Do you remember the basics of electricity and a simple circuit?
It’s OK if you don’t. We know that stuff cold.
Each circuit in your house is a bit more complex than a simple light on a switch. Most of the lights & outlets in any given room are on the same circuit – and therefore share the same total power capacity.
This is why when you try to run the coffee maker, hair dryer, and microwave at the same time, the circuit breaker trips – turning off all three and the lights.
You were asking for more power than the circuit could handle.
Adding More Power With a New Circuit
Sometimes you just need more power.
Major appliances usually have the power they need, your stove, oven, washer & dryer, furnace, etc..
But sometimes you want to add a major appliance that wasn’t anticipated when your home was built: air conditioning, a hot tub, an EV charger, or a welder.
Then we need to pull a new circuit from the electrical panel, as well as add a new circuit breaker in the panel. That is all pretty straightforward – unless your whole house is already at capacity. Then we need to talk about an electrical panel upgrade.
I got a dedicated 20 amp breaker for my slushie machine. No more popping breakers!
Dedicated Circuits for Critical Devices & Appliances
Even if their power draw isn’t heavy, it can be a good idea to have a dedicated circuit for critical medical devices – whether an oxygen machine or just a CPAP, the best way to guarantee uninterrupted operation is ensuring nobody plugs in a coffeemaker on the same circuit.
Circuits & Wiring FAQ’s
The answer is not “as much as you can fit into the plugs”!
It depends on the power strip—but more importantly, it depends on what you’re plugging in. Most standard power strips have 6 outlets, but that don’t use all of them if you’re plugging in high-powered devices.
Things like space heaters, microwaves, air conditioners, or hair dryers draw a lot of power and should never be plugged into a power strip.
Power strips are really best for low-power electronics like lamps, chargers, or a TV and its accessories. And always check the strip’s wattage rating—if you plug in too much and overload it, you risk tripping a breaker or even starting a fire.
It depends not just on the circuit size, but also what’s already running on it. Most household circuits are either 15 or 20 amps, which means you can safely draw about 80% of that continuously—that’s 12 amps for a 15-amp circuit or 16 amps for a 20-amp circuit.
That equals roughly 1,440 watts on a 15-amp circuit and 1,920 watts on a 20-amp circuit. (For reference, the most powerful home microwaves are about 1,500 watts.)
But if lights, outlets, or appliances are already using some of that power, you’ve got less to work with.
Yes, dimming lights can be a sign of a problem – especially if it happens often. When your lights dim when you run the microwave (or other high-powered appliances), it usually means too much is drawing power from the same circuit. Microwaves use a lot of electricity, and if the circuit is shared with lights or other devices, you might see those lights flicker or dim when the microwave kicks on.
While a slight dimming isn’t always dangerous, it can be a warning sign of an overloaded or improperly wired circuit. Over time, that kind of strain can cause wear on your wiring or breakers—and it’s not great for your appliances, either.
Want peace of mind? Our Electrical Safety Advisors can check it out during your SaFE System Evaluation and make sure everything is wired safely and up to code.
