How Much Can I Plug Into Outlet?

How Much Can I Plug Into My Outlets?

Did you ever wonder how much you can safely plug into your home outlets?  Ultimately your home electrical system should protect itself.  Somewhere in your home, you have an electrical panel or "breaker box".  This is where power comes into your home from outside and where your individual circuits originate.  Each circuit in the breaker box will have a dedicated circuit breaker (or fuse for a really old system).  The job of the breaker is to protect your home wiring from overloads by "tripping" and shutting of the power for the circuit that is overloaded.  But how much can you plug into a circuit before the breaker trips?

Is It Safe For Circuit Breaker To Keep Tripping?

If you have a circuit breaker that keeps tripping, this may indicate a serious issue with your electrical wiring or the breaker itself.  A licensed electrician should be consulted to evaluate and correct any issues with your system.  If there are no issues with your electrical system, it's still possible to overload your home wiring.  Generally this is not a good idea since you could be stressing out your system which may lead to issues.  Use the estimator below to get an idea what items plugged into your outlet may be causing an overload condition. 

How To Determine Which Outlets Are On Which Breaker?

Typical House Circuits

Before you can manage possible overload conditions, you'll need to know a couple things about your home's electrical system.  First, you'll need to identify which outlets are on the same circuit. 

For starters, you'll need to locate your electrical panel.  A typical box might look something like this:

Example Electrical Panel

Identifying which outlets are on the same circuit can be done several ways:

• Breaker box labels.  If you're lucky, you or someone else has already done the work and labeled the breakers in your breaker box.  Great!  The labels may give you a general idea where to start.  Note that a breaker labeled "Primary Bedroom" may indeed include outlets in the Primary Bedroom but there's a good chance that circuit includes outlets in other locations as well - for example a hallway or a bathroom.  To match each home outlet to an individual breaker, the following methods can be used.

• Brute force breaker on/off.  To match outlets to breakers, you can flip each breaker off one at a time.  While off, check each outlet for power.  Of course you can just just check what's plugged into an outlet and see if it has power.  If nothing is plugged in, you can plug in a small lamp or other electrical device to check for power.  Another option is to use a non-contact voltage tester (purchase on eBay).  This tester will light-up and/or beep when its tip is placed at the outlet's surface.  Be sure to follow the manufacturer's instructions for proper use.

Non-Contact Voltage Tester

Source: Klein Tools

• Circuit Breaker Finder (purchase on eBay).  Another great option to match outlets to breakers is to use an electronic breaker finder.  The finder works by first plugging in the provided transmitter into the outlet you want to match to a breaker.  Next, at the breaker panel, you scan the surface of each breaker with the tool.  The finder indicates the circuit with the outlet transmitter by lighting-up and/or beeping at the found breaker.  You would then repeat this process for each outlet in your home.

Circuit Breaker Finder

Source: Klein Tools

Make sure to document your findings either with detailed labels in your breaker box or elsewhere.

Now that you've identified each circuit, all you need to do is read the circuit breaker rating directly off the breaker.  Keep in mind it's not uncommon to have mixed ratings for different circuits within a home.  For example, in the diagram above, circuits 1 and 2 are rated at 15A and circuits 3 and 4 are rated at 20A (an "A" is a unit of electrical current otherwise known as an Ampere).

Dedicated circuits for high electrical use systems like HVAC systems, electric dryers, etc. may be on dedicated circuit breakers of a higher rating.  These dedicated circuits typically don't have any plug outlets.

Circuit Use Estimator

You've identified your individual circuits and the breaker ratings, now you can use this estimator to help manage and balance your home's electrical power usage.  Keeping the loads on circuits well within limits will reduce the stress on your electrical wiring and help to avoid tripping any circuit breakers.  As a general rule, keep your circuit loaded to no more that 80% of its full capacity.

15 AMP Circuit       20 AMP Circuit

Add plug-in items for one breaker (items listed are examples only and will vary).
(1500W) Hair dryer:
(1200W) Vacuum cleaner:
(1000W) Microwave oven:
(800W) Toaster:
(600W) Refrigerator:
(400W) Blender:
(300W) Gaming PC:
(200W) Slow cooker:
(150W) 50" LED TV:
(100W) 100W Incandescent bulb:
(50W) Laptop charging:
(10W) 60W Equivalent LED bulb:

Notes: The Circuit Use Estimator is to be used for educational purposes only.   The electrical appliances shown for each power rating are for example only.  Your electrical appliances may use higher or lower power.  Check with your appliance manufacture documentation for actual power requirements.  The Circuit Use Estimator calculates the power for each circuit based on a typical 120V voltage value.  For the 15A circuit, the maximum power is calculated to be 120V x 15A = 1800W.  For the 20A circuit, the maximum power is calculated to be 120V x 20A = 2400W.  The red line area on the gauge display covers the range of 80% to 100% of the maximum circuit value.

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