Electrician Question - Multiple Fans on One 20 Amp Circuit

[Zombie 284]

Question for electrician or electrical inclined folks. Would there be an issue with having four or five ceiling fans on one dedicated 20 amp circuit? The fans do not have lights and their specs says that they pull one amp and 110 watts each on high speed. Each would be on its own switch/controller. Gracias.

[UTPhil2006 3930]

Looks like your user name is about to become true

[EE2B 1569]

What model ceiling fan are you looking at? Hampton Bay or Big Ass Fans?

[jimmyjazz 47127]

You're worried about pulling 5 amps on a 20 amp circuit?

[Gil Bang 26230]

Are you running a new dedicated circuit?  

 

[Zombie 284]

18 hours ago, EE2B said:

What model ceiling fan are you looking at? Hampton Bay or Big Ass Fans?

It's a Hampton Bay Industrial 60" fan.

17 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

You're worried about pulling 5 amps on a 20 amp circuit?

I just wasn't sure if the determination was as straightforward as max amp per device x the number of devices. I didn't want to have this journeyman contractor wire up a bunch of fans only to have them constantly tripping the breaker because I didn't understand how amperage calculation works. If it's as simple as adding up the max amperage of all the devices on a circuit, then it sounds like I'm golden. I just wanted confirmation on that.

10 hours ago, Gil Bang said:

Are you running a new dedicated circuit?  

 

I have numerous spare dedicated circuits on my panel. 

[jimmyjazz 47127]

8 minutes ago, Zombie said:

I just wasn't sure if the determination was as straightforward as max amp per device x the number of devices.

I'm an engineer, not an electrician, so don't consider this professional advice, but a crude limit would be 80% of max power (80% of 120 V x 20 amp = 1,920 watts).

Running all fans at the same time would be 550 watts (5 x 110 watts).  Starting up a fan will pull more current, so look on the box to see if they quote maximum starting (or inrush) current.  Use 5X that number.  I don't think you'll be anywhere close to 1.920 watts.  That said, it's probably smart to keep the circuit dedicated and just load it with the 5 fans and nothing else.

[Zombie 284]

13 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

I'm an engineer, not an electrician, so don't consider this professional advice, but a crude limit would be 80% of max power (80% of 120 V x 20 amp = 1,920 watts).

Running all fans at the same time would be 550 watts (5 x 110 watts).  Starting up a fan will pull more current, so look on the box to see if they quote maximum starting (or inrush) current.  Use 5X that number.  I don't think you'll be anywhere close to 1.920 watts.  That said, it's probably smart to keep the circuit dedicated and just load it with the 5 fans and nothing else.

Thanks for the response. The spec sheet unfortunately doesn't list the inrush current, but I figure I'm so far under the max capacity that that won't be an issue. Plus the fans will be turned on one at a time, so that further mitigates the issue of too much inrush at once. 

[jimmyjazz 47127]

Try it and see if the house burns down.

[RPM 26614]

220, 221... whatever it takes.

[Gil Bang 26230]

Quote

I have numerous spare dedicated circuits on my panel. 

???

 

You have blanks spots on the panel?  Or you already have unused breakers?  Are you pulling the wire?  

 

No offense dude, but you asked a very rudimentary question, so I'm wondering if you understand the terminology.  

Edited June 18, 2018 by Gil Bang

[Rollo Tomassi 80]

[RPM 26614]

On 6/17/2018 at 11:25 AM, jimmyjazz said:

Try it and see if the house burns down.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13725]

Is that normal to place ceiling fans, and I assume they will be in different rooms, on the the same circuit?  I would think they would be on the circuit for that one room. Unless that room is already too close to the max.    I can see someone hurting themselves in the future when they turn off the circuit for the room, mistakenly assuming that includes the ceiling fan.  Assumptions with electricity is always a bad idea.

I do think that you can see all of the smoke detectors in a house on the same circuit, which will also allows them to all go off when one does.  Or at least that is how I think it works.

[Gil Bang 26230]

rarely is each room on it's own circuit, with the exception of the kitchen.

[g8rman95 0]

On 6/18/2018 at 3:05 AM, RPM said:

220, 221... whatever it takes.

The correct answer to every electrical question!

[EE2B 1569]

I’m a process control engineer at a large manufacturing facility. We were doing an upgrade to an evaporator set and I got an email from the project manager. Most of it was schedule related, but towards the end he wanted to know what the increase load on the electric plant was going to be with all the new motors going in. I sarcastically replied 1.21 gigawatts. He responded and asked if that was annually. I told him yes and got a thanks in return. Somewhere in this facility are engineering documents that specify the combined motor loads at 1.21 gigawatts annually for the evaporator set. I will find them before I leave this place.