Circuit Breaker Question

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Hi,

I have a small question that I hope can be easily answered.

On our circuit breaker, there is an MCB which controls all of the sockets in our living room. On the MCB, it says 16amps.

Does this mean that we can only use electrical equipment up to 3,680w (16x230) in total?

I ask this as we use plugin electric heaters which use quite a bit of power.

Thanks for any help.
 
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On our circuit breaker, there is an MCB which controls all of the sockets in our living room. On the MCB, it says 16amps. ... Does this mean that we can only use electrical equipment up to 3,680w (16x230) in total? ... I ask this as we use plugin electric heaters which use quite a bit of power.
Yes, that's what it means, and it certainly isn't a lot. Sockets circuits are most commonly 32A, sometimes 20A or 25A. There may possibly be 'a reason' why your circuit has only got a 16A MCB (e.g. cable not large enough for more than 16A) , but you would need an electrician to investigate to find that out.

Kind Regards, John
 
Thanks for that.

We actually have two circuits that seem to power the sockets in the house. Both say 16amp. I can only assume that perhaps some more sockets were added later on.
 
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Thanks for that. We actually have two circuits that seem to power the sockets in the house. Both say 16amp. I can only assume that perhaps some more sockets were added later on.
Maybe. It's also possible that there was once one 32A circuit and that, because of some problem, it was split into two 16A ones. As I said, if you want to 'improve' on the situation, I think you'd first need to get an electrician to work out exactly what the present situation is (and then advise about possibilities/options).

Kind Regards, John
 

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