wrote in message
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That sounds like poor design. Using 20a circuits does allow the
installer to use fewer circuits to achieve the 3va per sq/ft but fewer
is not better when the breaker trips. There is no requirement that
fixed lighting and receptacles be on separate circuits and a single 20
might cover one whole end of a house if the installer was being
stingy. (800 square feet) The only time I ever saw that was when the
AFCIs first started showing up (2002 cycle) and installers tried to
put everything in all of the bedrooms on one AFCI.
We couldn't tag it but if the guy was cutting corners this badly,
there was always something else wrong. It just made us look harder.

Sounds like the wiring in a duplex apartment I was renting. It was built
just before WW2. In each side was a fuse box with 2 20 amp fuses. That was
for the lights and recepticals. There was a living room, 2 bed rooms,
kitchen and bath. There was a seperate fuse pair for the stove and water
heater.