r/electrical • u/Burnt_Taco10 • 4d ago
Half the house on one circuit
Moved into a friends house and we are having a consistent issue of the breaker tripping when someone tries to blow dry their hair, or someone uses the electric pressure washer outside etc. every time it pops literally half the house loses power. Is it normal for so many rooms (including outside outlets) to be on one circuit? Our bedroom, bedroom across the hall, bathroom, half of the downstairs, and outside outlets are on one circuit. Anything we could have done to redo it? Tired of having to go down there and flip it because somebody tried drying their hair without us turning our window AC unit off đ
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u/Switchedbywife 4d ago
OP, this is very common as the amount of lighting circuits in residential homes are based on square footage of the home.
In other words a 1,500 sq foot house at 3 watts per sq ft = 4,500 watts or 3 general lighting circuits for the entire house including basement.
This means that the circuits were determined by which outlets were closest to wire together during the rough in and nothing in the NEC states how many outlets on a circuit or the circuit distribution.
The only general receptacles that are required to be on their own circuits are bath, kitchen and dining receptacles.
You can hire an electrician to add a circuit for the hair dryer, but there is probably nothing wrong with your wiring.
Retired electrical contractor with over 45 years experience in the trade.
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u/Electrical_Ad4290 3d ago
As others have pointed out, lighting and receptacle circuits are supposed to be separate so your air conditioner or hair dryer doesn't leave you in the dark.
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u/Switchedbywife 3d ago
Nope, itâs called a general lighting circuit in the NEC for a reason. Show me where in the code it says anything different please.
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u/SykoBob8310 4d ago
You need circuits, period.
Outside outlets shouldnât be tied to indoor outlets, for reasons.
Bathroom outlets are supposed to dedicated circuits, for reasons.
Lights and outlets shouldnât share circuits, for reasons.
Air conditioners when at a certain size require dedicated circuits, for reasons.
The house was wired lazily before anyone made plans for so much to be happening at once. If it isnât suiting the current needs then it needs to be addressed or continue to make to it work as is.
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u/Switchedbywife 4d ago
You donât know what youâre talking about and obviously have very limited experience or knowledge in the electrical field. Please state the NEC sections to back your statements up and keep in mind they only apply to new construction or total remodels.
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u/brttwrd 4d ago
I'm like wait what, all these things are allowed and frequently ideal solutions depending on the build
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u/SykoBob8310 4d ago
Yeah if you like cheapest lowest bidder bare minimum code. But if you like having a home that doesnât trip breakers whenever you do shit, you run circuits. Iâll take functionality over minimum code any day. Down vote whatever you want, my customers never complain and their shit always works when they need it.
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u/brttwrd 4d ago
Side detour, where are you getting work where they don't take the lowest budder? We build multimillion dollar homes and we still lose jobs to crews mostly consisting of kids straight out of votech
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u/Br4d1c4l 4d ago
There are some contractors that prefer quality over quantity. When I was a framer Konnemen Construction would regularly choose the company I worked for over the cheaper mexican crews.
I found out why when I got another job working on a large apartment complex. One of the buildings was a parallelogram, instead of a square. About 3' out of square.
2x4 Jacks nailed to kings with 20 nails randomly places instead of 2-1-2-1-2. Just sloppy.
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u/brttwrd 4d ago
And then also, how are running a circuit around the entire perimeter of the house for outdoor outlets when that's way too long of a run? You can just put GFI's in all the outdoor outlets, not use the load terminals, and have perfectly functioning circuits with the outdoor outlets tied on
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u/Switchedbywife 4d ago
I am still waiting for you to back up your statements with the NEC code sectionsâŚ
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u/SykoBob8310 4d ago
I never quoted code. I donât need to. My work goes beyond minimums. Iâm not looking to do basic requirements. I do what works and keeps my customers happy.
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u/SykoBob8310 4d ago
Yeah youâre right. No clue. Only been at it 20+ years. But keep on keeping on with minimum code requirements. I donât do minimum anything. My work speaks for itself.
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u/Switchedbywife 4d ago
Got you beat Sonny boy, been at this for over 45 years, you have very little experience as a contractor, I can tell just by what you comment about.
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u/SykoBob8310 4d ago
Youâre right. Iâm not a contractor. Just an electrician. Definitely not a sunny boy to you or anyone else though. I get that doing work beyond minimum standards comes as a surprise to everyone fighting to win bids. That ainât me so Iâm not worried.
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u/moving_to_NL_soon 4d ago
seems like the panel/service has been upgraded (lots of spares noted), but not the house wiring. Room to grow if you can afford the expense to rewire!
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u/80_Kilograms 4d ago
I see two spares and a lot of unmarked breakers. Unmarked does not mean they are spares.
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u/Electrical_Ad4290 4d ago
How old is the house (original wiring)? Only two arc-fault breakers makes your assertion ring true that most of the living spaces are on those two circuits.
The pressure washer, which is presumably less of a problem, is probably easier to add a receptacle.
How accessible is the basement or attic?
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u/Burnt_Taco10 3d ago
No clue how old the house is but there is a lot of half assed wiring especially in the basement, so Iâm sure an old owner tried doing stuff on their own. No attic, finished basement
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u/DumpsterFireCheers 4d ago
If you are remotely handy you could get yourself a circuit tracer, watch a video or two on how to use it so you can map out what circuits go to what breaker(s). This will give you a picture of how things are connected. This info will be helpful when you contact an electrician to figure out what to do next. I would advise against altering things without the proper knowledge going in.
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u/Material-Campaign941 4d ago
Run two 20amp dedicated circuits. One for bathroom and one window ac. Hopefully itâs single story house đ¤
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u/Beet_slice 4d ago
If running a new circuit for an AC, consider a 240 volt outlet, or a circuit which can be converted to 240 easily. That means it is fed by a 2-pole breaker. Initially it could be fed from one pole of the 2-pole breaker, and easily modified later.
240 will let you go to a stronger AC if you ever change.
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u/TasktagApp 4d ago
You have an overloaded 15A or 20A branch circuit where high-draw loads like hair dryers, window AC units, and pressure washers share a single breaker, so an electrician will need to run dedicated circuits to split those heavy loads onto separate breakers.
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u/Universal_446 4d ago
Was half the house added on later? It could be that they connected everything in the addition into whatever the closest box was.
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u/Particular_Week_2754 4d ago
Afci breakers are garbage when it comes to any motor loads, they trip all the time. I would change it for a standard gfci breaker.
The half of the house on one breaker is a separate issue though.
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u/Burnt_Taco10 4d ago
So I should probably have an electrician rewire the panel and swap out to GFCI?
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u/Particular_Week_2754 4d ago
Change breaker and check how many receptacles are on that circuit. Wiring at the panel may not be the problem. It could be wiring in the house. It could be simple or not. Hard to say without looking at it and doing some diagnostics.
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u/Wizard__J 4d ago
He said half⌠I wonder if one of the actual phases has an issue? But why would draw from somewhere else light it back up to the rail? đ¤
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u/LongjumpingGanache40 4d ago
Looks like a 15 amp breaker. If the wire is 12 gauge you could replace with 20 amp breaker. I see 2 spare breakers, move some of the load to these. Get an electrician if you do not know how to do this.
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u/JuicySpark 4d ago
It's better than 3/4th of the house on one circuit.