Remodeling & have electrical question

[jimboburnsy]

Originally Posted by faithfulFrank

By reading the original post, I think there is a small bit of confusion on the part of the original poster. He states that the wiring is 12/2, and has 15amp rated receptacles on it.......so he is calling it a 15 amp circuit.

As already stated, if the wiring is 12/2, it should be connected to a 20 amp breaker. I have never seen 12/2 wire used with a 15 amp breaker.

I am also confused with the statement that he thinks he now only has one circuit using 2 GFCI's. One GFCI should be sufficient, with the few others being protected "downline" from the one GFCI. If there are any receptacles on the circuit prior to that GFCI, they would not be protected of course.

Bottom line is that while any wall is open, one should bring it up to code, insure that it is correct and code compliant. There should be at least 2, 20 amp circuits, protected by GFCI's. I would also upgrade to the better 20 amp rated receptacles. Buying them in the Pro packs lowers the cost and allows you to have a good amount.

Frank

I'm also in the camp that there is some confusion floating about, but I've seen a lot of 15A circuits overkilled with 12/2. It gives you a measure of "future-proof".

[Brain Candy]

Hmm...I was under the impression that the receptacles sold as 15a were supposed to be just fine with 12ga wire as long as it was connected to the side screws rather than done as a back push-in.

[jimboburnsy]

Originally Posted by Brain Candy

Hmm...I was under the impression that the receptacles sold as 15a were supposed to be just fine with 12ga wire as long as it was connected to the side screws rather than done as a back push-in.

I don't know that you could get 12# wires to push into the back... I don't think the wire size matters much, if it fits it will work. There isn't any danger in oversizing wire and/or outlets for a breaker; the potential problems are with 15A outlets and/or 14# wire on a 20A circuit.

[Ultrarunner]

My jurisdiction had no problem using multiple 15 amp outlets on a 20 amp circuit...

They would have had problem using 20 amp outlets on a 15 amp circuit...

One job had an automatic gate located some distance from the house... even though it was a 15 amp circuit, the length of the run required increasing wire size to 12 gauge normally used for 20 amp circuits.

[GregJones75]

Hey thanks again for all the replies. All very helpful. I'm gonna be getting permits & have the work inspected once complete & wanted to do it right the first time. I'm also adding 2 separate circuits for a dishwasher & over the stove microwave. The previous owner had 15 amp outlets on the 20 amp countertop circuit. I checked the breaker & it's 20 amp so I'm gonna replace the 15 amp outlets with 20 amp outlets & branch 2 circuits for the countertop area. Right now there's 2 gfis on that one circuit. I'm just gonna have 2 gfis though. One for each circuit controlling the regular outlets downstream. All your posts cleared up alot of confusion & future issues. Thanks again!