How much is to much on a breaker?

I have been redoing the wire in my new house. Most all of my main floor is on the same breaker. About 5 recepticals and my water softer. In one of those recepticals all of my home entertainment stuff will be. (tv, surround reciever, videogames, satalite, vcr's, dvd) My question is, how to I add up everything that is getting plugged in to see if its to much? Or do I just wait and see if I start blowing breakers?

Thanks

 

It isnt how much you have plugged in,,, its how much you are using. I am not sure what a water softener draws,, cant be much, but look at the label. Many of those items are not on at the same time. I went to a buds house (an electrician BTW) and I look at his entertainment deal. He must have had power strip to strip with 3 ways into those,, bet he had 25 things in there,, cd, 3or 4 vcrs, tv, stereos,, who knows what all,, what a mess,, and I ask him,, he said,, yeah I was curious too so he put a probe on and was pulling 4 amps. You can buy probe at HD I think,,, it should be a must for anyone doing some wiring. I use mine all the time. A clamp on amp probe. I even have a rept made up with a wire seperated so I can get the clamp on for testing appliances,, just plug in to that and the outlet. Very handy.

 

A Water softener will draw less that 10 watts continuously,
may 20 or 30 intermittantly (when the solenoids engage the cycles)

Here I am running two modest entertaiment systems, plus a
computer system (including laser printer), off of one 15A circuit,
with no troubles whatsoever.

 

Try going to this link and then you can use the calculator to add up what your running on the circuits. Not everything would most likely be on at the same time but it can give you an idea on what is being drawn