Potential circuit overload?

[BobJacobs]

I have an older home (1965) down here in South Florida for rental and I recently had a tenant change over so I decided to trace what circuit goes where.

I found one 20A circuit breaker that seems to be have too many devices on it.

Kitchen window light (40W)
Car port light (40W)
Dining room light (12W X 4)
Kitchen lights (40W X 4)
2 additional receptacles that are occasionally used for charging phones, or rice cooker, or toaster.
Outside security light (100W halogen)
Garbage disposer
Dishwasher

It seems there is a high probability of overloading but for some reason nothing happened in the last five years, but this could be due to no tenant has tried turning all those on at once.

I wonder if I should try and break off dishwasher + disposer onto a different circuit? Or don't worry since it hasn't been an issue.

 

[Leejosepho]

It seems there is a high probability of overloading...

I would split something out there to help protect my own property, but the electricians here will likely give you a more comprehensive answer.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Cacher_Chick]

I would tend to agree with you. Some if the dishwashers require an independent circuit to support the heating/drying functions. The kitchen counter circuit should never be shared.

 

[hj]

Here, the garbage disposer and dishwasher almost always share a circuit, but while the circuit is potentially overloaded, the circuit breaker will prevent a physical overload if too many devices are used simultaneously.

 

[Jadnashua]

It could be telling to determine if all of the items on that circuit were wired with 12g wire. It's not a particularly good idea to plug more than a circuit can provide without overload, not counting the fact about the kitchen counter circuit should not exit the counter. From a convenience standpoint, if you were going to change the DW or GD, you might want some lights on, and it appears those would go out at the same time you wanted to work on one of those...not great planning. There are always flashlights, I guess, if you have fresh batteries!