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Standard Method General Load Pieces for a Dwelling

Reference ServiceDelivery Updated Oct 28, 2026 ยท Electrical

Why this matters

Every residential service, feeder and "can this panel take one more circuit" answer starts from the same handful of lines in Article 220: the general lighting load, the small-appliance and laundry circuits, the demand factor that shrinks them, the dryer, and the fastened appliances. Get those pieces right and the rest of the calculation is adding known numbers. Get one wrong, say by counting the garage or skipping a third kitchen circuit, and the service size on the permit is wrong before anyone looks at the range. This card owns those pieces. The optional-method sheet and the full service calculation build on it.

The pieces, and where each comes from

Sections are NEC 2023 (2020 where the section moved), as adopted by your jurisdiction, local amendments checked.

1. General lighting at 3 VA per square foot. 220.41 in the 2023 edition (Table 220.12 in 2020). Measure the floor area from the outside dimensions of the dwelling, floor by floor. In substance, open porches, garages and unfinished spaces not adaptable for future use are left out; check the exact wording in your edition, because the treatment of unfinished space is where jurisdictions and editions differ. A finished basement counts. An unfinished basement that could be finished is, in most readings, "adaptable for future use" and counts too.

The 3 VA covers every general-use receptacle and lighting outlet in the house, including the bathroom and garage receptacle circuits (220.14(J) in 2020; the same list sits in 220.41 in 2023, as adopted). A dwelling calculation never adds 180 VA per receptacle; that figure belongs to non-dwelling occupancies.

2. Small-appliance circuits at 1500 VA each. 220.52(A). The kitchen, pantry, breakfast and dining areas need at least two 20 A small-appliance branch circuits (210.11(C)(1)), and the calculation counts every one installed, not the minimum two. A kitchen with an island on its own circuit has three.

3. Laundry at 1500 VA. 220.52(B), for each laundry branch circuit required by 210.11(C)(2). One is typical.

4. The demand factor. Pieces 1, 2 and 3 are added together and then reduced by the general lighting demand-factor table (Table 220.42 in the 2020 edition, renumbered in 2023; check your edition's table number). For dwelling units: the first 3,000 VA at 100 percent, 3,001 to 120,000 VA at 35 percent, and anything above 120,000 VA at 25 percent. The reasoning is diversity: a house never runs every light and every kitchen appliance at once.

5. The dryer at 5000 W or nameplate, whichever is larger. 220.54. A dryer rated 5600 W goes in at 5600. A dryer rated 4800 W still goes in at 5000. If the house has a dryer receptacle and no dryer yet, use 5000. The demand-factor table in 220.54 only starts reducing at five dryers, so in a single-family house it is 100 percent.

6. Fastened-in-place appliances at 75 percent when there are four or more. 220.53. Add the nameplate ratings of the appliances fastened in place on the same feeder or service, excluding ranges and cooking units, dryers, space-heating equipment and air-conditioning equipment; if there are four or more, 75 percent of the sum is permitted. (The 2023 edition also limits the count to appliances rated 1/4 hp or 500 W or more; check your edition.) Three or fewer stay at 100 percent. Water heater, dishwasher, disposal and an over-range microwave are the usual four. A countertop microwave on a cord is not fastened in place.

Cooking equipment (220.55) and heating or cooling (220.60) complete the calculation. Those lines are worked in 'Electrical Load Calculation Reference'; this card hands them a correct general load.

Worked example: a 2,000 sq ft house

A single-story house, 2,000 sq ft measured on the outside walls, excluding an attached two-car garage and an open front porch. Three small-appliance circuits (two counter circuits and an island), one laundry circuit, a 5600 W dryer, a 4500 W water heater, a 1200 VA dishwasher, a disposal whose nameplate reads 7.0 A at 120 V, and a 1500 VA over-range microwave.

STANDARD METHOD, GENERAL LOAD PIECES, 2,000 SQ FT
NEC 2023 AS ADOPTED

1 GENERAL LIGHTING   2,000 sq ft x 3 VA      6,000 VA
2 SMALL-APPLIANCE    3 circuits x 1,500      4,500 VA
3 LAUNDRY            1 circuit x 1,500       1,500 VA
  subtotal 1 + 2 + 3                        12,000 VA
4 DEMAND FACTOR
  first 3,000 at 100 pct                     3,000 VA
  remaining 9,000 at 35 pct                  3,150 VA
  general load after demand                  6,150 VA
5 DRYER   nameplate 5,600 W, over 5,000      5,600 VA
6 FASTENED APPLIANCES, four, at 75 pct
  WH 4,500 + DW 1,200 + DISP 840 + MW 1,500
  = 8,040 VA x 0.75                          6,030 VA
  pieces 4 + 5 + 6                          17,780 VA

Each line, with its reason:

  • Line 1. 2,000 times 3 is 6,000 VA. The garage and porch are excluded by the measurement rule, which is why the outside dimensions of the house itself are what you write down, not the footprint on the survey.
  • Line 2. Three circuits because three are installed. Writing two here would understate the load by 1,500 VA before the demand factor, 525 VA after it.
  • Line 4. 12,000 minus the first 3,000 leaves 9,000; 9,000 times 0.35 is 3,150; added to 3,000 that is 6,150 VA. Note the demand factor shrank 12,000 VA to roughly half.
  • Line 5. The nameplate beats 5,000 W, so 5,600.
  • Line 6. The disposal's 7.0 A at 120 V is 840 VA. Four appliances qualify, so 75 percent of 8,040 is 6,030 VA.

