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Supply current limitations

Electrical

Electrical current demand

Electrical current is measured in 'amps' (short

for amperes). The best way think of electrical
current is as a sort of liquid flow. Electrical
current flows through the different circuits in
your home as it's needed.

Voltage, on the other hand, is the equivalent of

pressure forcing the ‘electrical’ liquid through a
circuit (which includes the light fitting, or vacuum
cleaner you’ve plugged in). A really important
number is the total amps drawn by the
appliance you're using. This is called the
'demand' of the appliance.

How big a consumer are you?

You’re not really restricted in terms of how much

power you can actually use - in part it depends
on how deep your pockets are. Let’s take a
typical domestic electrical installation:

Electrical appliances Current load

20 lighting points 3 amps
16 power points 10 amps
2 x 1000 watt strip heaters 6 amps
7000 watt stove top/over 14 amps
5000 watt water heater 20 amps

The example of a domestic installation we took

as typical has a total current demand of 53
amps. How much you're actually able to draw
depends on your provider of electrical energy.
They will have a limitation on 240 volt single
phase supply. As a general rule anything much
over 100 amps maximum demand is likely to be
subject to special conditions. Of course
industrial installations easily exceed this.

In most cases, if you do exceed the amount of

current your home is expected to draw, you will
blow the supply fuse which is designed
specifically to limit the amount of current your
home can draw. You should never touch this
yourself - contact your energy provider if you
believe the supply fuse to your home has been
blown.

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