INTERRUPTING RATING vs AMPERE RATING

Have you ever wondered why breakers have two amperage ratings? What's the difference between the one on the side that says "Interrupting Rating" and the one stamped on the handle of the breaker?

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Typically when electricians talk about circuit breakers, we talk about the amperage rating that is written on the handle of the device. This is the "circuit rating" and it is intended to be the lowest point of current, which exceeded will trip a breaker. When you size a 30-amp circuit, you put a 30-amp breaker.

But every breaker has to have a second current rating as well, and this is called the "interrupting rating." An interrupting rating can be thought of as a maximum. It is the maximum amount of current that a breaker is designed to interrupt (correctly operate), before damaging the device. This is at the device's rated voltage as well...so no running 480v through a 240v rated device with an interrupting rating of 10kA.

Interrupting ratings are notated in kA, or thousands of amperes. For example, some standard kA ratings you'll see on devices are 10kA or 22kA, this means 10,000 and 22,000 amperes respectively. Also notice that you can have a two different breakers, with two different interrupting ratings, and still both breakers can have the same ampere rating on the handle. The handle ampere rating is what is protecting the conductors that are hooked up to the breaker - whereas the interrupting rating is protecting the actual breaker itself.