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quesera 3 hours ago

These are good points, but having worked on a few older houses, I usually see overextended and overloaded circuits, not the opposite.

Standard small-house service used to be 60A, sometimes as few as 4 circuits! It's now 100A minimum by code, with 200A common.

Ovens/ranges have gone from 30A to 50A (dedicated) circuits by code. Microwaves also require dedicated circuits now. Gaming computers with big GPUs are common. Air fryers and electric pressure cookers are newly-common countertop appliances. People definitely use resistive electric space heaters more now (very cheap, much safer than the older options). And there's a trend away from gas and to electric ranges and water heaters. Heat pumps are also increasingly common. You mentioned air conditioners and EV chargers. Kitchens and bathrooms are now required to have dedicated (and GFCI) circuits. Household sizes are smaller, but houses are larger.

So I guess I'd say that, properly expanded, individual circuits should carry less current than they used to. But very often, appliances (AC, microwave, gaming rig, air fryers), are just "plugged in" to an unexpanded system, with varying results.

If you're lucky, they pop a breaker and you call an electrician. If you're not lucky, they push the power draw into uncomfortable zones, esp for Al wire.

Jblx2 3 hours ago | parent [-]

>Gaming computers with big GPUs are common.

Is there a good way to quantify this?

quesera 3 hours ago | parent [-]

My best guess would be the size of the GPU market, before the AI crush.

I don't track that market (not a gamer), but it seemed substantial enough that I was aware of it. I do travel in geeky circles though.

Also, plasma TVs were big for a decade or so, and they run hotter than the CRTs that preceded them, or the LCDs/etc of today.