To finish the service calculation (the method for those lines is in 'Electrical Load Calculation Reference'), add a 12 kW range at 8,000 VA (the single-range value from Table 220.55, Column C) and the larger of the heating or cooling load under 220.60; say the cooling line on this house, condenser plus air-handler blower, comes to 6,480 VA. The total is 17,780 plus 8,000 plus 6,480, or 32,260 VA. At 240 V, 32,260 divided by 240 is 134.4 A. A 150 A service passes on load; the customer's plans and the AHJ decide whether 200 A is the better install.

The fourth appliance that lowers the load

Run line 6 again without the over-range microwave, say the customer chose a countertop unit on a cord instead. Three fastened appliances remain: 4,500 plus 1,200 plus 840 is 6,540 VA, and with only three, the 75 percent does not apply. Line 6 goes from 6,030 VA to 6,540 VA. Removing an appliance raised the calculated load by 510 VA.

That is not an error; it is how 220.53 is written, and it is the line most often done wrong in both directions. The two checks: count only appliances fastened in place on this feeder or service, and never put the dryer, range, heat or air conditioning in the group to reach four.

What a finished basement adds, after demand

Now give the same house a 1,000 sq ft unfinished basement that the original calculation left out because the AHJ accepted it as not adaptable for future use (where yours counted it from the start, its 3,000 VA is already in line 1). The owner finishes it and adds a fourth small-appliance circuit for a basement kitchenette counter. The connected general load rises by 3,000 VA of lighting (1,000 times 3) and 1,500 VA for the circuit, 4,500 VA in all, taking the subtotal of lines 1, 2 and 3 from 12,000 to 16,500 VA.

Rerun the demand factor: the first 3,000 at 100 percent, the remaining 13,500 at 35 percent, which is 4,725, for 7,725 VA. Line 4 was 6,150 VA, so the basement added 1,575 VA after demand (7,725 minus 6,150), exactly 35 percent of the 4,500 VA added. Past the first 3,000 VA, every volt-ampere of general load costs about a third of itself in the calculation. That is the useful field number: when a customer asks whether finishing the basement means a bigger service, the general-load answer is usually no, and the line that decides it is whatever fixed equipment goes in with the finish (a sauna heater, a second water heater, baseboard heat), each of which enters at its own rule.

The 25 percent tier above 120,000 VA almost never touches a house. With the minimum 4,500 VA of small-appliance and laundry circuits, a dwelling would need about 38,500 sq ft of general lighting area to reach it.

Errors that turn up on plan review

  • Inside dimensions. Measuring room by room from the inside walls loses the wall thickness. On a 2,000 sq ft house that can be 100 sq ft or more, which is 300 VA before demand.
  • The garage counted as living area. An attached garage is excluded. A garage converted to a family room is not a garage anymore and counts.
  • 180 VA per receptacle. Wrong occupancy. In a dwelling the receptacles are inside the 3 VA.
  • Demand factor applied to the wrong lines. The general lighting table reduces only the lighting, small-appliance and laundry subtotal. The dryer, the fastened appliances and the range each have their own rule and their own table.
  • Two small-appliance circuits written by habit. The plan shows three; count three.
  • A dryer at 5000 W with a 5,600 W nameplate on the plans. The larger value governs.

What changes the answer

  • A second dwelling on the feeder. A two-family or multifamily calculation brings 220.85 (two units), 220.84 (three or more) or the multifamily rows of the cooking and dryer tables into play, and line 4's table has separate rows for hotels and other occupancies. This card is one dwelling unit.
  • An existing house adding load. For a service check on an existing dwelling getting a heat pump or an EV charger, the optional method usually gives a smaller and still code-compliant answer. See related 'The Optional Method Load Calculation, Worked on One House'.
  • An EV charger. Under the standard method, 220.57 counts EV supply equipment at 7,200 W or its nameplate, whichever is larger, as its own line. It is not one of the fastened appliances in line 6.

References

  • NFPA 70, National Electrical Code, 2023 edition as adopted by your jurisdiction: 210.11(C), 220.14(J) (2020), 220.41 (Table 220.12 in 2020), the general lighting demand-factor table, 220.52, 220.53, 220.54, 220.55, 220.57, 220.60
  • See related: Electrical Load Calculation Reference
  • See related: The Optional Method Load Calculation, Worked on One House
  • See related: The Branch Circuits Every Dwelling Must Have

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