pianotuna wrote:
Hi,
It is best to add up all the items and keep the wattage below 1440 on a single 15 amp circuit. I can't imagine the loads you want to run being more than about 800 watts. That would include 325 watts for the fridge.
30 amps should trip the breaker. It would be easy to test that by deliberately turning on items.
In general, testing a breaker this way should be okay.
In the particular case of FPE stab-loc breakers, this is not a wise idea at all. Repeated use is one of the things that causes them to fail (apparently the contacts tend to weld themselves together or something similar). The recommendations I've seen have been to not test them and even to avoid cycling them manually. At least sometimes when damaged, the handles on the breakers are not a good indication of whether they're closed or not--the handle can be off, but the electricity still connected.
I must say I'm glad I don't have to deal with an FPE panel in my house.
