Amperage is the speed at which electricity moves through a circuit. Increasing the amperage in an electrical circuit is done by removing or reducing the amount of resistance that the voltage in the circuit encounters.
Changes in Voltage
The voltage of a circuit is the amperage multiplied by the resistance the voltage encounters. Removing resistance allows the electricity to move more quickly through the circuit and change the amperage. A circuit conducting electricity at a higher amperage is similar to water running through a hose. If the hose diameter doesn't change, but the water pressure from the faucet suddenly doubles, the water will be moving through the hose twice as fast. By decreasing the resistance the voltage encounters in a circuit but maintaining the same amperage, you will increase the amount of power running through the circuit. Amperage itself can be bolstered in two different ways.
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Increasing Amperage
To increase amperage, you need to make sure that all the wiring and circuitry has the capacity to support a larger amperage of electricity. An "ampere rating" describes the amount of amperage that wires, breakers and other attendant devices can support.
If your circuit contains chips known as resistors, you can lower resistance and therefore increase amperage by switching out the current resistor for a one with a lower rating. If your current resistor is 6 ohms, you can switch it out for a 4-ohm resistor. By keeping the voltage exactly the same but lowering the resistance you will increase the amperage of the circuit.
Rewiring A Circuit
Increasing the voltage and decreasing the resistance in a circuit nearly always involves rewiring the entire circuit unit.Rewiring a circuit requires turning off all power to the circuit breaker. Once all outlets have been disconnected from the power source, you will disconnect the switch plates associated with each outlet wired to that particular circuit breaker. After cutting the existing wires, you'll replace the wires, the outlets and the circuit breaker with ones that have a higher amperage rating (make sure that they all have an equal amperage rating). An employee of the hardware store should be able to help you select the correct wire for the amperage rating.
Once you've replaced the wires and connected them to the junction box, and connected the wires from the junction box to the circuit breaker, you can plug in your new circuit breaker. Once the new circuit breaker is reattached, you can mount the new outlets onto the outlet box. Then you will reattach the electrical panel and turn the circuit breaker back to an "On" position. You'll then be ready to use your upgraded circuit.