Kitchen circuit loads

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wireday

Senior Member
Location
New England
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Master electrician
Any code violations having two refrigerators on one 20 amp branch circuit, what about vending machines and micro waves? I know for some reason new refrigerators don't seem to draw as much as they used to. What about vending machines? I have customers that does not want to add a few branch circuits
 
Yes commercial kitchen, I believe any appliance 8 amps or higher needs its own circuit. just was asking for a code reference if there is one.
 
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wireday said:
Yes commercial kitchen, I believe any appliance 8 amps or higher needs its own circuit. just was asking for a code reference if there is one.
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Correct me if I’m wrong but I do not believe that when a piece of equipment draws 1/2 or more of a circuit ampacity that it would require its own circuit figured at the 80% of total but rather the full current rating. In other words your 8 amps should be 10 amps, assuming your talking about a 20 amp circuit.
 
210.23 states

(1) Cord-and-Plug-Connected Equipment Not Fastened in
Place. The rating of any one cord-and-plug-connected utilization
equipment not fastened in place shall not exceed
80 percent of the branch-circuit ampere rating.
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I was figuring 80% of 20 amps, that where I came up with 16. If I made it 10 amps per appliance and they used one circuit for two appliances, so 20 amps you believe that is OK? And I am not sure of the draw as I have not seen the appliances. I always used a rule of thumb.
 
wireday said:
I was figuring 80% of 20 amps, that where I came up with 16. If I made it 10 amps per appliance and they used one circuit for two appliances, so 20 amps you believe that is OK? And I am not sure of the draw as I have not seen the appliances. I always used a rule of thumb.
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It also depends on the receptacles you install per Section 210.20(B)(2) and Table 210.21(B)(2). If you install 15A rated receptacles on your 20 circuit, the max cord-and-plug connected load is 12A. However, if you install 20A rated receptacles on your 20 circuit, the max cord-and-plug connected load is 16A.

Thus with a 20A receptacle, you could have one 16A load and one 4A load. Or a 15A and a 5A. Or a 14A and a 6A. (Etc.)
So, 10A and 10A is OK too.
 
Dennis Alwon said:
210.23 states
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next part (2) is where the 50% rule is, and applies when there is cord and plug connected equipment not fastened in place, and/or lighting as well as equipment fastened in place on same circuit

wireday said:
I was figuring 80% of 20 amps, that where I came up with 16. If I made it 10 amps per appliance and they used one circuit for two appliances, so 20 amps you believe that is OK? And I am not sure of the draw as I have not seen the appliances. I always used a rule of thumb.
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If none of your cord and plug connected equipment is fastened in place, there sort of is nothing in NEC that prohibits them from all being on one circuit, just a rule that says no individual unit can be more than 80% of circuit rating.

Good design will still provide enough circuits that you don't overload anything, especially if you know before hand what loads will be intended to plug into these receptacles.
 
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