I don't think you should only be able to use certain portable devices on certain circuits. For this very reason - all the circuits in the new house are 20 amp. Electrician recommended.

"all the circuits in the new house are 20 amp. Electrician recommended."

Thanks. So are you saying that in your house every circuit is 20a? That can get expensive.

All 120v receptacle circuits in our house are 20 amp and all lighting circuits are 15 amp. Ours is a newer house (2007), but that's what they always did "back in the day". Apparently, your house was built to a lower price point. You get what you pay for. IMO, it's not that much more $$.

Yes - every circuit is 20 amps. in the overall scheme of the build - it isn't that expensive.

I don't know anything about amps in homes and outlets. However, I can iron in any room in our house and have done it. With a full 1800 watts iron and with a clamshell press. Bedrooms, family room, kitchen, utility room, you name it.

The only way I have seen circuits trip is when there is more than one iron on the same circuit. If there is no curling iron, hair dryer (or similar that draws a lot of watts) that is 'on' while the iron is in use, then IMO something is wrong with either your iron or the wiring on your house. Figuring out the iron problem is easy; just plug it in elsewhere or borrow someone's iron and use it in your bedroom.

Perhaps your local building or electrical codes department can tell you the suggested amps for a house. At this point I would not trust the builder for an answer, in view of his response.

I've been in my house 3 years and nothing has ever tripped.

I believe this is your second thread looking to find fault with your electrician for not being a mind reader.

Unless you provided an electrical plan and/or specifications to the electrician, he/she would be required for the electrical installation in your home to meet whatever local code requirements apply in your area. If you'll check the code, you'll find the answer.

There are typically multiple outlets on a given breaker/circuit, unless it's a dedicated circuit and outlet for a larger appliance such as a microwave oven or dishwasher or refrigerator. All the operating items connected to all the outlets on the circuit are, of course, included in the breaker's load. What else is on the circuit exhibiting the problem?

All the wall outlets in my house (built in 2003/2004) are 15-amp but the breakers are 20-amp (and presumably the wiring to match). I can run an 1,800-watt toaster oven and a 625-watt iced tea maker together on the same circuit in the kitchen without tripping anything. Pretty sure I've also run a 1,200-watt air fryer with the toaster oven. Consider that the heating elements on the toaster oven and air fryer cycle on/off upon reaching the target temperature. Irons also do so. The tea maker heats continuously until all the water in the reservoir is run-through.

It never even occurred to me to think that my iron would trip a breaker. I use it in many different rooms in my home, including bedrooms. And yes, they are all 15A circuits (1979 house). Since your iron is tripping the breaker, I have a couple questions:

1. what else are you running at the same time on the same circuit?
2. what does your iron pull? Is it possible that the iron is malfunctioning?

I don't have the foggiest ides what amps we have. I've never tripped a breaker. I usually iron in what is supposed to be a study. But we use it as a storage room. I do iron the winter drapes in the guest bedroom. Even my 1970 camp which I call a hybrid trailer I iron in the bedroom and never tripped a breaker. I would suspect there is too many items on one circuit.

My dad added additional breaker box to his 1945 house. Our last house had additional spaces for more breaker if need in the box. Might be an option to explore.

Electric circuits are typically sized to be 20% larger than the maximum sustained wattage/amperage draw to allow some headroom for motor start-up surges and such. Thus a 15 amp, 120 volt circuit is rated for 1,500 watts sustained draw. 15 x 120 = 1,800 watts x 80% = 1,440, rounded up to 1,500 watts. 1,800 watts is OK for intermittent draw such as iron or toaster oven element cycling on/off, if there's nothing else of notable wattage concurrently operating on the same circuit. Note that 120 volt portable electric space heaters max-out at 1,500 watts (unless they're specifically stated that a 20 amp circuit is required).

A 20 amp 120 volt circuit calculates at 20 x 120 = 2,400 watts x 80% = 1,920 ... thus 1,800-ish watts sustained draw.

I don’t think you need to be a mind reader to know people may want to iron in the room they have their clothing stored. Ironically ironed today, in my bedroom, did not trip anything

Breakers get picky - have you tried switching it out? It is an arc fault - it should be? These are known (but are better now than 10 years ago) to be sensitive and have nuisance trips. They are code since 2007 NEC I believe which has probably been adopted everywhere - but I don't know that for sure. It would not be a huge issue to switch back but would be a code violation.

I don't think an iron typically trips a 15A despite the current draw.

20 amps everywhere is a bit overkill IMO.

Most outlets are 15A for sure - even if circuits might be 20A.

Can you not pull a new circuit if all else fails?

You should really figure out which breaker controls which outlet. Once you've done that, make sure that nothing that is plugged into the other outlets on the suspect breaker is turned on, then try your iron again. If the breaker still trips, maybe it is defective.

Regarding what is standard, when my current house was built in 2015, the electrical contractor used 12 Ga wire throughout, even for the lighting circuits. All breakers are 20A (except for the few which support higher current appliances). I asked another electrician why they might have done that is that not having two different sizes of wire simplifies the wiring planning. They did have the lighting on separate circuits, but even those are 20A/12Ga circuits.