Quote Originally Posted by funkywizard View Post
After being able to actually look at the NEC rules, it appears to be a little more strict than you're making them out to be.

The circuit size needs to be

1) Equal to 1.25 times the size of the continuous load

PLUS

2) Equal to 1 times the size of the non-continuous load

If you never drop below 14a of usage, then your continuous load is at least 14a. 1.25 times 14a is 17.5a. If you have a 20a circuit, then your "non continuous load" is allowed to be an extra 2.5a from this point. Meaning your bursts should be no more than 16.5a according to NEC under this scenario. Not even close to "tripping the breaker" as you seem to think you should be able to do.
What your continuous load may be, and what the maximum allowable continuous load is, is different.

If you have a 20 amp breaker, max continuous load is 16 amps. This is not questioned by anyone (20 / 1.25).

16 amps continuous load times 1.25 allowed spike load is, guess what? 20 amps - the size of the breaker.

If your datacenter doesn't define operating requirements in their environment stricter than those defined by laws / the NEC, then you should be able to spike non-continuous load to 20 amps without an issue.