better electrically in the new Year!
(Trust me, for 364 days of the year I am very frugal with electricity. I'm desperately trying to conserve - but I cut myself slack on Thanksgiving).