Replacing generic RECEPTACLES

elizabeth

... 20 amp duplex on 15 amp wires NEC says no. The NEC is not the wire police. They are guides used by electricians as to what they can and cannot do since they are contractors and THEY have legal and liability concerns ... Those concerns are not a law, You cannot go to jail for using a 20 amp duplex on a 15 amp line!

o, you will not go to jail. But in the US, almost all jurisdictions rely primarily on the NEC, so it will be a violation of local code to put a 20A receptacle on a 15A line. That's because the breaker would not reliably trip if the load exceeded 15A. The breaker's primary purpose is to prevent the wire in the wall from overheating.

I do replace bad teeth no snit with good ones, but if a tooth is good, no need for root canal right?

aniwolfe

You can use a 20a receptacle on a 15a line.

Correct. But it's a violation of the NEC and potentially hazardous, because the 15A breaker can 't protect against the potential 20A load, would could cause overheating of the wire inside the wall.

"Over heating of the wire in the wall. But the wire is 12 gauge anyway..... ??
ALL the wire in most places I have lived is always 12 gauge in the wall anyway. 15 or 20 amp circuit.
The requirement for a 20 amp service line is 12 gauge wire....As long as we are getting all technical.
So if you line has a 12 gauge wire in the wall, even though it has a 15 amp breaker, then the fear of overheated wire is lost on the 12 gauge in wall wires. (naturally this precludes really long runs.. But whose house has rooms 200 ft long anyway???)

elizabeth. Yes that is what i would do if i could , I would use my dedicated 20 amp quad circuit also for my cdp. But unfortunately that quad dedicated 20a circuit is right in back of my amp and preamp. My cdp is a distance from that quad circuit. So thats why i have to put in another dedicated line for the cdp. So i will then just put in a 20a dedicated line with the Furutech GTX-d-r .