You remember that amps, or amperes, are a measure of an electrical current’s strength or flow. A watt measures the electrical power itself. That is, it measures the amount of electricity consumed by an appliance or another fixture as it converts the electricity into something useful to us. A circuit is sized to allow a certain amount of electricity to run to a given number of loads.The loads are measured in watts, which is why you can only have a certain number of receptacles and lights on a circuit. Too many running at once demands more juice than the circuit can safely provide before a protective device in the form of a circuit breaker or fuse steps in like a responsible bartender and cuts you off.
The amount of current carried to the various loads also is determined by the size of the wire running between the service panel and the loads. If your wire is too small for the amount of current the load is demanding, it will have a high resistance and will overheat. This is okay for the heating element in your toaster but not for your house wiring. A 20-amp circuit, which usually runs small appliances, requires No.12 wire. Many electricians recommend No.12 wire as the minimum size wire for residential use, even though the code accepts No.14 wire as the minimum-size conductor for branch circuit wiring.
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