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no. i'm telling you from vast experience, residential loads on general purpose circuits are not nearly what you think.
again, get an ammeter and take some readings. I do this on a weekly basis on service calls.
The largest receptacle load in my house is about 7A; and that's in the living room where I have an LCD tv, home theater PC, a/v surround receiver, etc. .
with no appliances or hvac running, under normal conditions, the current load on my service is about 15 symmetrical amps. that's lights, tv's, lamps, clocks, etc . .
i've read services w/ the heat running that max out around 50 symmetrical amps.
why do you think the poco's use #1 aluminum, which has an NEC listed ampacity of 100A, on 200A residential services? sometimes they use 1/0, but the majority are #1.
its all personal preference i guess, but 12/2 everywhere is a complete waste of money.
also, how many people do you know that sit in their home theater running a blender while vacuuming? just because you have all these things doesn't mean they'll be used simultaneously.
I've been an electrician for about 20 years i used to agree with you that 12/2 for everything is a waste back when copper prices were high. Now the cost difference between 14/2 and 12/2 for a 250 roll is about $20.
No limit. But 14 ga is not adequate for receptacle wiring.
Sure it is. Do i do it nope but it is legal and safe to use 14 for receptacles. Especially these days because most devices are energy efficient and draw less. Then you have led bulbs for lamps. I'm in a room right now probably using about 2-3 amps with a fan, my laptop and a led lamp on.
You only have to use 12/2 wire for a 20amp applications like in the Kitchen were you are using Kitchen appliances like a electric frypan 14/2 can is used for 15amp things like table lights tv and other entertainment. If i were you check the building code were you live they can tell you how many outfits on a 15 amp circuit because every city is different. By the answers in this posting if you don't know what you are doing get an electrican who knows what they are doing. You are putting your life in danger if you don't know what you are doing, you don't want a fire behind your walls because you overloaded a circuit.
Sure it is. Do i do it nope but it is legal and safe to use 14 for receptacles. Especially these days because most devices are energy efficient and draw less. Then you have led bulbs for lamps. I'm in a room right now probably using about 2-3 amps with a fan, my laptop and a led lamp on.
You and I both know people will go swap breakers because the one that's there "pops" too much. Then they go swap a 20-30 amp in there and hook up their welders or wthatever amp draw tool they got. And the 14 ga wiring just can't handle that load. This is more if a residential issue but I have seen it in small commercial settings.
I run 12 ga for receptacles and 14 ga for lighting. I've ran 10ga for aux power supplies and receptacle because that's what the specs called for. That was a rare occurrence because it was a water treatment plant and the specs were outrageously overbuilt. I don't really care about saving $2 because I used 14 ga vs 12ga. But then again I don't do residential. I have never had a receptacle run spec-ed out for 14ga.
I wouldn't run 14ga on a receptacle circuit regardless. I'm going to assume everyone will overload the circuit.
You and I both know people will go swap breakers because the one that's there "pops" too much. Then they go swap a 20-30 amp in there and hook up their welders or wthatever amp draw tool they got. And the 14 ga wiring just can't handle that load. This is more if a residential issue but I have seen it in small commercial settings.
I run 12 ga for receptacles and 14 ga for lighting. I've ran 10ga for aux power supplies and receptacle because that's what the specs called for. That was a rare occurrence because it was a water treatment plant and the specs were outrageously overbuilt. I don't really care about saving $2 because I used 14 ga vs 12ga. But then again I don't do residential. I have never had a receptacle run spec-ed out for 14ga.
I wouldn't run 14ga on a receptacle circuit regardless. I'm going to assume everyone will overload the circuit.
If someone wants to change a breaker then that's their own stupid idea and fault if anything happens. The NEC does not exist to protect people from doing dangerous and stupid things with electrical equipment and wiring. You can overload a 20 amp circuit too and they can try and put in a 25 or a 30 amp breaker.
And if someone swapped a 15 amp breaker to a 20 amp breaker i wouldn't be worried. #14 copper is rated up to 25 amps in the 90 degree column in the ampacity table.
And if someone swapped a 15 amp breaker to a 20 amp breaker i wouldn't be worried. #14 copper is rated up to 25 amps in the 90 degree column in the ampacity table.
^^^ this!^^^.
I was pretty frustrated when I did my first wiring job, carefully following the charts of length vs amps, oversizing anything borderline, being super careful to follow every little detail - the service entrance wires for that job were expensive & I went one size up for "safety", then the utility came out and hooked up freakin' speaker wire to the other side of the meter.
I know.. "Free air" is different, but still.. Many people run thicker wire for their surround-sound speakers than the power company uses to (theoretically) pump 200 amps into the entire house.
That said, I still run 12 ga everywhere.. I don't buy enough wire in a decade that a $20 savings on a roll would make a difference.
I was pretty frustrated when I did my first wiring job, carefully following the charts of length vs amps, oversizing anything borderline, being super careful to follow every little detail - the service entrance wires for that job were expensive & I went one size up for "safety", then the utility came out and hooked up freakin' speaker wire to the other side of the meter.
First time I've ever seen 2/0 called "speaker wire". How big are your speakers?
I have 14/2 wire running on a 15 amp breaker to an outdoor light can I add a receptacle to it
Yes.
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