said by alkizmo:said by Jack_in_VA:What in the heck are you running on the circuit your computer is on? I've never had a breaker trip on anything since I moved in in 1989 especially the circuit my computer, printer and modem is on. Now power failures are quite another matter here.
Older houses tend to have the same circuits for several rooms.
I used to live in an apartment built in 1970. Two of the bedrooms (receptacles and lighting) and one bathroom were on a single 15A breaker.
We both had power-hungry gaming computers, dual monitors, big sound systems, and each had laser printers. Now add to that the fact that the lights were all incandescent. Quite a bit of load all on one 15A circuit. We were tripping the breaker at least once a month. The UPS definitely came in handy.
Kitchen was tripping almost every week. All kitchen and living room outlets on the same 15A circuit.
The other 3 circuits in the apartment were 15A for the 3rd bedroom + living room + hallway receptacles/lights + 2nd bathroom. 15A dedicated for the fridge, and a 40A for the range.
The whole 3-bed 2-bath 1800 sqft apartment on 4x15A+1x40A!!!!
Good thing we didn't have air conditioners or women (they tend to use very power-hungry devices such as hair dryers) or it would have been hell.