"bud--" wrote in message
.. .
CB wrote:
OK - somewhere else online I just read that 15A circuits can only
handle 1800 watts and it had me wondering. I went & checked my wife's
hair dryer, and it's marked at 1875W. How in the heck is my 15A
breaker not tripping? We've lived here a year & a half and it hasn't
tripped.

15A x 120V = 1800W

At 30A the breaker might trip in 20 seconds (taken from a trip curve). At
1875W the breaker might trip in a couple hours.

--
bud--

Yea, what Bud said. This is the reason that 20 amp circuits are now required
for bathroom outlets. To test for the presence of a GFCI device, use a
pigtail lamp socket. Touch one wire to the hot wire and the other to the
ground... it should trip any upstream GFCI