TL;DR
The continuous load rule is the NEC requirement that any load expected to run three hours or more be calculated at 125 percent of its rating when sizing the circuit's conductors and overcurrent protection. EV charging is the textbook case: a charger drawing 48 amps for hours needs a circuit rated 48 × 1.25 = 60 amps.
What it means
The continuous load rule is the NEC requirement that any load expected to run three hours or more be calculated at 125 percent of its rating when sizing the circuit's conductors and overcurrent protection. EV charging is the textbook case: a charger drawing 48 amps for hours needs a circuit rated 48 × 1.25 = 60 amps. The same logic governs water heaters and some lighting. It explains why a charger's breaker always looks oversized relative to the unit's amperage, and why an installer cannot legally put a 50-amp charger on a 50-amp breaker.
Where it sits in the glossary
Continuous load rule is part of the Trade jargon group inside the ProFix Directory glossary. Browse every term in this category from the glossary index.
Why Ohio homeowners should know it
This is a term Ohio homeowners encounter when reading contractor quotes, hiring paperwork, or inspection reports. Understanding it well enough to ask one good follow-up question is usually all the protection a homeowner needs.
ProFix Directory keeps definitions short on the index page and saves the longer context — Ohio-specific rules, where the term comes from, and which ProFix tools touch it — for these per-term pages so the term is easy to cite and easy to share.
ProFix tools that touch this term
See also
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