[PSA]

Perhaps the weakest link in the US electrical system

I'm not sure how common the misunderstanding about circuit breakers in particular is; for a long time I thought a GFCI was basically just a circuit breaker, but that was a matter of being unaware of the GFCI functionality itself, rather than thinking a circuit breaker did what a GFCI did.

Worth noting that the circuit breaker, even a 20A breaker, will reliably protect against one problem in particular: a pure short, where the power leads come in significant direct contact with each other, because that will cause the current to shoot WAY up.

But it only prevents overloading the entire circuit, and not the specific things you have plugged into the wall. You are usually just expected to intuitively know what can be plugged into what.

They'll also flip if you're putting too much strain on the whole circuit.

(Or expected to just, you know, never use power strips or extension cables.)

If we try to run the coffee maker and the microwave at the same time, the circuit breaker says 'NOPE!' and flips.

(Of course, we hand brew all our coffee, these days...)

Yeah, that specific scenario is referenced in the video

Or, actually, coffee maker, toaster and microwave together is