0

Circuit breakers have to be attached to both sides of the electric panel in such a way that it balances the load. I would like to know if:

  1. I should ensure left circuit breakers Amp is almost same as right panel breakers.
  2. Should I balance based on usage? e.g., refrigerators are always working but ACs do not work in winters.
  3. Do 2 pole breakers have to be evenly distributed as well?

Any ideas on the right way to arrange the breakers?

manassehkatz-Moving 2 Codidact
  • 94,107
  • 9
  • 116
  • 276
marc Katz
  • 109
  • 7
  • 2
    *"circuit breakers have to be attached to both sides of the electric panel in such a way that it balances the load."* No, they don't. Barring only using 240V loads (USA/Canada scheme) there will always be some imbalance, and that's OK. – Ecnerwal Dec 09 '19 at 01:19
  • @Ecnerwal This sounds like an answer to me. – JACK Dec 09 '19 at 01:42

1 Answers1

2

What matters is your actual draw, not the numbers on the breakers.

So for instance, if you have 5 circuits of bathroom, bedroom, laundry room, and kitchen... And then 5 circuits of Bitcoin miner that run at 15.9A 24x7... You don't want to put the miners on one leg and the household load on the other. The 2 kitchen circuits are rarely used, for instance, so they don't balance the miners.

On the other hand, if you have a gaming rig circuit and an air conditioner circuit to keep the room bearable, thatd be a pretty good balance since they'd run together.

It isn't left and right, unless it's PushMatic

Most modern panels arrange like this.

Harper - Reinstate Monica
  • 276,940
  • 24
  • 257
  • 671