Thursday, March 11, 2010

What is the definition of Amps or Amperage?

Amperage or Amps provided by an electrical service is the flow rate of "electrical current" that is available. Mathematically, Amps = Watts / Volts. (Amps = Watts divided by Volts)

Speaking practically, the voltage level provided by an electrical service, combined with the ampacity rating of the service panel determine how much electrical demand, or in another sense how many electrical devices can be run at one time in the building. Sketch courtesy of Carson Dunlop.

Branch circuit wire sizes and fusing or circuit breakers used set the limit on the total electrical load or the number of electrical devices that can be run at once on a given circuit.


If you have a 100 Amp current flow rate available, you could, speaking very roughly, run ten 10 amp electric heaters simultaneously. If you have only 60A available, you won't be able to run more than 6 such heaters without risk of overheating wiring, causing a fire, tripping a circuit breaker or blowing a fuse.

Ampacity, in the electrical code, refers to the current, measured in amperes, that a conductor (a wire) can carry continuously under the conditions of use without exceeding its temperature rating - in other words, the ampacity of a #14 gauge copper wire intended for residential electrical wiring is 15 Amps because that's the amount of current that the wire can carry without getting too hot. "Too hot" means a temperature that could damage the wire insulation and thus reduce its safety.

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