Speccing house circuits...is 63A enough today?

valen

I'm doing some work at home, and building out a kitchen and workshop. I was stunned to see the max rating of a 5 ring induction hub is nearly 11kW...that is 50A!

While I'm sure I'll not use all five rings at maximum .. it made me think. I was going to install aa 5.5kW water heater for beer, in my workshop. I also have power shower, etc. So, while median power use is low, I'll spike.

Is it worth getting the domestic circuit upgraded from 63A? Do modern houses have larger circuits ?

I'm tempted to build a wee ammeter for the mains, so my brewery won't draw power at all, if the existing draw is over 40A, but...maybe I'm being paranoid.

How much would a circuit upgrade cost, if it was needed ?

2011

What you have to consider is the "Utilisation factor" sometimes called use factor is the ratio of the time that a piece of equipment is in use to the total time that it could be in use. In other words you hod is only on some of the time.

Also consider "Load Factor", this is the ratio of the load that a piece of equipment actually draws when it is in use to the load it could draw. In your case a theoretical 11kW for the hob but in reality far less.

Finally look at the fusing characteristics for your main protective device.

Does this make sense?

Stoner

You should be fine. Considering we've checked the load on some apartments 2 beds with storage heating. Usually about two or three 2kw (ish)storage heaters two 1kw panel heaters 2kw fan heaters etc including an immersion and everything else you'd have they seldom go over 35 amps
As 2011 says many units are only partially on of switch from being 100% on but switching in and out.

Risteard81

The Total Connected Load quoted may not actually be possible to simultaneously energise. Many induction hobs have pairs or groups of induction zones whereby when extra power is given to one zone it reduces the power to another.

As said, with diversity it is unlikely to be an issue.