It is 1200 W max for a single appliance. Even though the circuit is designed to carry 15 A x 120 V = 1.8 kW, it is not desirable that a single appliance take up the entire 1.8 kW.
Consider that multiple outlets or whole rooms in a house may share the same fused connection. If someone was using a 1.8 kW hair dryer and had a light going and maybe a music system, the circuit would be overloaded and hopefully the protective device would open the circuit. However, this would be an inconvenience to the user if he/she had to use his/her appliance in the dark.
Is there such limits in Europe? I know that on a 240 V European system, a product designed for the same power as an American product but for 240 V will draw only 50 % of the current. Thus, a 15 A system should be able to handle twice as much current load as the equivalent American system. Also, the I^2R loss in European systems is 25 % of American, thus less chance of wires overheating. Comment?
