Home Electrical Q


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Old 06-14-16, 06:58 PM
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Home Electrical Q

My home was built in 1981. It was built by the homeowner and it has some electrical quirks. For example, one circuit breaker seems to control most or all of the power plugs in all the rooms of this 2600 sf house. I replaced every wall plug socket and light switch in the house because Wifey wanted white, not beige. Every wire was 12 gauge. When I open the back panel of the breaker box, I can see that all wires are 12 gauge (or larger, for 220V). Finally, my question: why are there 15 or so 20-amp breakers and only 3 15-amp breakers? Same Q put another way: why aren't all the breakers 20 amp?
Thx.
 
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Old 06-14-16, 07:21 PM
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Breaker rating is based on wire size. 14 gauge wire can be on a 15 amp breaker max, while 12 gauge is allowed to be on a 20 amp breaker max. (With some special exceptions) I would suspect the 15 amp breakers may have been installed because there is #14 someplace on the circuit. I would not think about changing them unless you are 100% sure that the house does not have ANY #14 wires.
 
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Old 06-14-16, 08:39 PM
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Just because #12 wire was used does not mean that a 20 ampere CB must be used, only that 20 amperes is the maximum rated CB. Lots of times I have seen, and even used, #12 with a 15 ampere circuit breaker.

Also, despite what the equipment manufacturer's state, nominal residential voltages in the US are 120 and 240 volts.
 
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Old 06-15-16, 07:20 AM
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If you have 15 20amp breakers you are doing good, much better than most homes I see in California.
15 20amp breakers means to me everything is covered such as the kitchen, baths and laundry. The kitchen alone might be using around 5 or more 20amp breakers.

The 3 15amp circuits are probably for lighting and smoke detectors, or other low power items.
 
 

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