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In Reply to: RE: Circuit breaker - Equipment protection fuse question. posted by Crazy Dave on June 18, 2014 at 12:14:41
I think we are arguing the same point. I never read the NEC code because I was too busy building homes. I just followed the basic rules and used my head. Such as the breaker must be large enough for any wire use downstream. But I also know that most electricians would never put a 15 amp breaker on a circuit wired with 12 ga wire. They would make sure everything downstream would carry the load but most use 15 amp receptacles. Try to buy a 20 amp receptacle. It is not easy and is spendy. Electricians want to "sell" their work, and 15 amp circuits trip the breaker much more often so if they spend the money on wiring, they are surely going to use the best sized breaker they can. It is interesting you bring this up. Most outlets have either 2 or 4 siring holes (forgot what they are called) but until recently it was easy to insert 12 ga wire into those holes. But it can still be done with enough force. I am NOT here to argue. We are way off the subject anyway.
Follow Ups:
I think you do have a good point, questioning why you would do it. I think the question come up because most "audiophile" receptacles that I am aware of are 20 amp. My main point is that it is not dangerous because all that would happen is that the circuit would trip early. I think there may be some, audio gear that pulls 20 amps is very uncommon. I have never seen any.
Dave
Here are the numbers...a breaker is designed to "trip" at 80% of it's rated load. A 15 amp breaker trips at about 1440 watts being passed through. It would be very unlikely that 2 audio amps would use that much unless it was for a live performance but they know very well what is needed. We have gotten away from the original question. There is no need to increase the breaker size and a 15 amp breaker was probably put there for a reason to start with. The weak link in the system would be an extension cord. A 20 amp breaker DOES NOT require 20 amp receptacles. I am 100% sure about that. If an electrician says that, I would question his credentials.
I agree that A 20 amp breaker DOES NOT require 20 amp receptacles. There is no chance of overloading the branch. What the electrician said to me was that with 12ga wire and a 20 amp outlet, that your are still code with a 15amp breaker. Again, there is no chance of overloading the circuit.
Dave
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