# How Many ceiling fans



## cknett (Jan 4, 2011)

How many ceiling fans and/or lights can I hook up to one single pole 15a breaker?


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## DangerMouse (Jul 17, 2008)

Hi and welcome to the forum.

This will vary. I have one 15a circuit with 7 overhead fixtures and one exhaust fan.
Lots of variables to deal with, but there is a max amount allowed. 
The guys here will be along and help better than I can soon, so stick around or check back often.

DM


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## WillK (Aug 29, 2010)

Somebody else might be able to correct me if I'm wrong, I'm an experienced DIY'er not a professional, but looking in NEC from table 210.21(B)(2) for Maximum Cord-and-Plug-Connected Load to Receptacle, a circuit rated 15 or 20 amperes with receptacle rating should have a maximum load of 12 amperes. I know that this isn't exactly what we're talking about, but I think the bottom line should be that assuming you're talking about one circuit dedicated to ceiling fans, and you're asking how many ceiling fans - it seems this would be a guideline that says the total should be 12 amps or less.

So with that said, the current draw of ceiling fans will vary. 

Also, NEC in section 210.23 (A) states that the total rating of utilization equipment fastened in place, other than lighting fixtures, shall not exceed 50 percent of the branch-circuit ampere rating where lighting units, cord-and-plug conencted utilization equipment no t fastened in place, or both, are also supplied... This to me might say you shouldn't exceed 7.5 amps total.

Just as an example, I pulled up a ceiling fan on Hunter's web site and it indicates it uses 67 watts excluding lights, so that's roughly 0.5 amps. It uses 2 14W bulbs, so it's roughly 0.8 amps, you could have 9 of these ceiling fans on a 15 amp circuit going by the 50% rule in 210.23. On the other hand if you had one that could take 2 60 watt bulbs, it would take 1.5 amps and you could only have 5 on a 15 amp circuit.


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## WaldenL (Jan 9, 2009)

Not sure either of those apply. In the first case I would assume (I know...  that the ceiling fans in question are not cord and plug attached, but rather hardwired. In the second case I believe the intent there is that if a circuit is also supplying lighting or recepticales then the hardwired stuff shouldn't use more than 50% of the load allowing the end-user to load up their 150W bulbs in the lighting and plug their hairdryers into the recepts. If it's a dedicated fan circuit no worries there.


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## WillK (Aug 29, 2010)

Yeah... I figured it might not apply, but the wording is clear as mud and it seems like if you take the strictest interpretation possible so you err on the side of caution, maybe you could interpret a ceiling fan with light as a hardwired utilization fixture on a circuit with lighting fixtures, so you won't have any issues if you stay under 50%... You might be okay above that, but you'd need someone who has a better understanding of code interpretation to say whether it's okay.

That said, there are spikes in current draw for fan motors at start-up, and if CFL's are involved they'll use more current at start-up. But either way, 9 ceiling fans covers a lot of house. We had a 3000 sq. ft house with 4 bedrooms in Indiana and we had 9 ceiling fans.


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## WaldenL (Jan 9, 2009)

Very true that 9 fans covers a lot of house. And even more, I think it would be crazy to have a long meandering "fan" circuit that traveled throughout the house. I'd rather see each of the fan's hooked into that room's circuit. The only long meandering single circuit I want to see is the smokes. I could see a need for a bunch of fans in a big great-room though -- but probably not nine. 3 or 4, yes.


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## cknett (Jan 4, 2011)

WaldenL said:


> Very true that 9 fans covers a lot of house. And even more, I think it would be crazy to have a long meandering "fan" circuit that traveled throughout the house. I'd rather see each of the fan's hooked into that room's circuit. The only long meandering single circuit I want to see is the smokes. I could see a need for a bunch of fans in a big great-room though -- but probably not nine. 3 or 4, yes.



This is a dedicated light breaker for our home. it currently has 3 ceiling fans and 7 light fixtures on it already. I have 3 new ceiling fans I was looking to hard wire in. just couldnt find exact literature to support it or not.


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## WillK (Aug 29, 2010)

I'm guessing that if you have a dedicated circuit for lighting, the home or at least the electrical must be at least from in the 80's or newer.. You should add up the current draw of what you have to figure out what's left, if you're operating 7 100 watt incandescent bulbs in your lighting fixtures and have 3 fans pulling 70 watts plus 6 bulbs at 60 watts each, that's 10.6 amps and depending on the type of ceiling fan you could even end up going over 15 amps.

But you might have no problems if you do something energy efficient, especially if you are replacing a lighting fixture that uses incandescent bulbs.

Here's NEC 210 (A)
(A) 15- and 20-Ampere Branch Circuits. A ​​15- or 20ampere
branch circuit shall be permitted to supply lighting
units or other utilization equipment, or a combination of
both, and shall comply with 210.23(A)(1) and (A)(2).​
_Exception: The small appliance branch circuits, laundry
branch circuits, and bathroom branch circuits required in a
dwelling unit(s) by 210.11(C)(l), (C)(2), and (C)(3) shall
supply only the receptacle outlets specified in that section.​_(1) Cord-and-Plug-Connected Equipment Not Fastened
in Place. ​​The rating of anyone cord-and-plug-connected
utilization equipment not fastened in place sh~ll not exceed
80 percent of the branch-circuit ampere rating.​
(2) Utilization Equipment Fastened in Place. ​​The total
rating of utilization equipment fastened in place, other than
luminaires (lighting fixtures), shall not exceed 50 percent of
the branch-circuit ampere rating where lighting u~its, cordand-
plug-connected utilization equipment not fast~ned in​
place, or both, are also supplied.

It seems that from table 210.24 that the maximum load on a 15A circuit is 15A.


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## Saturday Cowboy (Nov 29, 2009)

A ture answer to this question requires a load calc. Add up the max wattage of everything as then we will know.


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## Scuba_Dave (Jan 16, 2009)

cknett said:


> This is a dedicated light breaker for our home. it currently has 3 ceiling fans and 7 light fixtures on it already. I have 3 new ceiling fans I was looking to hard wire in. just couldnt find exact literature to support it or not.


You need to add up the Max wattage on each fixture
You need to go by the max fixture rating, not the actual bulbs installed
Then add up the power pulled by the fans
That will tell you how much is currently installed
Residential lighting is not considered a continuous load
So you could have 1800w of fixtures installed on that 15a circuit
With fans its best to leave some wiggle room, tho most people very rarely run all of their fans/lights at the same time
Overhead fans, depending upon their size can use anywhere from 50w up to 150w or more


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## WaldenL (Jan 9, 2009)

Scuba_Dave said:


> You need to go by the max fixture rating, not the actual bulbs installed


Which is unfortunate considering how hard it is to find a 100W bulb these days, but really easy to find 15W CFL bulb.


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## Scuba_Dave (Jan 16, 2009)

WaldenL said:


> Which is unfortunate considering how hard it is to find a 100W bulb these days, but really easy to find 15W CFL bulb.


Yeah...not that I would go by actual load
I had one 15a circuit that had less then 100w of lights on it
I added it to another lighting circuit

One benefit of having the lights spread out over several circuit is if you need to shut a breaker off
Then you will still have some lights on with more circuits
I need to separate my tool room & a few basement lights off to another circuit


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