a 50 amp circuit at 240 volts can handle 12000 watts.
remember that cables have their own amp and wattage limits too.
a standard twin and earth cable of 2.5mm can handle 25 amps at 240 volts which is a maximum of 5760 watts on each ring circuit.
a kitchen in the uk is usually on a standard 32 amp circuit with a 2.5mm twin and earth so the maximum wattage is 7680 watts on the circuit which is a hell of a lot to draw through a few standard sockets.
(the electric cooker is on a 9 or 10mm cable and a 45 amp mcb which can handle 10800 watts).
except each individual item is fused lower so this protects the cable from meltdown again.
(you are supposed to use a fireproof cable on this circuit if equipment has a heavy draw).
or you can up the cable thickness.
any higher than this would need thicker cable and each individual electrical appliances would have to be fused to a lower rating of 13 amp or lower, this prevents cable meltdown on the introduction of say some idiot trying to plug in an 11,000 watt electric cooker into a socket and turning all the rings on with the oven which would melt the cable with that amount of wattage ampage draw hence blowing the 13 amp fuse or tripping the 32amp mcb before cable meltdown.
if there is an electrical fault in the circuit it would trip at the 32 amp mcb (miniature circuit breaker) some circuits have rcbo switches which is an mcb and an rcd (residual current device) in one the mcb protects the circuit if the live wire (red/brown) come in to contact with an earth (green/yellow) so it trips protecting the equipment.
the rcd protects the circuit if the live (red/brown) comes in to contact with the neutral (blue/black) wire causing the rcd to trip in 1.7 milliseconds preventing electric shock.
mcb switches are cheap at say around £10 but rcbo switches which are two in one mcb and rcd are about £40 each but these switches prevent electric shock as well as fire in the home.
if a current passes through your body to earth the neutral wire in the rcbo switch or rcd socket will detect this and switch the circuit off in 1.7ms preventing death.
you can buy rcd double gang sockets protecting you from shock in the growroom from here.
http://www.screwfix.com/p/volex-2g-dp-rcd-skt/57865
the green button resets it if it trips, the blue button tests it to see if it is operating properly, 30mA is high sensitivity.
so if you have a circuit on a standard mcb and you add these then you are double protected against fire and death.
ALWAYS USE A SMOKE ALARM!!!!
and keep a fire extinguisher handy.
Peace.
remember, they can release you from prison, but no one can release you from death.................
