Barry Hi,
You also need to be aware of the limitations imposed by your electricity supplier.
The standard base rate supply here is 25A.
The next tarrif is for 32Amps (Dearer)
and then 45Amps (Dearer still)
By comparison, I believe in the UK the standard is 60Amps.
The supply trips the main breaker if you exceed its rating and it doesnt take much to rack up 25A...
eg 2Kw kettle 9.5A,
Aircon anything up to 15A,
Water heater 8A,
Washing machines (which are cold fill only out here) are also power hungry when initially heating the water.
All of the above place inductive loads on the supply and the initial switch on current demand can be up to twice the running current.
This initial loading is only momentary but if you are already running close to the limit, it can be enough to cause a nuisance trip.
We learned about power management quite early on in the game! (Washing Machine + Aircon + I'll just put the Kettle on = Oh sh*t wheres the torch...!
Its very easy to forget, and can be damned annoying, especially if you are running a computer when the power trips off...
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This message was last edited by foxbat on 6/26/2008.